Barbara Bennett

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title: "Barbara Bennett" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1906-births", "1958-suicides", "20th-century-american-actresses", "actresses-from-bergen-county,-new-jersey", "american-expatriate-actresses-in-canada", "american-female-dancers", "dancers-from-new-jersey", "american-people-of-english-descent", "american-people-of-jewish-descent", "american-people-of-spanish-descent", "american-film-actresses", "american-silent-film-actresses", "american-stage-actresses", "people-from-palisades-park,-new-jersey", "suicides-in-quebec", "chapin-school-(manhattan)-alumni", "20th-century-american-dancers"] description: "American actress and dancer (1906–1958)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Bennett" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress and dancer (1906–1958) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Barbara Bennett
image	Barbara Bennett oval portrait - Theatre 1924-02.jpg
birth_name	Barbara Jane Bennett
birth_date
birth_place	Palisades Park, New Jersey, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Montréal, Québec, Canada
resting_place	Burtonsville Union Cemetery, MD
other_names	Barbara Bennett Suprenant
occupation	Actress, dancer
spouse	{{plainlist
* {{marriage	Morton Downey
* {{marriage	Jack Randall
children	5, including Morton Downey Jr.
parents	Richard Bennett
Adrienne Morrison
relatives	Constance Bennett (sister)
Joan Bennett (sister)
Lewis Morrison (maternal grandfather)
::

| name = Barbara Bennett | image = Barbara Bennett oval portrait - Theatre 1924-02.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Barbara Jane Bennett | birth_date = | birth_place = Palisades Park, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Montréal, Québec, Canada | resting_place = Burtonsville Union Cemetery, MD | other_names = Barbara Bennett Suprenant | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Actress, dancer | years_active = | known_for = | spouse = {{plainlist|

| children = 5, including Morton Downey Jr. | parents = Richard Bennett Adrienne Morrison | relatives = Constance Bennett (sister) Joan Bennett (sister) Lewis Morrison (maternal grandfather)

Barbara Jane Bennett (August 13, 1906 – August 8, 1958) was an American stage and film actress and dancer.

Family

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Richard-Bennett-Daughters.jpg" caption="Richard Bennett with his three daughters (from left), Constance, Joan and Barbara (ca. 1913)"] ::

Born in Palisades Park, New Jersey, Barbara Bennett was the second of three daughters born to actor Richard Bennett and his wife, actress Adrienne Morrison. Her maternal grandfather was the stage actor Lewis Morrison. Her older sister Constance and her younger sister Joan had successful film careers. The girls attended the Chapin School with the actress Jane Wyatt.

Personal life

Bennett married three times and had five children. On January 28, 1929, she married tenor Morton Downey. The couple had four biological children, including son Morton Downey Jr., and adopted a fifth child, Michael. They divorced in June 1941. Bennett later married actor Jack Randall, a popular romantic star and singing cowboy at the time. On July 16, 1945, Randall died after suffering a myocardial infarction and falling from a horse during the filming of The Royal Mounted Rides Again. Bennett married Laurent Surprenant in 1954. The couple moved to Montreal in 1957 and remained together until her death the following year.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Black_Jack_1927_film_poster.jpg" caption="Black Jack]]'', a 1927 Fox Film Corporation release."] ::

Bennett was an actress on Broadway as well as a film actress (1916-1930). In 1931, she co-authored the waltz Dreaming of My Indiana Sweetheart with Bill Hansen.

Bennett later worked as a literary representative for producer Walter Wanger, who was married to her sister Joan. In that position, Bennett scouted best-sellers and the like as potential movie properties, especially for her sister Joan.

Death

On August 8, 1958, five days before her 52nd birthday, Bennett died after what the media described as an unidentified "long illness" in Montreal. Over the course of her life, Bennett attempted suicide four times. As the circumstances surrounding herself were vague and Bennett's sister Joan refused to discuss the details of her death, rumors arose that Bennett had finally succeeded in ending her life.

In her 1982 memoirs Lulu in Hollywood, longtime friend and actress Louise Brooks wrote of Bennett, "Barbara made a career of her emotions. Periods of work or marriage were terminated by her frightening, abandoned laughter of despair and failure. Only her death, in 1958, achieved in her fifth suicide attempt, could be termed a success."

She was buried at Burtonville Union Cemetery in Lacolle, Quebec. A memorial service was later held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.

Broadway credits

::data[format=table]

Production	Role	Date
The Stork	Heloise	January 26 – February 1925
Victory Belles	Miss Flo Hilliard	October 26, 1943 – January 22, 1944
::

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1916	The Valley of Decision	Unborn soul
1927	Black Jack	Nancy Blake
1929	Syncopation	Fleurette Sloane
1929	Mother's Boy	Beatrix Townleigh
1930	Love Among the Millionaires	Virginia Hamilton
::

References

Sources

References

1. (August 10, 1958). "Barbara Bennett, Sister of Actresses". The Miami News.
2. (August 10, 1958). "Barbara Bennett, Ex-Actress, Dies". The Evening Independent.
3. "(Dreaming of my) Indiana sweetheart {{!}} WorldCat.org".
4. Congress, The Library of. "Kornheiser, Phil, 1885-1972 - LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies {{!}} Library of Congress, from LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)".
5. Catalog of Copyright Entries, New Series. Part 3: Musical Compositions 1931: Vol 26 No 1-12 : Library of Congress. Copyright Office. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
6. (1989). "Lulu in Hollywood". Limelight Editions.

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