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{{short description|American actress and producer}}
{{Refimprove|date=May 2008}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox actor
{{Infobox person
| name = Constance Bennett
| image = Constance Bennett in Topper Takes a Trip trailer.jpg
| name = Constance Bennett
| image = Constance Bennett publicity copy.jpg
| caption =from the trailer for ''[[Topper Takes a Trip]]'' (1938)
| caption = Bennett in ''Rockabye'' (1932)
| image_size = 220px
| birth_name = Constance Campbell Bennett
| birth_name = Constance Campbell Bennett
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|10|22}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|10|22}}
| birth_place = [[New York City, New York]], U.S.
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1965|7|24|1904|10|22}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1965|7|24|1904|10|22}}
| death_place = [[Fort Dix, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_place = [[Fort Dix, New Jersey]], U.S.
| resting_place = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| occupation = Actress
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1916–1965
| years_active = 1916–1965
| spouse = {{marriage|Chester Hirst Moorhead|1921|1923}} <br/>{{marriage|Philip Morgan Plant|1925|1929}} <br/>{{marriage|[[Henri de la Falaise]]|1931|1940}}<br/>{{marriage|[[Gilbert Roland]]|1941|1946}}<br/>{{marriage|John Theron Coulter|1946|1965}}
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Chester Hirst Moorhead|1921|1923|end=[[Annulment|{{abbr|annul.|annulled}}]]}}
* {{marriage|Philip Morgan Plant|1925|1929|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Henry de la Falaise]]|1931|1940|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Gilbert Roland]]|1941|1946|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|John Theron Coulter|1946}}
}}
}}
| children = 3
'''Constance Campbell Bennett''' (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American actress.
| parents = [[Richard Bennett (actor)|Richard Bennett]]<br />[[Adrienne Morrison]]
| relatives = [[Lewis Morrison]] (maternal grandfather)<br />[[Barbara Bennett]] (sister)<br />[[Joan Bennett]] (sister)<br />[[Morton Downey Jr.]] (nephew)
}}

'''Constance Campbell Bennett''' (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in ''[[What Price Hollywood?]]'' (1932), ''[[Bed of Roses (1933 film)|Bed of Roses]]'' (1933), ''[[Topper (film)|Topper]]'' (1937), ''[[Topper Takes a Trip]]'' (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in [[Greta Garbo]]'s last film, ''[[Two-Faced Woman]]'' (1941).<ref name=kellow>{{cite book |last=Kellow |first=Brian |date=2004 |title=The Bennetts: An Acting Family |url=https://archive.org/details/bennettsactingfa00kell_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=978-0813123295}}</ref>

She was the daughter of stage and silent film star [[Richard Bennett (actor)|Richard Bennett]], and the elder sister of actress [[Joan Bennett]].<ref name=kellow/>


==Early life==
==Early life==
[[File:Richard-Bennett-Daughters.jpg|thumb|right|Richard Bennett in 1918 with his three daughters (from left), Constance, Joan, and Barbara]]
She was born in [[New York City]], the daughter of actor [[Richard Bennett (actor)|Richard Bennett]] and actress [[Adrienne Morrison]], whose father was the stage actor [[Lewis Morrison]] (Morris W. Morris), a wealthy performer of English and Spanish ancestry. Constance's sister, actress Joan Bennett, spoke of her famous acting family and their background in her autobiogrpaphy "The Bennett Playbill". Constance's other sister was actress/dancer [[Barbara Bennett]].
Bennett was born in New York City, the eldest of three daughters of actress [[Adrienne Morrison]] and actor [[Richard Bennett (actor)|Richard Bennett]]. Her younger sisters were actresses [[Joan Bennett]] and [[Barbara Bennett]]. All three girls attended the [[Chapin School]] in New York. <ref name="nbdf">{{cite book|last1=Thomson|first1=David|title=The New Biographical Dictionary of Film|date=2014|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=9780375711848|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jqODQAAQBAJ&q=%22Constance+Bennett%22+actress&pg=PA85|access-date=August 9, 2017|language=en}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
She started off with a spell in a convent but decided to go into the family business. Independent, cultured, ironic and outspoken, Constance, the first Bennett sister to enter [[film|motion pictures]], appeared in [[New York]]-produced [[silent film|silent movies]] before a meeting with [[Samuel Goldwyn]] led to her [[Hollywood]] debut in ''[[Cytherea (1924 film)|Cytherea]]'' (1924).
After some time spent in a convent, Bennett entered acting, Constance, the first Bennett sister to enter [[film|motion pictures]], appeared in New York–produced [[silent film|silent movies]] before a meeting with [[Samuel Goldwyn]] led to her [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] debut in ''[[Cytherea (1924 film)|Cytherea]]'' (1924). She abandoned a career in silent films for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925 but resumed her film career after their divorce in 1929, at the advent of talking pictures.


In the early 1930s, Bennett was frequently among the top actresses named in audience popularity and box-office polls. In 1931, a short-lived contract with [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] earned her $300,000 for two movies which included ''[[The Easiest Way]]'' and made her one of the highest-paid stars in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. Warner Brothers paid her the all-time high salary of $30,000 a week for ''[[Bought!]]'' in 1931.<ref>The Warner Bros Story - Clive Hirschhorn p. 106; {{ISBN|0-517-53834-2}}</ref> Richard Bennett, her father, was also cast in this film.
She abandoned a burgeoning career in silents for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925; She resumed her film career after divorce, with the advent of talking pictures (1929), and with her delicate blonde features and glamorous fashion style, quickly became a popular film star.


