Barbara Bennett

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Barbara Jane Bennett

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Palisades Park, NJ, United States
Death: August 08, 1958 (51)
Lacolle, Le Haut-Richelieu, Québec, Canada (Suicide)
Place of Burial: Lacolle, Le Haut-Richelieu, Québec, Canada
Immediate Family:

Daughter of Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison
Wife of Jack Randall and Laurent Suprenant
Ex-wife of Morton Downey
Mother of Morton Downey, Jr.; Anthony Downey; Kevin P Downey; Michael Downey and Lorelle Downey
Sister of Constance Bennett and Joan Bennett

Occupation: Actress/Dancer
Managed by: Ric Dickinson, Geni Curator
Last Updated:

About Barbara Bennett

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

Born into an acting family, she was the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison. Her sisters were actresses Constance and Joan Bennett.

Bennett would never succeed to the fame that either of her sisters achieved. She married three times in her lifetime. Her first husband was singer and song writer Morton Downey. They married on January 28, 1929, and had five children: adopted son Michael, daughter Lorelle, and sons Morton Downey Jr, who would go on to fame as a television personality, Anthony, and Kevin. They divorced in June 1941. Shortly afterward, Bennett married actor Addison Randall, a popular romantic star and singing cowboy at the time. On July 16, 1945, Randall died after suffering a heart attack and falling from a horse during the filming of The Royal Mounted Rides Again. Bennett married Laurent Suprenant in 1954. They remained together until her death four years later.

Many people believe Bennett was portrayed in the 1981 film Mommie Dearest by actress Jocelyn Brando, older sister of actor Marlon Brando, but this is not the case. It is a coincidence that the Redbook writer in the movie has the same name. Bennett was never a magazine writer. She held sporadic jobs, once as a literary rep for Walter Wanger; Bennett scouted best-sellers and the like as potential movie properties, especially for Wanger's wife, her sister Joan.

Barbara Bennett died at age 51 from a heart attack in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

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Barbara Bennett's Timeline

1906
August 13, 1906
Palisades Park, NJ, United States
1932
December 9, 1932
Los Angeles, CA, United States
1935
November 2, 1935
New York, New York, United States
1938
August 6, 1938
New York, New York, United States
1958
August 8, 1958
Age 51
Lacolle, Le Haut-Richelieu, Québec, Canada
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