Biography
Friends and Family
Barbara Bennett
[Sister]
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Adrienne Morrison
[Mother]
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Constance Bennett
[Sister]
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Richard Bennett
[Father]
Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 "I don`t think much of most of the films I made, but being a movie star was something I liked very much." "I feel positively like a Beatle, " Joan Bennett in response to the attention she was getting with the success of Dark Shadows.
"Meryl Streep can act Polish or English or Australian but she sure as hell can`t act blonde."
[on Hollywood attorney Jerry Giesler] "Whenever trouble arose in Hollywood, the first cry for legal help was, `Get Giesler!`."
`My film career faded. A man can go on playing certain roles till he`s sixty. But not a woman` `The golden age is gone, and with it most of the people of great taste. It doesn`t seem to be any fun any more` (1984)
Trivia
Appeared in Peter Bogdanovich`s The Last Picture Show (1971), although only in archive footage. The film that the characters in the movie go to see is Father of the Bride (1950), and a clip is show featuring Joan.
Finalist for the part of Scarlet O`Hara in the 1939 classic, Gone With The Wind. Vivian Leigh got the role at the last minute. However, the film`s producer, David O. Selznick offered to cast her oldest daughter, Diana in the role of Bonnie Blue Butler, Rhett and Scarlett`s daughter as a sort of consolation prize. Miss Bennett refused the offer.
In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Lidia Simoneschi, including Father of the Bride (1950) and its sequel Father`s Little Dividend (1951). She was occasionally dubbed by Lia Orlandini, Renata Marini and Tina Lattanzi.
Played Amy March in Little Women (1933) with Katharine Hepburn. She played Elizabeth Taylor`s mother in Father of the Bride (1950). Taylor played Amy March in the 1949 remake of "Little Women".
At the time of her death, Joan had 13 grandchildren. Her first two great-grandchildren were on the way - one of her grandsons and his wife were expecting twins.
Filming on She Wanted a Millionaire (1932) was interrupted for 6 months when Joan broke her leg in a fall from a horse.
Her 78 feature-length films include three bit parts in silents and 6 TV-movies; she did NOT appear in some films with which she`s sometimes credited, such as _Inn of the Damned (1974)_.
Joan sang in films with her own voice; she was never dubbed.
Joan`s hobbies: Interior decorating, gardening/horticulture, dog breeding, collecting miniature (model) horses.
Pregnant with daughter Melinda Markey while filming Little Women (1933).
She made five films for German director Fritz Lang, more than any other American actor or actress who worked with him (many actors reportedly disliked working with Lang).
She was nearsighted and wore glasses when not on public view.
She was one of only three cast members who appeared on "Dark Shadows" (1966) from the beginning to the end. She appeared on the first episode, June 27, 1966, as well as its last, April 2, 1971.
Was offered the role of Beth McCarthy in Cocoon (1985). Director Ron Howard wanted to reunite co-star Don Ameche with one of his former leading ladies and he thought of Joan. Unfortunately, she was in frail health at the time and turn down the role, a decision she later regretted when "Cocoon" became one of the biggest box office hits of 1985 and spawned a sequel. The part was played by Gwen Verdon. Miss Bennett did not, in fact, turn down the role. Rather, she was talked out of taking it by her fourth husband, David Wilde. Wilde insisted that the film too closely resembled the 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He also felt that it was beneath Miss Bennett`s dignity to be working under "Opie Taylor" or "Richie Cunningham".
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