Adrienne Morrison

Mabel Adrienne Morrison (March 1, 1883 – November 20, 1940) was an American stage actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1899 to 1940. Born in New York, New York, she came from a family with deep roots in the theater: her father was actor Lewis Morrison and her mother was actress Rose Wood, whose lineage made Morrison the seventh generation of an English theatrical family.

Morrison's connection to the stage began almost from birth. Her mother carried her onstage during a production of The Cricket on the Hearth when Morrison was six months old. She was educated at St. Gabriel's Convent and the Convent of the Sacred Heart before returning to performance at age fourteen to play Juliet. Her professional career developed steadily in the early twentieth century, and in 1905 she took the role of Nat-u-ritch, an Aboriginal American woman, in The Squaw Man alongside William Faversham. Her Broadway credits encompassed a range of forms and genres, including the play Hamlet, the play The Piker, the revue Grand Street Follies of 1924, and the play Fool for Love. From September 1910 through May 1911, she appeared with her husband Richard Bennett in The Deep Purple, and she also performed in Damaged Goods, Love for Love, and The Servant in the House. Morrison retired from the theater in 1926 but made a final return in May 1940, appearing in the melodrama Grey Farm at the Hudson Theatre.

Beyond performing, Morrison directed Children's Players from 1930 to 1932, a company of adult actors who presented theatrical productions for children across the New York City area, Connecticut, and New Jersey. She also worked as a dramatic agent through the firm Eric S. Pinker & Adrienne Morrison, Inc., where she handled drama clients while her second husband, Eric Seabrooke Pinker, managed literary clients. Morrison resigned from the business on June 2, 1937.

On November 8, 1903, Morrison married actor Richard Bennett in Jersey City, retaining her maiden name throughout the marriage. The couple had three daughters — Barbara Bennett, Constance Bennett, and Joan Bennett — all of whom became film actresses. Joan achieved the widest recognition of the three, and Constance also saw considerable success. Barbara married Morton Downey, and the couple had five children, including Morton Downey Jr. as their firstborn. Constance's daughter Lorinda Roland became a sculptor. Despite Bennett's earnings, he became bankrupt. Morrison and Bennett divorced in April 1925. On January 19, 1927, Morrison married Eric Seabrooke Pinker, a dramatic and literary agent and son of James B. Pinker, in a New York City art gallery. That marriage produced no children.

The final years of Morrison's life were marked by legal difficulties connected to her business partnership with Pinker. On June 7, 1939, Pinker was sentenced to a term of two and a half to five years in Sing Sing prison for the theft of approximately $30,000 from two clients. An investigation by the office of District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey further indicated that Pinker had taken approximately $109,000 from other writers he represented. Pinker stated that Morrison had no involvement in the theft, though at the time of sentencing an assistant district attorney informed the judge that a complaint had been made against Morrison and that prosecution was under consideration. In October 1939, Morrison's residence in Lyme, Connecticut, was attached as the result of a $25,000 suit by a playwright who alleged she had failed to report all proceeds from a play.

Morrison died of a heart attack in her New York City apartment on November 20, 1940, and was buried in a family plot at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Old Lyme, Connecticut.