Enid Bennett


Enid Eulalie Bennett was an Australian silent film actress, mostly active in American film.

Early life

Bennett was born on 15 July 1893 in York, Western Australia, the daughter of Nellie Mary Louise and Frank Bennett. She had an older brother, Francis Reginald "Reg" Bennett, and a younger sister, actress Marjorie Bennett. 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. Nellie later married the new headmaster, Alexander Gillespie, in 1899. With him, she had a daughter named Catherine and a son named Alexander. 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. 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.

Career

In the early part of 1915, theatre agents J. 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. Enid Bennett appeared in both. Three reels of 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." Both films were released in Australia after Bennett left for the United States in June 1915, travelling with Niblo and Cohan.
Her first appearance in the U.S. was in Henry Arthur Jones' play Cock o' the Walk at George M. Cohan's Theatre on Broadway in late 1915. Roles of increasing importance in films followed soon after. One of her most important early films was The Little Brother in 1917, where she appeared opposite William Garwood. This brought her to the attention of studios, in particular Thomas H. Ince, who signed her up with the Triangle Film Corporation. From 1918 to 1921, she starred in 23 films, becoming well established as an actress and attracting great publicity and consistently positive reviews. In 1922, she starred in three films, one of which became her most famous role, the female lead of Maid Marian in Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks. Interviewed in the 1960s by Kevin Brownlow, Bennett said, "I had a wonderful time playing Maid Marian. Of course, the part was not too demanding, I just walked through it in a queenly manner. was wonderful, inspiring."
Following Josephine Cohan's death, Bennett married Fred Niblo in 1918. In 1924, she appeared opposite Ramon Novarro in Niblo's film Red Lily. Between 1923 and 1928 her career had slowed and she appeared in leading roles in fewer films. She made a transition to sound, appearing in two 1931 Jackie Cooper-Robert Coogan films: Skippy and its sequel Sooky. Later at the end of the decade she appeared in a few minor roles, the last being the Marx Brothers 1941 film The Big Store. Niblo had retired in 1933, and it appears Bennett did also.
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. By the mid-1920s, her mother Nellie, both her sisters, and her surviving brother were living in the U.S. In 1934, her brother Alexander married actress Frances Lee. The wedding was attended by some of Hollywood's biggest names, including Gloria Swanson and Greta Garbo.

Personal life and death

In 1918, Bennett married Fred Niblo. In 1922, she and Niblo had their first child, a daughter named Loris. A son, Peter, was born later that year, and another daughter, Judith, was born in 1928. Niblo died in 1948. In 1963, she married American film director Sidney Franklin. In later life, she resided in Malibu, California.
Niblo and Bennett commissioned architect Wallace Neff to design their house on Angelo Drive, which they named Misty Mountain. It was completed in 1926 and sold by the couple to Jules Stein in 1940 after a decline in their fortunes.
On 14 May 1969, Bennett died at her home in Malibu, California, aged 75.

Partial filmography

  • Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford as Fanny
  • Officer 666 as Helen Burton
  • The Aryan as Minor Role
  • Princess of the Dark as Fay Herron
  • The Little Brother as Jerry Ross
  • Happiness as Doris Wingate
  • The Girl, Glory as Glory Wharton
  • The Mother Instinct as Eleanor Coutierre
  • Keys of the Righteous as Mary Manning
  • Naughty, Naughty! as Roberta Miller
  • The Biggest Show on Earth as Roxie Kemp
  • A Desert Wooing as Avice Bereton
  • The Vamp as Nancy Lyons
  • They're Off as Rita Hackett
  • The Marriage Ring as Anne Mertons
  • Coals of Fire as Nell Bradley
  • When Do We Eat? as Nora
  • Fuss and Feathers as Susie Baldwin
  • Happy Though Married as Millicent Lee
  • Partners Three as Agnes Cuyler
  • The Law of Men as Laura Dayne
  • The Haunted Bedroom as Betsy Thorne
  • The Virtuous Thief as Shirley Armitage
  • Stepping Out as Mrs.Robert Hillary
  • What Every Woman Learns as Amy Fortesque
  • The Woman in the Suitcase as Mary Moreland
  • The False Road as Betty Palmer
  • Hairpins as Muriel Rossmore
  • Her Husband's Friend as Judith Westover
  • Silk Hosiery as Marjorie Bowen
  • Keeping Up with Lizzie as Lizzie Henshaw
  • The Bootlegger's Daughter as Nell Bradley
  • Robin Hood as Lady Marian Fitzwalter
  • Scandalous Tongues
  • Your Friend and Mine as Patricia Stanton
  • Strangers of the Night as Poppy Faire
  • The Bad Man as Mrs. Morgan Pell
  • The Courtship of Miles Standish as Priscilla Mullens
  • A Fool's Awakening as Olivia Gale
  • The Sea Hawk as Lady Rosamund Godolphin
  • The Red Lily as Marise La Noue
  • A Woman's Heart as Eve Allen Waring
  • The Wrong Mr. Wright as Henrietta
  • Skippy as Mrs. Ellen Skinner
  • Waterloo Bridge as Mrs. Wetherby
  • Sooky as Mrs. Skinner
  • Intermezzo as Greta Stenborg
  • Meet Dr. Christian as Anne Hewitt
  • Strike Up the Band as Mrs. Morgan
  • The Big Store as Clerk