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For years now I've had something of a soft spot for Constance Bennett, which I've expressed here in a few different discussions. Many years ago, I found what I believe to a authentically autographed photo of Constance Bennett at an estate sale, but as much as I hate to say it, I'm afraid it's been lost with all the moving and storing I've done in the past five-to-six years.
Constance was the eldest child of the Bennett family (both of her younger sisters -- Barbara and Joan -- would become actresses themselves), and she got her start in show business in 1916 when she was twelve. She was, at first, a star in silent films, like CYTHEREA (1924) and SALLY, IRENE, AND MARY (1925), before abandoning her career after marrying in 1925. The marriage had dissolved by 1929, and Constance returned to acting just when movies were looking for "voice actors" to utilize in the emerging "talkies" as they quickly came into demand. In the early 1930s, she was second to only Garbo as a box office draw, and for a period, she was the highest-paid woman in films. Her brief contract with MGM in 1931 paid her $300,000 for two movies, and for the film BOUGHT! (1931), she earned a then-record-breaking salary of $30,000-a-week.
She found some of greatest success when she signed with RKO in 1932. She made WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD? (1932) for producer David O. Selznick, a behind-the-scenes look at the old-fashioned Hollywood studio system. It was a big hit, and is often viewed as a precursor to A STAR IS BORN (1937), which has had several remakes. Constance was one of RKO's top actresses in the early-to-mid 1930s, starring in a host of films, such as OUR BETTERS (1933), BED OF ROSES (1933), THE AFFAIRS OF CELLINI (1934), and AFTER OFFICE HOURS (1935) with Clark Gable. She specialized in "women's pictures" during the era, typically playing struggling women at the bottom of the social ladder, a sharp contrast to her high society marriage to French nobleman Henry de La Falaise (they were married from 1931 to 1940). She later transitioned into a fine comedienne in films like TOPPER (1937) and MERRILY WE LIVE (1938). She later upstaged Garbo in the latter's final feature film, TWO-FACED WOMAN (1941), and appeared with a pre-fame Marilyn Monroe in AS YOUNG AS YOU FEEL (1951). Her film career began to slow in the 1940s, but she found radio work with THE CONSTANCE BENNETT SHOW, and later toured in a roadshow version of AUNTIE MAME in the late 1950s. Her final on-screen performance was Lana Turner's blackmailing mother-in-law in a remake of MADAME X (1966).
Any Constance Bennett fans?
Several of her movies are you-know-where.
Constance was the eldest child of the Bennett family (both of her younger sisters -- Barbara and Joan -- would become actresses themselves), and she got her start in show business in 1916 when she was twelve. She was, at first, a star in silent films, like CYTHEREA (1924) and SALLY, IRENE, AND MARY (1925), before abandoning her career after marrying in 1925. The marriage had dissolved by 1929, and Constance returned to acting just when movies were looking for "voice actors" to utilize in the emerging "talkies" as they quickly came into demand. In the early 1930s, she was second to only Garbo as a box office draw, and for a period, she was the highest-paid woman in films. Her brief contract with MGM in 1931 paid her $300,000 for two movies, and for the film BOUGHT! (1931), she earned a then-record-breaking salary of $30,000-a-week.
She found some of greatest success when she signed with RKO in 1932. She made WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD? (1932) for producer David O. Selznick, a behind-the-scenes look at the old-fashioned Hollywood studio system. It was a big hit, and is often viewed as a precursor to A STAR IS BORN (1937), which has had several remakes. Constance was one of RKO's top actresses in the early-to-mid 1930s, starring in a host of films, such as OUR BETTERS (1933), BED OF ROSES (1933), THE AFFAIRS OF CELLINI (1934), and AFTER OFFICE HOURS (1935) with Clark Gable. She specialized in "women's pictures" during the era, typically playing struggling women at the bottom of the social ladder, a sharp contrast to her high society marriage to French nobleman Henry de La Falaise (they were married from 1931 to 1940). She later transitioned into a fine comedienne in films like TOPPER (1937) and MERRILY WE LIVE (1938). She later upstaged Garbo in the latter's final feature film, TWO-FACED WOMAN (1941), and appeared with a pre-fame Marilyn Monroe in AS YOUNG AS YOU FEEL (1951). Her film career began to slow in the 1940s, but she found radio work with THE CONSTANCE BENNETT SHOW, and later toured in a roadshow version of AUNTIE MAME in the late 1950s. Her final on-screen performance was Lana Turner's blackmailing mother-in-law in a remake of MADAME X (1966).
Any Constance Bennett fans?
Several of her movies are you-know-where.