Enid Bennett: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=MayApril 20142021}}

| name = Enid Bennett

| image = Enid Bennett Tradingin 1918 (SAYRE 5041) Card(cropped).jpg

| caption = Bennett in 19171918

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|07|15|df=y}}

| birth_place = [[York, Western Australia|York]], [[Western Australia]], Australia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1969|05|14|1893|07|15|df=y}}

| death_place = [[Malibu, California]], U.S.

| occupation = Actress

| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Fred Niblo]]|1918|1948|end=died}}<br/>
* {{marriage|[[Sidney Franklin (director)|Sidney Franklin]]|1963}}

| yearsactive = 1916&ndash;1941

| relatives = [[Marjorie Bennett]] (sister)

| children = 3

Enid Eulalie Bennett was born on 15 July 1893 in [[York, Western Australia|York]], the daughter of Nellie Mary Louise (''née'' Walker) and Frank Bennett. She had an older brother, Francis Reginald "Reg" Bennett (born 1891), and a younger sister, actress [[Marjorie Bennett]] (born 1896).<ref>[http://www.bdm.dotag.wa.gov.au/ Western Australian Births, Deaths and Marriages records. See]</ref> After an unsuccessful attempt to start his own school, Frank took up the role of headmaster at the newly established [[Guildford Grammar School]] in 1896. He died in 1898, when he drowned in a river while suffering from depression.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148267940 ''Eastern Districts Chronicle'' (York, WA : 1877 - 1927), "The Late Mr. F. Bennett," Saturday 15 October 1898] Accessed 29/12/15</ref> Nellie later married the new headmaster, Alexander Gillespie, in 1899. With him, she had a daughter named Catherine (born 1901) and a son named Alexander (born 1903).<ref name=Waller>[http://ggs.wa.edu.au.wincust.webinabox.net.au/Newsletter/2013-September/Term-3,-Week-8/From-the-Archives.aspx ''Guildford Grammar Archives'', "NELLIE MARY LOUISE WALKER," By Rosemary Waller, 11 September, 2013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119223324/http://ggs.wa.edu.au.wincust.webinabox.net.au/Newsletter/2013-September/Term-3,-Week-8/From-the-Archives.aspx |date=19 January 2016 }} Accessed 28/12/ December 2015</ref> Following Gillespie's death in 1903, Nellie supported her five children by working as a school matron.

Bennett attended [[Lionel Logue]]'s acting and elocution classes in [[Perth]], and after receiving encouragement from a visiting actress in 1910, she joined a touring company.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article80075558 ''The Daily News'' (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950) "Mainly About People," 10 August, 1910, P.3] Accessed 28/12/ December 2015</ref><ref name = Deacon>[http://www.nla.gov.au/ojs/index.php/AJVS/article/viewFile/3128/3628 Desley Deacon, 2013. ''Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies.''"From Victorian Accomplishment to Modern Profession: Elocution Takes Judith Anderson, Sylvia Bremer and Dorothy Cumming to Hollywood, 1912-1918." National Library of Australia. Vol 18, No.1] Accessed 13/12/ December 2015</ref> By 1912, Bennett had joined the [[Fred Niblo]]-Josephine Cohan touring company, performing comedies around Australia and understudying for Cohan herself, for which she received consistently positive reviews. Her family had moved to [[Sydney]] by this time. In 1917, Reg was killed during the [[Battle of Passchendaele]] while serving with the [[First Australian Imperial Force]].<ref>[https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1647170 Roll of Honour - Francis Reginald Bennett, Australian War Memorial.]</ref>

[[File:Enid Bennett 2(cropped).jpg|upright|left|thumb|Bennett in{{circa}} 1920]]

In the early part of 1915, theatre agents [[J. &nbsp;C. Williamson]]'s decided to make short films of some of their popular plays, to forestall the release of imported American filmed versions. They used Niblo as director, and members of his troupe appeared in [[Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford]] and [[Officer 666 (1916 film)|Officer 666]]. Enid Bennett appeared in both. Three reels of [[Officer 666 (1916 film)|Officer 666]] survive today in the [[National Film and Sound Archive]]. Film historians Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper describe it as "a crude production doggedly faithful to the stage."<ref>Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper(1980) ''Australian Film 1900-1977,'' Oxford University Press, P.80 {{ISBN|0 19 554213 4}}</ref> Both films were released in Australia after Bennett left for the United States in June 1915, travelling with Niblo and Cohan.

In later life, sister [[Marjorie Bennett]] explained that, somewhat against her will, she had been encouraged by the family to join Bennett to keep her company in the U.S.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19770824&id=PQgdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9p0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6666,5188541&hl=en ''The Tuscaloosa News'', "Cheerful little old lady long active as an actress." Aug 24, 1977] Accessed 28/12/ December 2015.</ref> By the mid-1920s, her mother Nellie, both her sisters, and her surviving brother were living in the U.S.<ref>Lieut Francis Reginald Bennett was killed in action at Ypres in 1917. Nellie Gillespie's correspondence with the Australian Army shows she resided at 805 Crescent Drive Beverly Hills in early 1923. See his service record online at [http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/NameSearch/Interface/NameSearchForm.aspx National Archives of Australia] Accessed 28/12/ December 2015</ref> In 1934, her brother Alexander married actress [[Frances Lee]]. The wedding was attended by some of [[Hollywood, California|Hollywood]]'s biggest names, including [[Gloria Swanson]] and [[Greta Garbo]].

On 14 May 1969, Bennett died at her home in [[Malibu, California]], aged 75.

*''[[Officer 666 (1916 film)|Officer 666]]'' (1916) - Helen Burton

*''[[The Law of Men (1919 film)|The Law of Men]]'' (1919, lost film) - Laura Dayne

* ''[[Keeping Up with Lizzie]]'' (1921) - Lizzie Henshaw

[[Category:PeopleActresses from Greater Los Angeles]]