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Joan Biography


 
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Joan Bennett
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Joan Bennett
Notable Actress of Creole ancestry

 

 

 

 

 

Great Great grandaughter of

...Morris W. Morris1

19th Centuary Free Person of Color

and Civil War Veteran

 

Good Link with video

 

 


There are other classic ladies of the screen who have been nominated for the title of "most durable star," but a sure contender is Joan Bennett, whose active career has spanned an incredible four decades. It ranged from fragile blonde heroines of the '30s through sultry '40s maneaters to the mother of the bride in the '50s to the glamorous matriarch of a haunted household in her latest, MGM's house of Dark Shadows. All in all, there have been more than 70 films, not to mention a successful stage career in those periods when she was not before the cameras.

Four years ago, she scandalized her professional colleagues by taking a role on a daytime television drama, a nice name for soap opera. A smart move it turned out to be, since the show was Dark Shadows, which zoomed to popularity within a year; and as it happened, more and more "name" stars followed her trail to the afternoon screen.

Now Dark Shadows is a film called house of Dark Shadows, the first ever made from a "daytime television drama," and Joan Bennett has yet another title to add to the impressive roster that includes Little Women, The Macomber Affair, Woman in the Window, There's Always Tomorrow and Father of the Bride.

 



In an interview in her lush-but-comfortable apartment on Manhattan's East Side (the living room dominated by paintings, including the famous Woman in the Window portrait), Joan talked about her doubts when first approached for Dark Shadows on television. "It was the pace that worried me. Learning all those lines on just one day's show. But I did it." And still is doing it, not to mention the double duty of making house of Dark Shadows, during the filming of which she shuttled from TV set to film location in Tarrytown on a schedule that would have made a teenager blench.


She also talked about her upcoming book, due in October, called The Bennett Playbill. "It's not only about myself, but my whole acting family. Not just my sisters and my father, Richard Bennett, but my mother's family who were actors for generations back." Co-author of the book is Lois Kibbe, daughter of the famous character actor, Guy Kibbe.

When questioned about future plans, Joan Bennett is unspecific, but definite. "I'm not about to stop acting, wherever it may be: stage, films, or television." It's obvious that Joan is a true child of the acting Bennett family.

 


Joan Bennett


died - Dec. 7, 1990
(Elizabeth Stoddard, Naomi Collins, Judith Collins, Flora Collins)


She died from a heart attack at age 80 after a 50+ year career working with many famed
actors and directors. She made many movies, including "The Woman in the Window" and
"Scarlet Street". She was one of the finalists for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind".



 
     

 

 

 

 


 
 
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