[[File:What-Price-Hollywood-Sherman-Bennett.jpg|thumb|260px|[[Lowell Sherman]] and Bennett in ''[[What Price Hollywood?]]'' (1932)]]
In 1931, a short-lived contract with [[Metro Goldwyn Mayer]] earned her $300,000 for two movies which included ''[[The Easiest Way]]'' and made her one of the highest paid stars in [[Hollywood]]. The next year she moved to [[RKO]], where she acted in ''[[What Price Hollywood?]]'' (1932), directed by [[George Cukor]], an ironic and at the same time tragic behind-the-scenes looks at the old [[Hollywood]] [[studio system]], in which she gave her finest performance. In this movie she is a star-struck waitress, named Mary Evans, who manages to make a good impression on a prominent film director (played by [[Lowell Sherman]]); with his patronage she becomes a movie star. While the director has some serious alcohol problems, she marries a wealthy playboy (played by [[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]]), who genuinely loves his wife but is jealous of the demands made on her by her career. He leaves her, but not before Mary has been impregnated. She begins to turn her attentions to her mentor, but it is too late: he kills himself in her bedroom. Hoping to heal her emotional wounds, Mary flees to Paris with her child, where she is reunited with her contrite husband.
The next year she moved to [[RKO Pictures|RKO]], where she acted in ''[[What Price Hollywood?]]'' (1932), directed by [[George Cukor]], a behind-the-scenes looks at the Hollywood [[studio system]], in which she portrayed waitress Mary Evans, who becomes a movie star. [[Lowell Sherman]] co-starred as the film director who discovers her, and [[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]] as the wealthy playboy she marries who later divorces her. The film ''[[Morning Glory (1933 film)|Morning Glory]]'' had been written with Bennett in mind for the lead role, but producer [[Pandro S. Berman]] gave the role to [[Katharine Hepburn]], who won an [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Academy Award]] for her performance.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}


During her time at RKO, Bennett briefly became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. RKO controlled the careers of actresses [[Ann Harding]] and [[Helen Twelvetrees]] in a similar manner, hoping to duplicate Bennett's success.<ref>{{cite book|title=Leading Ladies}}</ref>
Bennett next showed her versatility in the likes of ''Our Betters'' (1933), ''[[Bed of Roses (1933 film)|Bed of Roses]]'' (1933) with [[Pert Kelton]], ''[[The Affairs of Cellini]]'' (1934), ''[[After Office Hours]]'' (1935) with [[Clark Gable]], the original ''[[Topper (film)|Topper]]'' (1937, in a career standout as Marian Kerby opposite [[Cary Grant]], a role she repeated in the 1939 sequel, [[Topper (film)|Topper Takes a Trip]]), the ultimate madcap family comedy ''[[Merrily We Live]]'' (1938) and ''[[Two-Faced Woman]]'' (1941, supporting [[Greta Garbo]]).


Bennett next showed her versatility in the likes of ''[[Our Betters]]'' (1933), writer/director [[Gregory La Cava]]'s ''[[Bed of Roses (1933 film)|Bed of Roses]]'' (1933) with [[Pert Kelton]], ''[[After Tonight]]'' (1933, co-starring with future husband Gilbert Roland), ''[[The Affairs of Cellini]]'' (1934), ''[[After Office Hours]]'' (1935) with [[Clark Gable]], ''[[Topper (film)|Topper]]'' (1937, as Marian Kerby opposite [[Cary Grant]], a role she repeated in the 1939 sequel, ''[[Topper Takes a Trip]]''), the madcap family comedy ''[[Merrily We Live]]'' (1938) and ''[[Two-Faced Woman]]'' (1941, supporting [[Greta Garbo]]).
By the 1940s, Bennett was working less frequently in film but was in demand in both [[radio]] and [[theatre]]. Shrewd investments had made her a wealthy woman, and she founded a cosmetics and clothing company.


By the 1940s, Bennett was working less frequently in film but was in demand in both [[radio]] and [[theatre]]. She had her own program, ''[[Constance Bennett Calls on You]]'', on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] radio in 1945–1946.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22Constance+Bennett+Calls+on+You,+talk%22&pg=PA180 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=180 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-10-29}}</ref> In 1945–1946, she hosted ''The Constance Bennett Show'' on ABC Radio.<ref name="rp">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows|date=1999|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7864-4513-4|page=82}}</ref>
==After World War II==
She had a major supporting role in Warner Bros.'s ''[[The Unsuspected]]'' (1947) opposite [[Claude Rains]], in which she played the program director who helps prove that Rains is guilty of murder. She made no films from the early 1950s until 1965 when she made a comeback in the film ''[[Madame X (1966 film)|Madame X]]'' (released posthumously in 1966) playing [[Lana Turner]]'s mother-in-law. Shortly after filming was completed, Bennett collapsed and died from a [[cerebral hemorrhage]] at the age of 60.


She had a major supporting role in ''[[The Unsuspected]]'' (1947), in which she played Jane Moynihan, the program director who helps prove that radio host Victor Grandison ([[Claude Rains]]) is guilty of murder. In the 1950s, ''[[As Young as You Feel]]'' (1951) found her playing opposite [[Marilyn Monroe]]. Bennett played herself in a cameo in ''[[It Should Happen to You]]'' (1954). In 1957–1958, she toured the United States in the title role of ''Auntie Mame''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jordan|first=Richard Tyler|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2cOt4-gnyTMC&q=constance+bennett|title=But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame!: The Amazing History of the World's Favorite Madcap Aunt|date=2004|publisher=Kensington Books|isbn=978-0-7582-0482-0|language=en}}</ref> Bennett made her final screen appearance in the 1965 film ''[[Madame X (1966 film)|Madame X]]'' (released posthumously in 1966), as the blackmailing mother-in-law.
In recognition of her military contributions, and as the wife of Theron John Coulter, who had achieved the rank of [[Brigadier General (United States)|brigadier general]], she was buried in [[Arlington National Cemetery]]. Coulter died in 1995 and was buried with her.

