1904-1965
Actress Constance Campbell Bennett was born on this day in New York City, she was born into a well known acting family, as she was the daughter of actors Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison (herself the daughter of a well known stage actress). Constance was the older sister was actresses Joan Bennett and Barbara Bennett. Growing up the daughters of actors, it's hardly surprising that the sisters would themselves go into the profession. Constance being the oldest entered public acting first. Though the 1924 marriage drama Cyntherea is often cited as her film debut, she actually appeared in the motion pictures filmed in her birth place of New York before this. She made her film debut as a child in one of her parent's films. At the age of of 12 she made an appearance in The Valley of Decision, a feature length melodrama that also marked the debuts of both of her sisters; the film was directed by Rae Berger and released in December of 1916. She would be a young adult (or near enough to it) before she again appeared in a film, but this was still two years out from her appearance Cyntherea (she was "old enough" to already be married--eloping in early 1921 at still the age of 16--she was in 1922 on her way to being someone's ex-wife--actually her first marriage was annulled). In 1922, she appeared in three dramas (two of which were Selznick productions). The first of these was Reckless Youth (March 1922), in which she had a small, but named role, as "The Chorus Girl;" she next appeared in Evidence (May 1922) a melodrama based in high society--both starred Elaine Hammerstein. Finally, she in appeared in the female lead in What's Wrong with the Women? (September 1922) opposite Wilton Lackaye. When she finally made her appearance in Cyntherea--a film released just two days before her 20th birthday!--she had relocated to Hollywood, which did make for a kind of film debut--the Hollywood kind. It stars Irene Rich and Lewis Stone; Bennett has a down list supporting role. It would also be her only film appearance in 1924. Her next on camera appearance came in the 1925 serial Into The Net in the top supporting role to Jack Mulhall's "Bob" Clayton character. And, she had quite the career in 1925, appearing in eight productions in addition to the serial. Behind the scenes though, her life had been one drama after another. After her first marriage was dissolved, she had fallen for a rich boy, the son of an a multimillionaire, and was determined to marry him. This she did on the 3rd of November in 1925, as a result, her film career came to a screeching halt. Her last silent film appearance came, ironically, in the comedy entitled simply Married?, released on the 17th of February, 1926. By the time she reappeared in the films in late 1929, sound had already arrived. She had roles in two full talkies in 1929: Rich People and This Thing Called Love, both--again ironically--based on marriages gone wrong (because she was again in the throes of getting out of another bad marriage). Both films are also lost. Son of the Gods, released in March of 1930, and has her starring opposite Richard Barthelmess, is the first film to survive that she acted in with full sound. Despite personal upheavals in her personal life, she had a remarkably prolific career during the 1930's. Casual fans of classic films will no doubt recognize her as the whimsical female ghost Marion Kerby in Topper played opposite Cary Grant in 1937. It is a role that she reprised, minus Grant, the following year in Topper Takes A Trip. She did not have nearly as many roles in the 1940's, in part due to a family of three children, but also because she spent time doing live theatrical work (she also went into radio work and at one point had her own show). As far as film work went, she went close to three years (from the end of 1942 to near the end of 1945) without making a picture at all. She was famously in the supporting role in Two-Faced Woman in 1941 and what turned out to be Greta Garbo's last film before retirement; the film also starred the ever flexible talents of Melvyn Douglas. I have to say that one of my favorites is the 1947 film noir featuring Claude Rains The Unsuspected; it is not nearly as well known as Rains' other noir appearances, but Bennett's Jane Moynihan is well played...and it directed by Michael Curtiz. After this, she only had two film roles, before making her television debut in 1951 in the season 2 episode Avalanche of the live drama series Cameo Theatre which aired on July 9. After this, her one camera roles were mostly on the small screen, including one appearance on the series Suspense (in the late 1953 episode "Mr. Nobody" with Art Carney). Her last role came in the Lana Turner film Madame X in 1966. The film was released almost a year after her untimely death. Bennett died of a massive brain hemorrhage on the 24th of July 1965. Her fifth and final marriage had been to a military officer (she in fact died in a military hospital at Fort Dix in New Jersey); as a result she had done a great deal of work with the troops, for this, she was awarded burial at Arlington National Cemetery. She was just 60 years old at the time of her death.
[Source Ron Williams (Find A Grave)]
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