Jill Bennett
Encyclopedia
Jill Bennett was a British actress, and the fourth wife of playwright John Osborne
.
, The Straits Settlements
, to British parents, educated at Priors Field, an independent girls boarding school in Godalming
, and trained at RADA
. She made her stage début in the 1949 season at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford upon Avon, and her film début in The Long Dark Hall (1951).
Bennett made many appearances in British films during the 1950s and 1960s, notably The Nanny (1965) (with Bette Davis
), Inadmissible Evidence (1968), The Charge of the Light Brigade
(1968) and as Calphurnia to John Gielgud
's Caesar in a 1970 version of Julius Caesar
. She also had small roles in Britannia Hospital
(1982), as a world renowned ice skating coach in For Your Eyes Only
(1981), Lady Jane (film)
(1986) and her final film performance in The Sheltering Sky
(1990).
She made forays into television, most notably in Country with Wendy Hiller
in 1981 and as the colourful Lady Grace Fanner in the adaptation of John Mortimer
's novel, Paradise Postponed
(1985). Among several roles, Osborne wrote the character of Annie in his play The Hotel in Amsterdam for her. But Bennett's busy schedule prevented her from playing the role until it was televised in 1971.
In 1979 she co-starred with Rachel Roberts in the LWT drama, The Old Crowd, directed by Lindsay Anderson
with a screenplay by Alan Bennett
, who later gently pointed out in the index to his collection of prose, Untold Stories
(Faber 2005): "No relation".
in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She was married to screenwriter Willis Hall
and later to Osborne (who had been married three times already). She and Osborne divorced messily and decidedly non-amicably in 1978. She had no children.
in October 1990, aged 58, having long suffered from depression and the brutalizing effects of her marriage to Osborne. She did this by overdose.
In 1992, the ashes of Jill Bennett, along with those of her old friend Rachel Roberts (who also committed suicide, in 1980), were scattered by their director friend Lindsay Anderson
, into the River Thames
in London
. The event was included as a touching segment in his autobiographical BBC documentary film, "Is That All There Is"?, with a boat trip down the River Thames, with several of the two actresses' professional colleagues and friends aboard. They scattered their ashes on the waters of the Thames, while musician Alan Price
sang the song "Is That All There Is?
".
She took her own life just two years before the suicide of another For Your Eyes Only cast member - Michael Gothard
, who had played the villainous Emile Locque.
, Ian McKellen
, Lynn Redgrave
and Wilfrid Lawson
.
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
.
Early life and career
She was born in PenangPenang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, The Straits Settlements
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...
, to British parents, educated at Priors Field, an independent girls boarding school in Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
, and trained at RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
. She made her stage début in the 1949 season at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford upon Avon, and her film début in The Long Dark Hall (1951).
Bennett made many appearances in British films during the 1950s and 1960s, notably The Nanny (1965) (with Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
), Inadmissible Evidence (1968), The Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film)
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1968 British war film made by Woodfall Film Productions and distributed by United Artists . It was directed by Tony Richardson and produced by Neil Hartley....
(1968) and as Calphurnia to John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
's Caesar in a 1970 version of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
. She also had small roles in Britannia Hospital
Britannia Hospital
Britannia Hospital is a 1982 black comedy film by British director Lindsay Anderson which targets the National Health Service and contemporary British society...
(1982), as a world renowned ice skating coach in For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
(1981), Lady Jane (film)
Lady Jane (film)
Lady Jane is a 1986 British costume drama romance film directed by Trevor Nunn, written by David Edgar, and starring Helena Bonham Carter as the title character in her first major film role. It tells the story of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days' Queen, on her reign and romance with husband Lord...
(1986) and her final film performance in The Sheltering Sky
The Sheltering Sky (film)
The Sheltering Sky is a 1990 British-Italian drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci starring Debra Winger and John Malkovich. The film is based on the 1949 novel by Paul Bowles about a couple who journey to northern Africa in the hopes of rekindling their marriage but soon fall prey to the...
(1990).
She made forays into television, most notably in Country with Wendy Hiller
Wendy Hiller
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...
in 1981 and as the colourful Lady Grace Fanner in the adaptation of John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
's novel, Paradise Postponed
Paradise Postponed
Paradise Postponed is a 1986 TV serial based on a novel by John Mortimer. The plot focused on inquires into why the leftist Reverend Simeon Simcox left the Simcox brewery millions to the loathsome Leslie Titmuss, a city developer and Conservative cabinet minister...