Bennett has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6250 [[Hollywood Boulevard]], a short distance from the star of her sister, [[Joan Bennett|Joan]].


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
[[File:Constance-Bennett-Children-1944.jpg|thumb|240px|Bennett and her daughters with painting (background) of her and her son, 1944]]
Bennett was married five times.
Bennett was married five times and had three children.


===Chester Hirst Moorehead===
*In 1921 Bennett eloped with Chester Hirst Moorehead of Chicago, the son of a surgeon. The marriage was annulled in 1923.
On June 15, 1921, Bennett eloped with Chester Hirst Moorehead of Chicago, a student at the University of Virginia<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=Motor Away To Wed.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12965094/constance_bennett_elopes_with_moorehead/|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 18, 1921|location=New York, New York City|page=6|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 8, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> who was the son of oral surgeon, [[Frederick B. Moorehead|Frederick Moorehead]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Proved a Nightmare|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12965475/constance_bennettmoorehead_separation/|work=The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News|date=January 17, 1923|location=Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre|page=21|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 8, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> They were married by a justice of the peace in Greenwich, Connecticut. Bennett was 16 at the time.<ref name=nyt/><ref group=note>An article in ''[[Standard-Examiner|The Ogden Standard-Examiner]]'' in 1923 said, "They succeeded in convincing the authorities there [Greenwich, Connecticut] that she was twenty-one, instead of the bare sixteen she looked and was"</ref><ref name=ose/><ref group=note>An article in the ''Springfield Missouri Republican'' in 1925 also reported the misrepresentation of Bennett's age.</ref><ref name=smr/> A ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article reporting the elopement observed: "The parents of Miss Bennett were opposed to their marriage at this time solely on account of their youth."<ref name=nyt/> The marriage was annulled in 1923.<ref group=note>An article in the ''Springfield Missouri Republican'' in 1925 said, "Three days later the marriage was annulled"</ref><ref name="smr">{{cite news|title=Latest Child-Wife Problems in the Mansions and Slums|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12985803/constance_bennett/|work=Springfield Missouri Republican|date=April 12, 1925|location=Missouri, Springfield|page=34|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 9, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref>


===Philip Morgan Plant===
*Bennett eloped with millionaire socialite Philip Morgan Plant (died 1941) in 1925; they divorced in 1929. In 1932, Bennett brought back from Europe a three-year-old child, whom she claimed to have adopted and named Peter Bennett Plant. In 1942, however, during a battle over a large trust fund established to benefit any descendants of her former husband, Bennett announced that her adopted son actually was her natural child by Plant, born after the divorce and kept hidden in order to ensure that the child's biological father did not get custody. During the court hearings, the actress told her former mother-in-law and her husband's widow that "if she got to the witness stand she would give a complete account of her life with Plant. The matter was settled out of court."<ref>[http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802442,00.html September 14, 1942, Time]</ref><ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791142-1,00.html November 29, 1943, Time]</ref>
Bennett's next serious relationship was with millionaire socialite Philip Morgan Plant. Her parents planned a cruise to Europe, taking Constance with them, to separate the couple. As the ship was preparing to leave port, however, the Bennetts saw Plant and his parents boarding, too. A contemporary newspaper article reported, "Now the little beauty and the heir to all the Plant millions were assured a week of the cosy intimacy which an ocean liner affords."<ref name="ose">{{cite news|title=Brought Together the Lovers They Wanted To Part|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12983379/constance_bennett/|work=The Ogden Standard-Examiner|date=July 8, 1923|location=Utah, Ogden|page=26|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 9, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> In November 1925, the two eloped and were married in Greenwich, Connecticut, by the same justice of the peace who officiated at Bennett's wedding to Moorehead.<ref>{{cite news|title=Constance Bennett Weds Philip Plant|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12986291/constance_bennett_marries_philip_plant/|work=The News-Herald|agency=United Press|date=November 4, 1925|location=Pennsylvania, Franklin|page=1|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 9, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> They divorced in a French court<ref>{{cite news|title=Constance Bennett No Longer Wife of Plant|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12986910/constance_bennett_divorce_from_philip/|work=The Iola Register|agency=Associated Press|date=March 19, 1929|location=Kansas, Iola|page=4|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 9, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> in 1929.<ref>{{cite news|title=Decree Won From Millionaire, Divorcee Maps Plans for Future|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12986692/oakland_tribune/|work=Oakland Tribune|date=April 24, 1929|location=California, Oakland|page=1|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 9, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref>


In 1932, Bennett returned from Europe with a three-year-old child, whom she claimed to have adopted and named Peter Bennett Plant (born 1929). In 1942, however, during a battle over a large trust fund established to benefit any descendants of her former husband, Bennett announced that her adopted son actually was her natural child by Plant, born after the divorce and kept hidden to ensure that the child's biological father did not get custody. During the court hearings, the actress told her former mother-in-law and her husband's widow that "if she got to the witness stand she would give a complete account of her life with Plant." The matter was settled out of court.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802442,00.htm |title=Domain Inquiry |website=Jcgi.pathfinder.com |access-date=July 23, 2017 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791142-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930095816/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791142-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |title=People: People, Nov. 29, 1943 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=November 29, 1943 |access-date=July 23, 2017}}</ref>
*She captured numerous headlines in 1931, when she married one of [[Gloria Swanson]]'s former husbands, [[Henry de la Falaise|Henri le Bailly, the Marquis de La Coudraye de La Falaise]] (1898–1972), a French nobleman and film director. Bennett and de la Falaise founded Bennett Pictures Corp. and co-produced two films which were the last filmed in Hollywood in the two-strip Technicolor process, ''[[Legong: Dance of the Virgins]]'' (1935) filmed in [[Bali]], and ''Kilou the Killer Tiger'' (1936), filmed in [[Indochina]]. They were divorced in 1940.


