Peter Bennett (17 September 1917 – 23 December 1989) was a British stage and television actor. He had served on both the

National Council for Drama Training The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT) was a partnership of employers in the theatre, broadcast and media industry, employee representatives and training providers from 1976 to 2012. History The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT ...

and the

British Actors' Equity Association Equity, formerly officially titled the British Actors' Equity Association, is the trade union for the performing arts and entertainment industries. Formed by a group of West End performers in 1930, the union grew to include performers and sta ...

Biography

Peter Egerton Bennett was born in Chelsea, London, England, on 17 September 1917. His father was a

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and a recipient of the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

. Bennett attended

Malvern College Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...

and trained for the stage at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

. Peter Bennett married Sheila Bramwell-Jones. He died in London on 23 December 1989.

Career

Peter Bennett made his first stage appearance on 27 January 1936 as Ma Ta in a stage adaptation of ''

Lady Precious Stream Hsiung Shih-I (; also S. I. Hsiung or Xiong Shiyi; 1902–1991) was a writer, biographer, translator, academic, and playwright in Beijing and London. He was the first Chinese person to direct a West End play, and the founder of Tsing Hua Academy ...

'' at the Pleasure Gardens Theatre in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

, England. His first appearance in London theatre was on 9 May 1936 as Possum and Ed Sweet in a production of ''Little Ol' Boy'' at the

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamberl ...

. Bennett made his first and only

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

performance as Corporal Cramp in the short-lived January 1947 production of '' Love Goes to Press'' at the Biltmore Theatre. Other major venues at which Bennett performed include the

Westminster Theatre The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster. History The structure on the site was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, by William Dodd with money from his wife Mary Perkins. Through Peter Ri ...

, the Ambassadors Theatre, Embassy Theatre, and the

Richmond Theatre The present Richmond Theatre, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a British Victorian era, Victorian theatre located on Little Green, adjacent to Richmond Green. It opened on 18 September 1899 with a performance of ''As You Like ...

. From 1970 through 1980, Peter Bennett was a council member and Vice President of the

, known as Equity. In 1975, he served as the director for the Festival of British Theatre. In 1979, he was appointed to the

Film and television

Bennett appeared in more than 200 films and television productions, including ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Technicolor swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de H ...

'' and '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' on TV, and the films of ''

Carry On Constable ''Carry On Constable'' is a 1960 British comedy film, the fourth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It was released in February 1960. Of the regular team, it featured Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan ...

'' (1960), ''

Tarka the Otter ''Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers'' is a novel by English writer Henry Williamson, first published in 1927 by G.P. Putnam's Sons with an introduction by the Hon. Sir John Fortescue. It won the ...

'' (1979) and ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, w ...

'' (1981). In addition to these, he also appeared in the following TV series in the 1960s: ''Probation Officer'', ''Unwelcome Stranger'', ''Magnolia Buildings'', ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

'', ''

Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created b ...

'', ''Compact'', ''Misleading Cases'' and ''

The Troubleshooters ''The Troubleshooters'' (titled ''Mogul'' for the first series) is a British television series made by the BBC between 1965 and 1972, created by John Elliot. It recounted events in an international oil company – the "Mogul" of the title. Th ...

''.

Biography

Career

Film and television

Notes

Further reading