Constance Bennett

Granddaughter of Rose Wood and the stage actor Lewis Morrison, birth name: Morris W. Morris (1845 - 1906).

Most references give Constance's birth year wrongly as 1905, corrected to 1904 by sister Joan in her autobiography. Her age at death accordingly was 60, not 59 as usually stated.

Independent, outspoken Constance Bennett, the first of the Bennett sisters to enter films, appeared in New York-produced silents before a chance meeting with Samuel Goldwyn led to her Hollywood debut in Cytherea (1924).

She abandoned a burgeoning career in silents for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925; after they divorced, she achieved stardom in talkies from 1929.

She had two daughters with her fourth husband, Gilbert: Lorinda Roland and Gyl Roland. She also had an adopted son, Peter Bennett Plant (born 1929, adopted 1930).

The hit Common Clay (1930) launched her in a series of loose lady and unwed mother roles, but she really excelled in such sophisticated comedies as The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Ladies in Love (1936), Topper (1937) and Merrily We Live (1938). Her classy blonde looks, husky voice and unerring fashion sense gave her a distinctive style.

Her 1931 contract with Warner Brothers, $300,000 for 2 films, made her the highest-paid film player up to that time and reportedly inspired tax legislation aimed at the film industry.

Accepted the role of Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night (1934), but later turned it down when Columbia Pictures would not allow her to produce the film herself. Claudette Colbert was then given the part and went on to win the Best Actress Oscar for her performance.

In the 1940s she made fewer films, working in radio and theatre; shrewd in business, she invested wisely and started businesses marketing women's wear and cosmetics. Loving conflict, she feuded with the press and enjoyed lawsuits. Her last marriage, to a U. S.

Was considered in her heyday to be one of the most smartly dressed women in Hollywood, A film magazine in 1941 claimed she had spent a quarter million on her wardrobe that year, a charge denied vehemently by the actress.

She sang with her own voice in films, on stage, and in a nightclub act 1956-1962 in which she parodied early rock-n-roll.

Grandfather, Morris W. Morris (stage name Lewis Morrison), was of English and wealthy Spanish ancestry. Constance's sister, actress Joan Bennett, discussed this, in detail, in her 1970 autobiography "The Bennett Playbill".

Her image appears on the cover of the music CD Electro Swing IV which was released in 2011.