===Henri de la Falaise===
*In 1941, Bennett married the actor [[Gilbert Roland]], by whom she had two daughters, Lorinda and Christina (a.k.a. Gyl). They were divorced in 1946.
In 1931, Bennett made headlines when she married one of [[Gloria Swanson]]'s former husbands, [[Henry de la Falaise|Henri le Bailly, the Marquis de La Coudraye de La Falaise]],<ref name=i/> a French nobleman and film director. She and de la Falaise founded Bennett Pictures Corp. and co-produced two films which were the Hollywood films shot in the two-strip Technicolor process, ''[[Legong: Dance of the Virgins]]'' (1935) filmed on location in [[Bali]], and ''Kilou the Killer Tiger'' (1936), filmed in [[Indochina]]. The couple divorced in [[Reno, Nevada]] in 1940.<ref>{{cite web|title=Famous people divorced in Reno (new)|url=http://renodivorcehistory.org/research/famous-people-divorced-in-reno|website=renodivorcehistory.org|access-date=October 15, 2015}}</ref>


===Gilbert Roland and John Theron Coulter===
*In June 1946, Bennett married [[US Air Force]] [[Colonel]] (later [[Brigadier General (United States)|Brigadier General]]) John Theron Coulter (1912–1995). After her marriage, she concentrated her efforts on providing relief entertainment to US troops still stationed in [[Europe]], winning military honors for her services.
Bennett's fourth marriage was to actor [[Gilbert Roland]]. They were married in 1941 and had two daughters, Lorinda "Lynda" and Christina "Gyl".<ref group=note>Bennett's obituary in the ''[[Press-Telegram|Independent]]'' gives the daughters' names as "Lynda and Gyl".</ref><ref name=i/> They divorced in 1946, with Bennett winning custody of their children. Later that year, Bennett married for the fifth and final time to [[US Air Force]] [[Colonel]] John Theron Coulter.<ref name="i">{{cite news|title=Actress Constance Bennett Dies at 59|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12987537/constance_bennett_obituary_2nd_attempt/|work=Independent|date=July 26, 1965|location=California, Long Beach|page=2|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 9, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> After her marriage, she concentrated her efforts on providing relief entertainment to US troops still stationed in Europe, winning military honors for her services. Bennett and Coulter remained married for the rest of her life. Bennett supported [[Barry Goldwater]] in the [[1964 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfHXAAAAQBAJ&q=constance%20bennett | title=When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics| isbn=9781107650282| last1=Critchlow| first1=Donald T.| date=October 21, 2013| publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

[[File:Constance-Bennett-grave.jpg|thumb|Grave at Arlington National Cemetery]]
===Death===
Bennett died on July 24, 1965, aged 60. As the wife of John Theron Coulter, who had achieved the rank of [[Brigadier General (United States)|brigadier general]], she was buried in [[Arlington National Cemetery]]. Coulter died in 1995 and was buried with her.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/cbennett.htm|title=Constance Bennett Coulter, American Actress, Military Wife|date=April 3, 2023 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
Bennett has a [[List of actors with Hollywood Walk of Fame motion picture stars|motion pictures star]] on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] for her contributions to the [[film industry]]. Her star is located at 6250 [[Hollywood Boulevard]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/constance-bennett |title=Hollywood Walk of Fame - Constance Bennett |website=walkoffame.com |publisher=Hollywood Chamber of Commerce |access-date=November 16, 2017}}</ref> a short distance from the star of her sister, [[Joan Bennett|Joan]].