(1985). Among several roles, Osborne wrote the character of Annie in his play The Hotel in Amsterdam for her. But Bennett's busy schedule prevented her from playing the role until it was televised in 1971.
In 1979 she co-starred with Rachel Roberts in the LWT drama, The Old Crowd, directed by Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
with a screenplay by Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
, who later gently pointed out in the index to his collection of prose, Untold Stories
Untold Stories
"Untold Stories" is a single by American country music artist Kathy Mattea. Released in 1988, it was the third single from the album Untasted Honey. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.-Chart performance:...
(Faber 2005): "No relation".
Marriages
She was the live-in companion of actor Godfrey TearleGodfrey Tearle
Sir Godfrey Seymour Tearle was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential Englishman on stage and in both English and US films.-Biography:...
in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She was married to screenwriter Willis Hall
Willis Hall
Willis Hall was an English playwright and radio and television writer who drew on his working class roots in Leeds for much of his writings....
and later to Osborne (who had been married three times already). She and Osborne divorced messily and decidedly non-amicably in 1978. She had no children.
Death
She committed suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in October 1990, aged 58, having long suffered from depression and the brutalizing effects of her marriage to Osborne. She did this by overdose.
In 1992, the ashes of Jill Bennett, along with those of her old friend Rachel Roberts (who also committed suicide, in 1980), were scattered by their director friend Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
, into the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The event was included as a touching segment in his autobiographical BBC documentary film, "Is That All There Is"?, with a boat trip down the River Thames, with several of the two actresses' professional colleagues and friends aboard. They scattered their ashes on the waters of the Thames, while musician Alan Price
Alan Price
Alan Price is an English musician, best known as the original keyboardist for the English band The Animals, and for his subsequent solo work....
sang the song "Is That All There Is?
Is That All There Is?
"Is That All There Is?" is a song written by American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the 1960s. It became a hit for American singer Peggy Lee from her recording in November 1969...
".
She took her own life just two years before the suicide of another For Your Eyes Only cast member - Michael Gothard
Michael Gothard
Michael Alan Gothard was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Kai in the television series Arthur of the Britons and for his role as the mysterious villain Emile Leopold Locque in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.-Early life:Michael Gothard was born in London in 1939...
, who had played the villainous Emile Locque.
Theatre career
- Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, 1949 season
- Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, St Martin's Theatre, December 1949
- Anni in Captain CarvalloCaptain CarvalloCaptain Carvallo is a traditional comedy play told in three acts by Denis Cannan, with its preposterous Ruritarian story featuring a romantic hero with a girl in every soldierly billet.The comedy was an immediate success when it opened at the St...
, St. James' Theatre, August 1950 - Iras in Caesar and CleopatraCaesar and Cleopatra (play)Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901 and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901 collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on March 15, 1899...
and Antony and CleopatraAntony and CleopatraAntony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
, St. James' Theatre, May 1951 - Helen Eliot in The Night of the Ball, New Theatre, January 1955
- Masha in The SeagullThe SeagullThe Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
, Saville Theatre, August 1956 - Mrs. Martin in The Bald Prima Donna, Arts Theatre, November 1956
- Sarah Stanham in The Touch of Fear, Aldwych Theatre, December 1956
- Isabelle in Dinner With the Family, New Theatre, December 1957
- Penelope in Last Day in Dreamland and A Glimpse of the Sea, Lyric Hammersmith, November 1959
- Susan Roper in Breakfast for One, Arts Theatre, April 1961
- Feemy Evans in The Showing Up of Blanco Posnet, and Lavinia in Androcles and the LionAndrocles and the Lion (play)Androcles and the Lion is a 1912 play written by George Bernard Shaw.Androcles and the Lion is Shaw's retelling of the tale of Androcles, a slave who is saved by the requited mercy of a lion. In the play, Shaw portrays Androcles to be one of the many Christians being led to the Colosseum for torture...
, Mermaid Theatre, October 1961 - Estelle in In Camera (Huis Clos), Oxford Playhouse, February 1962
- Ophelia in Castle in Sweden, Piccadilly Theatre, May 1962
- Hilary in The Sponge Room, and Elizabeth Mintey in Squat Betty, Royal Court, December 1962
- Isabelle in The Love Game, New Arts Theatre, October 1964
- Countess Sophia Delyanoff in A Patriot for MeA Patriot for MeA Patriot For Me is a 1965 play by the English playwright John Osborne, based on the true story of Alfred Redl. It was notable for being denied a licence for performance by the censor of the time....
