Wilda Bennett (December 19, 1894 – December 20, 1967) was an American actress in musical comedies and in film. Her tumultuous personal life also kept her in the headlines.

Early life

Bennett was born in

Asbury Park, New Jersey Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188

. Bennett's father was John H. Bennett, a city building inspector."Praise Wilda Bennett"
''Asbury Park Press'' (October 17, 1914): 2. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

Career

Bennett's Broadway credits included ''Everywoman'' (1911-1912), ''A Good Little Devil'' (1913), ''The Only Girl'' (1914-1915), '' The Riviera Girl'' (1917), '' The Girl Behind the Gun'' (1918-1919), '' Apple Blossoms'' (1919-1920), ''

Music Box Revue ''Music Box Revue'' was a series of four musical theatre revues by Irving Berlin, presented from 1921 to 1925 at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. The first show was staged by Hassard Short with music by Irving Berlin, and featured contrib ...

'' (1921-1922), ''The Lady in Ermine'' (1922-1923), and the title role in ''Madame Pompadour'' (1924-1925). She had a "sweet" soprano voice. Bennett's later stage appearances were in ''Lovely Lady'' (1928), and '' Merrily We Roll Along'' (1934). She reprised her title role in ''The Only Girl'' for a radio production in 1927. Films featuring Wilda Bennett included ''

A Good Little Devil ''A Good Little Devil'' is a 1914 silent film starring Mary Pickford, produced by Adolph Zukor and Daniel Frohman, and distributed on a 'State's Rights' basis. It was Pickford's first feature-length film. She, along with friend Lillian Gish, appe ...

'' (1914, lost), ''

Love, Honor and Obey ''Love, Honor and Obey'' is a 1920 American silent drama film. Directed by Leander de Cordova, the film stars Wilda Bennett, Claire Whitney, and Henry Harmon. It was released on September 6, 1920. Cast list * Wilda Bennett as Conscience Willi ...

'' (1920), ''

Bullets or Ballots ''Bullets or Ballots'' is a 1936 American gangster film starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, and Humphrey Bogart. Robinson plays a police detective who infiltrates a crime gang. This is the first of several films featu ...

'' (1936), ''

Dark Victory ''Dark Victory'' is a 1939 American melodrama film directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Bette Davis, and featuring George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, and Cora Witherspoon. The screenplay by Ca ...

'' (1939), '' The Women'' (1939), '' What a Life'' (1939), ''

Ninotchka ''Ninotchka'' is a 1939 American romantic comedy film made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch and starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. It was written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and Walter Reisch, based o ...

'' (1939), ''

Those Were the Days! ''Those Were the Days!'' is a 1940 comedy film directed by Theodore Reed and starring William Holden and Bonita Granville.

'' (1940), and ''

The Lady Eve ''The Lady Eve'' is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.

'' (1941).

Personal life

Bennett's personal life involved multiple legal troubles that brought additional, ongoing, national press attention. In 1925, she was sued for $100,000 by a woman named Katherine Frey, who believed that Bennett had been her husband Charles Frey's lover. Katherine Frey won a judgment of $25,000 in the case. While the lawsuit was still pending, Charles Frey was driving Bennett's car when it struck a young woman, who was killed. Bennett was a passenger in the car. In 1927 she was sued for the care expenses of a horse she once owned. In 1928 she was sued for damages by a landlord who said Bennett destroyed furniture and removed other items from an apartment she rented. Bennett lost that case too, and had to pay $400 to her landlord. In 1930, she sued Anthony J. Wettach after another car accident; she ended up marrying him instead. In 1932, she was arrested on charges of being drunk and disorderly. Bennett was married four times. Her husbands were, in order, producer

Robert Schable Robert Schable (August 31, 1873 – July 7, 1947) was an American stage and screen actor as well as a stage manager from Hamilton, Ohio. Biography A longtime stage player from the Charles Frohman company since the 1890s, Schable began in silent ...

(divorced in 1920), Argentine dancer Abraham "Peppy" de Albrew (married 1926, separated in 1927), Anthony J. Wettach (married 1930, divorced 1933), and mining engineer Munro Whitmore. Bennett was widowed when Munro Whitmore died in 1960. On December 20, 1967, one day after Bennett's 73rd birthday, she died in

Winnemucca, Nevada Winnemucca () is the only incorporated city in, and is the county seat of, Humboldt County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 8,431, up 14.0 percent from the 2010 census figure of 7,396. Intersta ...

."Wilda Bennett, 73; Left City for Stage Success"
''Asbury Park Press'' (December 24, 1967): 2. via

References

External links

*
Wilda Bennett's listing at IBDBWilda Bennett's listing at AllMusicAn undated photograph of Wilda Bennett
in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, New York Public Library Digital Collections
A 1926 photograph of Wilda Bennett
in the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, University of Washington Libraries, Digital Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Wilda 1894 births 1967 deaths American stage actresses American film actresses American silent film actresses Actresses from New Jersey People from Asbury Park, New Jersey 20th-century American actresses