==Filmography==
==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
{{col-begin}}
|+ Silent films
{{col-break}}
|-
*''The Valley of Decision'' (1916)
! Year
*''Reckless Youth'' (1922)
! Title
*''Evidence'' (1922)
! Role
*''[[What's Wrong with the Women?]]'' (1922)
! class="unsortable" | Notes
*''[[Cytherea (1924 film)|Cytherea]]'' (1924)
|-
*''[[Into the Net]]'' (1924)
| 1916
*''Wandering Fires'' (1925)
*''The Goose Hangs High'' (1925)
| ''The Valley of Decision''
| Unborn soul
*''Code of the West'' (1925)
*''My Son'' (1925)
| '''Lost''' film
|-
*''My Wife and I'' (1925)
| rowspan=3|1922
*''[[The Goose Woman]]'' (1925)
| ''[[Reckless Youth (1922 film)|Reckless Youth]]''
*''[[Sally, Irene and Mary]]'' (1925)
| Chorus Girl
*''The Pinch Hitter'' (1925)
|
*''Married?'' (1926)
|-
*''Rich People'' (1929)
*''[[This Thing Called Love]]'' (1929)
| ''[[Evidence (1922 film)|Evidence]]''
| Edith
*''[[Son of the Gods]]'' (1930)
| '''Lost''' film
*''Three Faces East'' (1930)
|-
*''[[Common Clay]]'' (1930)
| ''[[What's Wrong with the Women?]]''
*''Sin Takes a Holiday'' (1930)
| Elise Bascom
*''[[The Easiest Way]]'' (1931)
| '''Lost''' film
*''Born to Love'' (1931)
|-
*''The Common Law'' (1931)
| rowspan=2|1924
*''Bought'' (1931)
| ''[[Cytherea (1924 film)|Cytherea]]''
*''Screen Snapshots'' (1932) (short subject)
| Annette Sherman
*''[[Lady with a Past]]'' (1932)
| '''Lost''' film
*''[[What Price Hollywood?]]'' (1932)
|-
*''Two Against the World'' (1932)
*''[[Rockabye (1932 film)|Rockabye]]'' (1932)
| ''[[Into the Net]]''
| Madge Clayton, his sister
*''[[Our Betters]]'' (1933)
| '''Lost''' film
{{col-break}}
|-
*''[[Bed of Roses (1933 film)|Bed of Roses]]'' (1933)
| rowspan=8|1925
*''[[After Tonight]]'' (1933)
| ''[[The Goose Hangs High]]''
*''Moulin Rouge'' (1934)
| Lois Ingals
*''[[The Affairs of Cellini]]'' (1934)
| '''Lost''' film
*''Outcast Lady'' (1934)
|-
*''[[After Office Hours]]'' (1935)
| ''[[Code of the West (1925 film)|Code of the West]]''
*''Starlit Days at the Lido'' (1935) (short subject)
| Georgie May
*''Everything Is Thunder'' (1936)
| '''Lost''' film
*''[[Ladies in Love]]'' (1936)
|-
*''Daily Beauty Rituals'' (1937) (short subject)
*''[[Topper (film)|Topper]]'' (1937)
| ''[[My Son (1925 film)|My Son]]''
| Betty Smith
*''[[Merrily We Live]]'' (1938)
| '''Lost''' film
*''Service de Luxe'' (1938)
|-
*''[[Topper Takes a Trip]]'' (1938)
| ''[[My Wife and I (film)|My Wife and I]]''
*''Tail Spin'' (1939)
| Aileen Alton
*''Escape to Glory'' (1940)
| '''Lost''' film
*''Law of the Tropics'' (1941)
|-
*''Picture People No. 2: Hollywood Sports'' (1941) (short subject)
*''[[Two-Faced Woman]]'' (1941)
| ''[[The Goose Woman]]''
| Hazel Woods
*''Wild Bill Hickok Rides'' (1942)
|
*''Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 5'' (1942) (short subject)
|-
*''Sin Town'' (1942)
| ''[[Wandering Fires]]''
*''Madame Spy'' (1942)
| Guerda Anthony
*''Paris Underground'' (1945)
|
*''Madame Pimpernel'' (1945)
|-
*''[[Centennial Summer]]'' (1946)
| ''[[Sally, Irene and Mary (1925 film)|Sally, Irene and Mary]]''
*''[[The Unsuspected]]'' (1947)
| Sally
*''Smart Woman'' (1948)
|
*''Angel on the Amazon'' (1948)
|-
*''[[It Should Happen To You]]'' (1954)
*''[[Madame X (1966 film)|Madame X]]'' (1966)
| ''[[The Pinch Hitter (1925 film)|The Pinch Hitter]]''
| Abby Nettleton
|
|-
| 1926
| ''[[Married ?]]''
| Marcia Livingston
|
|}


{| class="wikitable sortable"
{{col-end}}
|+ Sound films
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| rowspan=2|1929
| ''[[Rich People (1929 film)|Rich People]]''
| Connie Hayden
|
|-
| ''[[This Thing Called Love (1929 film)|This Thing Called Love]]''
| Ann Marvin
| '''Lost''' film
|-
| rowspan=4|1930
| ''[[Son of the Gods]]''
| Allana
|
|-
| ''[[Three Faces East (1930 film)|Three Faces East]]''
| Frances Hawtree / Z-1
|
|-
| ''[[Common Clay (1930 film)|Common Clay]]''
| Ellen Neal
|
|-
| ''[[Sin Takes a Holiday]]''
| Sylvia Brenner
|
|-
| rowspan=4|1931
| ''[[The Easiest Way]]''
| Laura Murdock
|
|-
| ''[[Born to Love (film)|Born to Love]]''
| Doris Kendall
|
|-
| ''[[The Common Law (1931 film)|The Common Law]]''
| Valerie West
|
|-
| ''[[Bought!]]''
| Stephanie Dale
|
|-
| rowspan=5|1932
| ''[[Screen Snapshots]]''
| Herself
| Short Subject
|-
| ''[[Lady with a Past]]''
| Venice Muir
|
|-
| ''[[What Price Hollywood?]]''
| Mary Evans
|
|-
| ''[[Two Against the World (1932 film)|Two Against the World]]''
| Miss Adele 'Dell' Hamilton
|
|-
| ''[[Rockabye (1932 film)|Rockabye]]''
| Judy Carroll
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1933
| ''[[Our Betters]]''
| Lady Pearl Grayston
|
|-
| ''[[Bed of Roses (1933 film)|Bed of Roses]]''
| Lorry Evans
|
|-
| ''[[After Tonight]]''
| Carla Vanirska, aka K-14 and Karen Schöntag
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1934
| ''[[Moulin Rouge (1934 film)|Moulin Rouge]]''
| Helen Hall / Raquel
|
|-
| ''[[The Affairs of Cellini]]''
| Duchess of Florence
|
|-
| ''[[Outcast Lady]]''
| Iris
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1935
| ''[[After Office Hours]]''
| Sharon Norwood
|
|-
| ''[[Legong (film)|Legong]]''
|
| Producer only
|-
| ''Starlit Days at the Lido''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0SoIHyxrQM|title=Early three-strip Technicolor in HD -- Henry Busse and His Band -- Hot Lips -- Read Notes!|last=jackusdk|date=February 9, 2015|via=YouTube}}</ref>
| Herself
| Short subject
|-
| rowspan=2|1936
|''[[Everything Is Thunder]]''
| Anna von Stucknadel
|
|-
| ''[[Ladies in Love]]''
| Yoli Haydn
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1937
| ''Daily Beauty Rituals''
| Herself
| Short subject
|-
| ''[[Topper (film)|Topper]]''
| Marion Kerby
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1938
| ''[[Merrily We Live]]''
| Jerry Kilbourne
|
|-
| ''[[Service de Luxe]]''
| Helen Murphy
|
|-
| ''[[Topper Takes a Trip]]''
| Marion Kerby
|
|-
| 1939
| ''[[Tail Spin]]''
| Gerry Lester
|
|-
| 1940
| ''[[Escape to Glory]]''
| Christine Blaine
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1941
| ''[[Law of the Tropics]]''
| Joan Madison
|
|-
| ''Picture People No. 2: Hollywood Sports''
| Herself
| Short subject
|-
| ''[[Two-Faced Woman]]''
| Griselda Vaughn
|
|-
| rowspan=4|1942
| ''[[Wild Bill Hickok Rides]]''
| Belle Andrews
|
|-
| ''Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 5''
| Herself
| Short subject
|-
| ''[[Sin Town (1942 film)|Sin Town]]''
| Kye Allen
|
|-
| ''[[Madame Spy (1942 film)|Madame Spy]]''
| Joan Bannister
|
|-
| 1945
| ''[[Paris Underground (film)|Paris Underground]]''
| Kitty de Mornay
| Also produced
|-
| 1946
| ''[[Centennial Summer]]''
| Zenia Lascalles
|
|-
| 1947
| ''[[The Unsuspected]]''
| Jane Moynihan
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1948
| ''[[Smart Woman (1948 film)|Smart Woman]]''
| Paula Rogers
|
|-
| ''[[Angel on the Amazon]]''
| Dr. Karen Lawrence
|
|-
| 1951
| ''[[As Young as You Feel]]''
| Lucille McKinley
|
|-
| 1954
| ''[[It Should Happen To You]]''
| Guest Panelist
|
|-
| 1966
| ''[[Madame X (1966 film)|Madame X]]''
| Estelle
| Released posthumously
|}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Commons category|Constance Bennett}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [http://www.constancebennett.byethost14.com Constance Bennett Website]
{{Commons}}
* {{IMDb name|0000909}}
*[http://www.constancebennett.byethost14.com Constance Bennett Website]
*{{IMDb name|0000909}}
* {{TCMDb name}}
*{{tcmdb name|id=13805|name=Constance Bennett}}
* {{IBDB name}}
*[https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/#/arlington-national/search/results/1/CgdCZW5uZXR0EglDb25zdGFuY2U-/ Arlington National Cemetery]
*{{ibdb name|id=31695|name=Constance Bennett}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040409120945/http://silent-movies.com/Ladies/PBennett.html Constance Bennett Photo Gallery]
*{{Amg name|5381}}
*[http://silent-movies.com/Ladies/PBennett.html Constance Bennett Photo Gallery]
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=936 Photographs and literature]

