Irene Bentley

Irene Bentley was an American stage actress and vocalist.

Biography

Bentley was born in Baltimore, Maryland, The daughter of William H. Bentley and Alexina Mabee Bentley.
Bentley's stage debut came in April 1895 when she performed in Little Christopher in Palmer's Theatre in New York. She went on to become "a major stage star in New York and London".
She appeared in Sally in Our Alley with Marie Cahill and also in The Wild Rose, The Belle of Bohemia, The Belle of New York, The Strollers, It Happened in Nordland, and The Belle of Mayfair.

Niece

A niece of her second husband, Harry B. Smith, used Irene Bentley's name to become a film actress. Hence there are two actresses named Irene Bentley when perusing film or stage biographies. The younger Irene Bentley was born in 1904 and died in 1965, and appeared in films such as My Weakness, Smoky, and Frontier Marshal.

Personal life and death

Bentley first married J. T. Sothoron. She later married librettist Harry B. Smith. This was her second marriage. She died at her home in Allenhurst, New Jersey, on June 3, 1940, aged 70.