, Royal Court, June 1965 - Anna Bowers in A Lily in Little India, Hampstead Theatre Club, November 1965
- Imogen Parrott in Trelawney of the Wells, National Theatre at the Old Vic, August 1966
- Katerina in The Storm, National Theatre at the Old Vic, October 1966
- Pamela in Time Present, Royal Court, May 1968 at the Duke of York’s Theatre, July 1968 (for which she won the Variety Club and Evening Standard AwardsEvening Standard AwardsThe Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
for Best Actress) - Anna Bowers in Three Months Gone at the Royal Court in January 1970; at the Duchess Theatre in March 1970,
- Frederica in West of Suez, Royal Court, August 1971; Cambridge Theatre, October 1971
- Hedda in Hedda GablerHedda GablerHedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
, Royal Court, June 1972 - Amanda in Private LivesPrivate LivesPrivate Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
(briefly taking over for Maggie SmithMaggie SmithDame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
), Queen's Theatre, June 1973 - Leslie Crosbie in The LetterThe Letter (play)The Letter is a play by W. Somerset Maugham dramatised from a short story that first appeared in his 1926 collection The Casuarina Tree. The story is based on a real-life scandal involving the wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting...
, Palace Theatre, Watford, July 1973 - Isobel Sands in The End of Me Old Cigar, Greenwich Theatre, January 1975
- Fay in LootLoot (play)Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....
, Royal Court, June 1975 - Sally Prosser in Watch It Come Down, National Theatre at the Old Vic, February 1976 at the National Theatre at the Old Vic; March 1976 at the Lyttelton Theatre
- Mrs. Shankland and Miss Railton-Bell in Separate TablesSeparate TablesSeparate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays written by Sir Terence Rattigan, both taking place in the Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, a seaside town on the south coast of England. The first play, entitled "Table by the Window", focuses on the troubled relationship between a...
, Apollo Theatre, January 1977 - Mrs. Tina in The Aspern PapersThe Aspern PapersThe Aspern Papers is a novella written by Henry James, originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1888, with its first book publication later in the same year. One of James' best-known and most acclaimed longer tales, The Aspern Papers is based on an anecdote that James heard about a Shelley...
(1978); The Queen in The Eagle Has Two Heads (1979); and Maggie Cutler in The Man Who Came to DinnerThe Man Who Came to DinnerThe Man Who Came to Dinner is a comedy in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939 at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. It then enjoyed a number of New York and London revivals. The first London production was staged at The Savoy Theatre starring Robert...
(1979); all at the Chichester Festival Theatre - Gertrude in HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Royal Court, April 1980 - Alice in The Dance of Death, Royal Exchange Manchester, October 1983
- Janine in Infidelities, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 1985; at the Donmar Warehouse in October 1985; and revived at the Boulevard Theatre in June 1986
- Queen Elizabeth I in Mary StuartMaria Stuart (play)Mary Stuart , a play by Friedrich Schiller, depicts the last days of Mary, Queen of Scots. The play consists of five acts, each divided into several scenes. The play had its première in Weimar, Germany on 14 June 1800...
, Edinburgh FestivalEdinburgh FestivalThe Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
, August 1987 - Miss Singer in Exceptions, New End Theatre, Hampstead, July 1988
- Anne in Poor Nanny, King's Head Theatre, March 1989
Radio Theatre
Masha in The Three Sisters/TRI SESTRY, BBC Home Service Radio 1965. Directed by John Tyneman. Cast included Paul ScofieldPaul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...
, Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
and Wilfrid Lawson
Wilfrid Lawson (actor)
Wilfrid Lawson was a British character actor of stage and screen.-Life and career:...
.
Theatre Sources
- Who’s Who in the Theatre, 17th Edition, vol. #1 (Gale Research, 1981). ISBN 0810302357
- 25 Years of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court, Richard Findlater editor (Amber Lane Press, 1981). ISBN 090639922X
- Theatre RecordTheatre RecordTheatre Record is a periodical that reprints reviews, production photographs, and other information about the British theatre.-Overview:Founded by Ian Herbert and published fortnightly since January 1981, Theatre Record is printed and published in England every two weeks.It reprints unabridged all...
(periodical indexes)