*{{Find a Grave|1906}}
{{Authority control}}
*[http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=936 Photographs and literature]


{{Persondata
|NAME= Bennett, Constance
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Bennett, Constance Campbell
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actress
|DATE OF BIRTH= October 22, 1904
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[New York City]], New York, U.S.
|DATE OF DEATH= July 24, 1965
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Fort Dix, New Jersey]], U.S.
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Constance}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Constance}}
[[Category:American film actors]]
[[Category:American silent film actors]]
[[Category:People from New York City]]
[[Category:Deaths from cerebral hemorrhage]]
[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
[[Category:Actors from New York]]
[[Category:20th-century actors]]
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]

[[Category:American people of Jewish descent]]
[[de:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:American people of Spanish descent]]
[[es:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[fr:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[it:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:American silent film actresses]]
[[nl:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:American radio actresses]]
[[no:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:Actresses from New York City]]
[[pt:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[ru:Беннетт, Констанс]]
[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
[[sv:Constance Bennett]]
[[Category:Chapin School (Manhattan) alumni]]
[[Category:RKO Pictures contract players]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players]]

Latest revision as of 15:54, 22 December 2024

Constance Bennett
Bennett in Rockabye (1932)
Born
Constance Campbell Bennett

(1904-10-22)October 22, 1904
New York City, U.S.
DiedJuly 24, 1965(1965-07-24) (aged 60)
Fort Dix, New Jersey, U.S.
Resting placeArlington National Cemetery
OccupationActress
Years active1916–1965
Spouses
Chester Hirst Moorhead
​
​
(m. 1921; annul. 1923)​
Philip Morgan Plant
​
​
(m. 1925; div. 1929)​
​
​
(m. 1931; div. 1940)​
​
​
(m. 1941; div. 1946)​
John Theron Coulter
​
(m. 1946)​
Children3
Parent(s)Richard Bennett
Adrienne Morrison
RelativesLewis Morrison (maternal grandfather)
Barbara Bennett (sister)
Joan Bennett (sister)
Morton Downey Jr. (nephew)

Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in What Price Hollywood? (1932), Bed of Roses (1933), Topper (1937), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941).[1]

She was the daughter of stage and silent film star Richard Bennett, and the elder sister of actress Joan Bennett.[1]

Early life

[edit]
Richard Bennett in 1918 with his three daughters (from left), Constance, Joan, and Barbara

Bennett was born in New York City, the eldest of three daughters of actress Adrienne Morrison and actor Richard Bennett. Her younger sisters were actresses Joan Bennett and Barbara Bennett. All three girls attended the Chapin School in New York. [2]

Career

[edit]

After some time spent in a convent, Bennett entered acting, Constance, the first Bennett sister to enter motion pictures, appeared in New York–produced silent movies before a meeting with Samuel Goldwyn led to her Hollywood debut in Cytherea (1924). She abandoned a career in silent films for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925 but resumed her film career after their divorce in 1929, at the advent of talking pictures.

