Barbara Bennett

Barbara Jane Bennett (August 13, 1906 – August 8, 1958) was an American actress, dancer, and stage performer whose Broadway career spanned from 1925 to 1943. She was born in Palisades Park, New Jersey, the second of three daughters of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison. Her maternal grandfather was the stage actor Lewis Morrison. Her older sister Constance and younger sister Joan both established prominent film careers. The three sisters attended the Chapin School alongside actress Jane Wyatt.

Bennett's Broadway credits included the play The Storm and the farce Victory Belles. She also worked as a film actress, with screen appearances dating from 1916 to 1930. In 1931, she co-authored the waltz Dreaming of My Indiana Sweetheart with Bill Hansen. Beyond performing, Bennett worked as a literary representative for producer Walter Wanger, who was married to her sister Joan. In that role, she evaluated best-sellers and similar works as potential film properties, with a particular focus on sourcing material for Joan.

Bennett married three times and had five children. On January 28, 1929, she married tenor Morton Downey. Together they had four biological children, including son Morton Downey Jr., and adopted a fifth child, Michael. The marriage ended in divorce in June 1941. Bennett subsequently married actor Jack Randall, known at the time as a popular romantic lead and singing cowboy. Randall died on July 16, 1945, after suffering a myocardial infarction and falling from a horse during production of The Royal Mounted Rides Again. In 1954, Bennett married Laurent Surprenant, and the couple relocated to Montreal in 1957.

Bennett died on August 8, 1958, five days before her 52nd birthday, in Montreal, following what was publicly described as a prolonged illness. She had attempted suicide four times during her lifetime. Actress Louise Brooks, writing in her 1982 memoir Lulu in Hollywood, described Bennett's death as her fifth suicide attempt. Bennett's sister Joan declined to discuss the circumstances of her death. Bennett was buried at Burtonville Union Cemetery in Lacolle, Quebec, and a memorial service was held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.