Enid Bennett

Enid Bennett (15 July 1893 – 14 May 1969) was an Australian silent film actress.

Career

Born in York, Western Australia, Bennett started her film acting career in 1916, first starring in Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, with two other films that same year. She married American director Sidney Franklin early in her career, but they were divorced shortly thereafter.

In 1917, she starred in five films, the most important of which was The Little Brother opposite William Garwood. That film brought her to the attention of studios and led to an increasing number of acting roles. From 1918 to 1921, she starred in twenty-three films, becoming well known and recognizable as an actress. In 1918 she married director Fred Niblo, who later directed the second film version of Ben Hur. In 1922, she starred in only three films, but one of those became her most famous role, the female lead of "Maid Marian" in Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks.

From 1923 to 1928, she starred in only ten films, as her career had slowed to a crawl. She was a mother by that time, as she and Niblo eventually had three children together.

In 1929, her brother Alexander Bennett married actress Frances Lee. The wedding was attended by some of Hollywood's biggest names, including Gloria Swanson and Greta Garbo. That year Bennett starred in only one film, Good Medicine, opposite Edward Everett Horton.

Bennett's sisters Marjorie (1896-1982) and Catherine (1901–1978) were also Hollywood film actresses.

Later years and death

She made a semi-successful transition to sound films, but saw fewer roles come her way. From 1931 to 1941 she had roles in only seven films, the last of which was uncredited.

She retired after 1941, eventually residing with her family in Malibu, California, where she died in 1969 from a heart attack, aged 75.

Selected Filmography

• The Aryan (1916)
• Princess in the Dark (1917)
• Happiness (1917)
• Keys of the Righteous (1918)
• When Do We Eat? (1918)
• Fuss and Feathers (1918)
• Partners Three (1919)
• The Haunted Bedroom (1919)
• The Virtuous Thief (1919)
• What Every Woman Learns (1919)
• Her Husband's Friend (1920)
• The Woman in the Suitcase (1920)
• Hairpins (1920)
• The False Road (1920)
• Silk Hosiery (1920)
• Robin Hood (1922)
• Strangers of the Night (1923)
• The Bad Man (1923)
• The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923)
• The Sea Hawk (1924)
• The Red Lily (1924)
• Intermezzo (1939)