In the early 1930s, Bennett was frequently among the top actresses named in audience popularity and box-office polls. In 1931, a short-lived contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer earned her $300,000 for two movies which included The Easiest Way and made her one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. Warner Brothers paid her the all-time high salary of $30,000 a week for Bought! in 1931.[3] Richard Bennett, her father, was also cast in this film.

Lowell Sherman and Bennett in What Price Hollywood? (1932)

The next year she moved to RKO, where she acted in What Price Hollywood? (1932), directed by George Cukor, a behind-the-scenes looks at the Hollywood studio system, in which she portrayed waitress Mary Evans, who becomes a movie star. Lowell Sherman co-starred as the film director who discovers her, and Neil Hamilton as the wealthy playboy she marries who later divorces her. The film Morning Glory had been written with Bennett in mind for the lead role, but producer Pandro S. Berman gave the role to Katharine Hepburn, who won an Academy Award for her performance.[citation needed]

During her time at RKO, Bennett briefly became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. RKO controlled the careers of actresses Ann Harding and Helen Twelvetrees in a similar manner, hoping to duplicate Bennett's success.[4]

Bennett next showed her versatility in the likes of Our Betters (1933), writer/director Gregory La Cava's Bed of Roses (1933) with Pert Kelton, After Tonight (1933, co-starring with future husband Gilbert Roland), The Affairs of Cellini (1934), After Office Hours (1935) with Clark Gable, Topper (1937, as Marian Kerby opposite Cary Grant, a role she repeated in the 1939 sequel, Topper Takes a Trip), the madcap family comedy Merrily We Live (1938) and Two-Faced Woman (1941, supporting Greta Garbo).

By the 1940s, Bennett was working less frequently in film but was in demand in both radio and theatre. She had her own program, Constance Bennett Calls on You, on ABC radio in 1945–1946.[5] In 1945–1946, she hosted The Constance Bennett Show on ABC Radio.[6]

She had a major supporting role in The Unsuspected (1947), in which she played Jane Moynihan, the program director who helps prove that radio host Victor Grandison (Claude Rains) is guilty of murder. In the 1950s, As Young as You Feel (1951) found her playing opposite Marilyn Monroe. Bennett played herself in a cameo in It Should Happen to You (1954). In 1957–1958, she toured the United States in the title role of Auntie Mame.[7] Bennett made her final screen appearance in the 1965 film Madame X (released posthumously in 1966), as the blackmailing mother-in-law.

Personal life

[edit]
Bennett and her daughters with painting (background) of her and her son, 1944

Bennett was married five times and had three children.

Chester Hirst Moorehead

[edit]

On June 15, 1921, Bennett eloped with Chester Hirst Moorehead of Chicago, a student at the University of Virginia[8] who was the son of oral surgeon, Frederick Moorehead.[9] They were married by a justice of the peace in Greenwich, Connecticut. Bennett was 16 at the time.[8][note 1][10][note 2][11] A New York Times article reporting the elopement observed: "The parents of Miss Bennett were opposed to their marriage at this time solely on account of their youth."[8] The marriage was annulled in 1923.[note 3][11]

Philip Morgan Plant

[edit]

Bennett's next serious relationship was with millionaire socialite Philip Morgan Plant. Her parents planned a cruise to Europe, taking Constance with them, to separate the couple. As the ship was preparing to leave port, however, the Bennetts saw Plant and his parents boarding, too. A contemporary newspaper article reported, "Now the little beauty and the heir to all the Plant millions were assured a week of the cosy intimacy which an ocean liner affords."[10] In November 1925, the two eloped and were married in Greenwich, Connecticut, by the same justice of the peace who officiated at Bennett's wedding to Moorehead.[12] They divorced in a French court[13] in 1929.[14]

In 1932, Bennett returned from Europe with a three-year-old child, whom she claimed to have adopted and named Peter Bennett Plant (born 1929). In 1942, however, during a battle over a large trust fund established to benefit any descendants of her former husband, Bennett announced that her adopted son actually was her natural child by Plant, born after the divorce and kept hidden to ensure that the child's biological father did not get custody. During the court hearings, the actress told her former mother-in-law and her husband's widow that "if she got to the witness stand she would give a complete account of her life with Plant." The matter was settled out of court.[15][16]

Henri de la Falaise

[edit]

In 1931, Bennett made headlines when she married one of Gloria Swanson's former husbands, Henri le Bailly, the Marquis de La Coudraye de La Falaise,[17] a French nobleman and film director. She and de la Falaise founded Bennett Pictures Corp. and co-produced two films which were the Hollywood films shot in the two-strip Technicolor process, Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935) filmed on location in Bali, and Kilou the Killer Tiger (1936), filmed in Indochina. The couple divorced in Reno, Nevada in 1940.[18]

Gilbert Roland and John Theron Coulter

[edit]

Bennett's fourth marriage was to actor Gilbert Roland. They were married in 1941 and had two daughters, Lorinda "Lynda" and Christina "Gyl".[note 4][17] They divorced in 1946, with Bennett winning custody of their children. Later that year, Bennett married for the fifth and final time to US Air Force Colonel John Theron Coulter.[17] After her marriage, she concentrated her efforts on providing relief entertainment to US troops still stationed in Europe, winning military honors for her services. Bennett and Coulter remained married for the rest of her life. Bennett supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.[19]

Grave at Arlington National Cemetery

Death

[edit]

Bennett died on July 24, 1965, aged 60. As the wife of John Theron Coulter, who had achieved the rank of brigadier general, she was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Coulter died in 1995 and was buried with her.[20]

Legacy

[edit]

Bennett has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard,[21] a short distance from the star of her sister, Joan.

