Joan Bennett

Biography

Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era. She is possibly best-remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's movies such as The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945). Bennett had three distinct phases to her long and successful career, first as a winsome blonde ingenue, then as a sensuous brunette femme fatale (with looks that movie magazines often compared to those of Hedy Lamarr), and finally as a warmhearted wife/mother figure. In 1951, Bennett's screen career was marred by scandal after her third husband, film producer Walter Wanger, shot and injured her agent Jennings Lang. Wanger suspected that Lang and Bennett were having an affair, a charge which she adamantly denied. In the 1960s, she achieved success for her portrayal of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on TV's Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy nomination. For her final movie role, as Madame Blanc in Suspiria (1977), she received a Saturn Award nomination. Description above from the Wikipedia article Joan Bennett, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Most Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

as Self

The Mike Douglas Show

as Self

Dark Shadows

as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard / Naomi Collins

What's My Line?

as Self

Climax!

as Honora

Burke's Law

as Denise Mitchell

The Colgate Comedy Hour

as Self

Your Show of Shows

DuPont Show of the Month

as Grace Graves

Suspiria

as Madame Blanc

Disraeli

as Lady Clarissa Pevensey

Green Hell

as Stephanie Richardson

Moby Dick

as Faith

Wild Girl

as Salomy Jane

Careless Lady

as Sally Brown

We're No Angels

as Amelie Ducotel

Scarlet Street

as Katherine 'Kitty' March

Father of the Bride

as Ellie Banks

Power

as A Dame

The Woman in the Window

as Alice Reed