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Born in Palisades , New Jersey, Bennett was the daughter of stage actors Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison , and was the younger sister of actresses Constance Bennett and Barbara Bennett .

Bennett made her first film appearance in 1918 in an uncredited part and appeared in a few silent films while a child. She married at the age of sixteen, and when this marriage ended two years later, resumed her acting career. Contracted to 20th Century Fox she appeared as a blonde ingenue in a several films including Puttin' on the Ritz in 1930, before leaving this studio to appear in Little WomenLittle Women is an 1868 autobiographical novel by Louisa May Alcott, concerning the lives and loves of four sisters (from oldest to youngest: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy) growing up during the American Civil War. BooksEnthsiast.com It has been adapted as a film m ( 1933Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 See also 1933 in aviation 1933 in film 1933 in literature 1933 in mu). She was not taken seriously as an actress and struggled to establish herself. Her task was further complicated by the rapid rise to fame of her sister Constance, who at this time was one of Hollywood's most successful and popular actresses, and with whom she was unfavourably compared.

She signed a contract with producer Walter Wanger , whom she would marry in 1940. He managed her career, and with director Tay Garnett convinced her to change her hair from blonde to brunette. With this change her screen persona evolved into that of a glamorous seductress and she began to attract attention. During the search to find an actress to play Scarlett O'HaraKatie Scarlett O'Hara the main protagonist of the novel Gone With the Wind is a pretty, coquettish Southern belle who grows up on the Georgia plantation of Tara in the years before the American Civil War. Selfish, shrewd and vain, Scarlett inherits the st in Gone With The Wind, Bennett was tested and impressed producer David O. SelznickDavid Oliver Selznick ( May 10, 1902 June 22, 1965), was an influential Hollywood producer, best known for producing the epic blockbuster Gone With the Wind ( 1939) which earned him an Oscar. He also produced the famous classic The Third Man. He was born. She was briefly considered to be a front runner for this part but Selznick eventually turned his attention to Paulette GoddardPaulette Goddard (born Pauline Marion Levy ( June 3, 1911 (although at least one document has 1905) April 23, 1990) was an American actress. Goddard was born in Whitestone Landing, New York. She became a fashion model when a child, and debuted with Floren, who was then rejected in favour of Vivien LeighVivien Leigh ( November 5, 1913 July 7, 1967) was an English actress who was born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, India. She and her parents later moved to England, where young Leigh grew up. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton,.

In the early 1940s Bennett appeared in a trio of films directed by Fritz Lang. Man Hunt ( 1941), The Woman in the Window ( 1944) and Scarlet Street established her as a film noir femme fatale. She also played the wife of Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride ( 1950) and its sequel, Father's Little Dividend ( 1951).

In 1951 Wanger shot and injured Bennett's agent, who was also her lover, and the resulting scandal damaged her career. She continued to work steadily in theatre and television and was a cast member of the television series Dark Shadows for its entire five year run, from 1966 until 1971, receiving an Emmy Award nomination for her role.

Bennett died from a heart attack in Scarsdale, New York and was buried in Pleasant View Cemetery , Lyme, Connecticut.

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for services to Motion Pictures, at 6310 Hollywood Boulevard.