Filmography

[edit]
Silent films
Year Title Role Notes
1916 The Valley of Decision Unborn soul Lost film
1922 Reckless Youth Chorus Girl
Evidence Edith Lost film
What's Wrong with the Women? Elise Bascom Lost film
1924 Cytherea Annette Sherman Lost film
Into the Net Madge Clayton, his sister Lost film
1925 The Goose Hangs High Lois Ingals Lost film
Code of the West Georgie May Lost film
My Son Betty Smith Lost film
My Wife and I Aileen Alton Lost film
The Goose Woman Hazel Woods
Wandering Fires Guerda Anthony
Sally, Irene and Mary Sally
The Pinch Hitter Abby Nettleton
1926 Married ? Marcia Livingston
Sound films
Year Title Role Notes
1929 Rich People Connie Hayden
This Thing Called Love Ann Marvin Lost film
1930 Son of the Gods Allana
Three Faces East Frances Hawtree / Z-1
Common Clay Ellen Neal
Sin Takes a Holiday Sylvia Brenner
1931 The Easiest Way Laura Murdock
Born to Love Doris Kendall
The Common Law Valerie West
Bought! Stephanie Dale
1932 Screen Snapshots Herself Short Subject
Lady with a Past Venice Muir
What Price Hollywood? Mary Evans
Two Against the World Miss Adele 'Dell' Hamilton
Rockabye Judy Carroll
1933 Our Betters Lady Pearl Grayston
Bed of Roses Lorry Evans
After Tonight Carla Vanirska, aka K-14 and Karen Schöntag
1934 Moulin Rouge Helen Hall / Raquel
The Affairs of Cellini Duchess of Florence
Outcast Lady Iris
1935 After Office Hours Sharon Norwood
Legong Producer only
Starlit Days at the Lido[22] Herself Short subject
1936 Everything Is Thunder Anna von Stucknadel
Ladies in Love Yoli Haydn
1937 Daily Beauty Rituals Herself Short subject
Topper Marion Kerby
1938 Merrily We Live Jerry Kilbourne
Service de Luxe Helen Murphy
Topper Takes a Trip Marion Kerby
1939 Tail Spin Gerry Lester
1940 Escape to Glory Christine Blaine
1941 Law of the Tropics Joan Madison
Picture People No. 2: Hollywood Sports Herself Short subject
Two-Faced Woman Griselda Vaughn
1942 Wild Bill Hickok Rides Belle Andrews
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 5 Herself Short subject
Sin Town Kye Allen
Madame Spy Joan Bannister
1945 Paris Underground Kitty de Mornay Also produced
1946 Centennial Summer Zenia Lascalles
1947 The Unsuspected Jane Moynihan
1948 Smart Woman Paula Rogers
Angel on the Amazon Dr. Karen Lawrence
1951 As Young as You Feel Lucille McKinley
1954 It Should Happen To You Guest Panelist
1966 Madame X Estelle Released posthumously

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ An article in The Ogden Standard-Examiner in 1923 said, "They succeeded in convincing the authorities there [Greenwich, Connecticut] that she was twenty-one, instead of the bare sixteen she looked and was"
  2. ^ An article in the Springfield Missouri Republican in 1925 also reported the misrepresentation of Bennett's age.
  3. ^ An article in the Springfield Missouri Republican in 1925 said, "Three days later the marriage was annulled"
  4. ^ Bennett's obituary in the Independent gives the daughters' names as "Lynda and Gyl".

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Kellow, Brian (2004). The Bennetts: An Acting Family. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813123295.
  2. ^ Thomson, David (2014). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 85. ISBN 9780375711848. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  3. ^ The Warner Bros Story - Clive Hirschhorn p. 106; ISBN 0-517-53834-2
  4. ^ Leading Ladies.
  5. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  6. ^ Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4.
  7. ^ Jordan, Richard Tyler (2004). But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame!: The Amazing History of the World's Favorite Madcap Aunt. Kensington Books. ISBN 978-0-7582-0482-0.
  8. ^ a b c "Motor Away To Wed". The New York Times. New York, New York City. June 18, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved August 8, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ "Proved a Nightmare". The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News. Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre. January 17, 1923. p. 21. Retrieved August 8, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ a b "Brought Together the Lovers They Wanted To Part". The Ogden Standard-Examiner. Utah, Ogden. July 8, 1923. p. 26. Retrieved August 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. ^ a b "Latest Child-Wife Problems in the Mansions and Slums". Springfield Missouri Republican. Missouri, Springfield. April 12, 1925. p. 34. Retrieved August 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  12. ^ "Constance Bennett Weds Philip Plant". The News-Herald. Pennsylvania, Franklin. United Press. November 4, 1925. p. 1. Retrieved August 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  13. ^ "Constance Bennett No Longer Wife of Plant". The Iola Register. Kansas, Iola. Associated Press. March 19, 1929. p. 4. Retrieved August 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ^ "Decree Won From Millionaire, Divorcee Maps Plans for Future". Oakland Tribune. California, Oakland. April 24, 1929. p. 1. Retrieved August 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  15. ^ "Domain Inquiry". Jcgi.pathfinder.com. Retrieved July 23, 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  16. ^ "People: People, Nov. 29, 1943". Time. November 29, 1943. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  17. ^ a b c "Actress Constance Bennett Dies at 59". Independent. California, Long Beach. July 26, 1965. p. 2. Retrieved August 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  18. ^ "Famous people divorced in Reno (new)". renodivorcehistory.org. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  19. ^ Critchlow, Donald T. (October 21, 2013). When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107650282.
  20. ^ "Constance Bennett Coulter, American Actress, Military Wife". April 3, 2023.
  21. ^ "Hollywood Walk of Fame - Constance Bennett". walkoffame.com. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  22. ^ jackusdk (February 9, 2015). "Early three-strip Technicolor in HD -- Henry Busse and His Band -- Hot Lips -- Read Notes!" – via YouTube.
[edit]
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