Margot Bennett (actress)

Margot Bennett
Born Muriel Eisenberg
February 19, 1935
Woodmere, NY
Occupation Actress, publicist
Years active 1957-1973
Spouse(s) Keir Dullea
(m. 1960-1968)
Malcolm McDowell
(m. 1975-1980)

Margot Bennett (born Muriel Eisenberg, February 19, 1935) is an American publicist and former actress who appeared in various stage, television and film roles between the years 1957 and 1973. She is best known for her appearances in the films O Lucky Man! and Who Killed Teddy Bear?, and for being the first wife of both actor Keir Dullea and later, actor Malcolm McDowell.

Biography

Early life

Bennett was born Muriel Eisenberg on February 19, 1935 in Woodmere, New York.[1][2][3] She attended Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, graduating in 1958.[2] Prior to her graduation, she appeared (billed as Muriel Eisenberg) in various stock theatre productions, including at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[4][5] She also studied dance at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre in New York City.[4]

Career

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Bennett, now credited as "Margot Bennett" or "Margo Bennett", pursued an acting career, primarily in New York City, where she studied with Lee Strasberg.[6] She appeared in the 1958 off-Broadway production of The Crucible, an Equity Library Theatre production of Joan of Lorraine, and in several television drama series, including Armstrong Circle Theatre, The Doctors and the Nurses,[7] and an adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's short story, "A Simple Heart," on CBS Repertoire Workshop.[6] She also had lead roles in stock theatre productions of Gigi[8] and The Diary of Anne Frank.[9]

In 1963, Bennett made her Broadway debut in the original cast of The Irregular Verb To Love, directed by Cyril Ritchard and starring Claudette Colbert and Ritchard, which ran for 115 performances. Bennett played "Fedra," a Greek beatnik girl.[9][10] The following year, Bennett appeared on the TV series The Defenders playing the sister of an innocent man wrongly executed for murder.[11][12]

In 1965, Bennett had a supporting role in the film Who Killed Teddy Bear? as "Edie Sherman," the mentally challenged sister of main character "Lawrence Sherman" played by Sal Mineo. She did not appear in another film until 1973, when she made a brief, uncredited appearance as a Latina coffee bean picker at the beginning of O Lucky Man! starring her then-partner and soon-to-be husband, Malcolm McDowell.[13]

By the late 1960s, Bennett was no longer acting regularly, and was instead working as a publicist for Paramount. Around the time of her marriage to Malcolm McDowell in 1975, Bennett reportedly gave up her acting career in order to have an "uncomplicated long-lasting marriage."

Personal Life

Bennett's first marriage was to fellow New York actor Keir Dullea on August 22, 1960. The wedding took place on a Mississippi riverboat in St. Louis, where Dullea was on location making his film debut in The Hoodlum Priest.[14][15][16] As Dullea obtained more film roles and Bennett appeared on Broadway, the couple were forced to maintain a long-distance relationship.[10] They divorced in 1968.[17]

In March 1969, Bennett met English actor Malcolm McDowell in the course of her job at Paramount Pictures handling publicity duties for his first movie, If..... Bennett and McDowell began a long-distance relationship and later lived together for several years,[18] during which time they both appeared in O Lucky Man![13] and traveled together to the 1973 Cannes Film Festival to promote the film.[19] On April 21, 1975, Bennett and McDowell were married in London.[20]

In 1978, while filming Time After Time in California, Malcolm McDowell met and fell in love with his co-star Mary Steenburgen.[21] Bennett and McDowell were divorced in September 1980, after which McDowell married Steenburgen.[22]

Bennett subsequently lived in Los Angeles and New York City.[23]

Filmography (selective)

Film

Television

References

  1. ↑ "Margo Bennett" biography, imdb.com, accessed Mar. 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cohen, Harold V. "Tech Again." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 20, 1963, p. 8.
  3. ↑ Although the Internet Broadway Database (ibdb.com) lists Margo Bennett's birth name as "Ruth Bennett" (see http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=79987, Margot Bennett entry in Internet Broadway Database, ibdb.com, accessed Mar. 22, 2015), no reliable independent confirmation of this has yet been found in any other source.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Shakespeare in Performance: Person: Muriel Eisenberg" (entry in Digital Renaissance Editions theater database). dre.internetshakespeare.uvic.ca, uploaded Nov. 14, 2008, accessed Mar. 22, 2015.
  5. ↑ Foster, David, & Carl Ritchie. "V0002 01 AYLI dance 01" (B&W silent film of the cast of 1957 Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of As You Like It, including Muriel Eisenberg, dancing and taking bows). Youtube video, 2:05. Posted by "Oregon Shakespeare Festival," Mar. 4, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhFtRjadX6I
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Story Aims to Move Tender Hearts to Pity." Bristol (Pennsylvania) Daily Courier, Feb. 16, 1963, p. 31.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Nurses Episode Guide, Season 2, Episode 26, "A Kind of Loving." TVGuide.com, accessed Mar. 22, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Dunes Theatre to Offer Popular Broadway Hit 'Gigi'." Valparaiso (Indiana) Vidette-Messenger, July 26, 1958, p.2.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Irregular Verb To Love, premiere performance playbill. Playbillvault.com, Sept. 18, 1963, p. 10, accessed on Mar. 23, 2015.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The Wyckoff Shopper" (interview with mother of Keir Dullea). Stroudsburg (Pennsylvania) Daily Record, Oct. 9, 1963, p. 10.
  11. ↑ "Key TV Previews: The Defenders." Bridgeport (Connecticut) Post, Apr. 22, 1965, p. 33.
  12. ↑ "TV Scout Reports: Visit World's Fair Via Your TV Screen" (preview of The Defenders episode). Edwardsville (Illinois) Intelligencer, Apr 21, 1965, p. 9.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Hedling, Erik. Lindsay Anderson: Maverick Film Maker. Cassell, 1998, p. 236.
  14. ↑ "Time Out For Wedding." Long Beach (California) Independent, Aug. 23, 1960, p. A-6.
  15. ↑ "Time Out." Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Aug. 23, 1960, p. 2A.
  16. ↑ Garvin, Allen. "What in the World!" Eureka (Cal.) Humboldt Standard, Dec. 10, 1966, p. 30.
  17. ↑ Keir Dullea Biography at Film Reference database, filmreference.com, accessed Mar. 26, 2015.
  18. ↑ Esquire, Mar. 1973, p.156.
  19. ↑ Photo of Malcolm McDowell and his then-fiancee Margot Bennett at 1973 Cannes Film Festival, gettyimages.co.uk, accessed Mar. 26, 2015.
  20. ↑ Associated Press. "Film Star Weds American Actress." Odessa (Texas) American, Apr. 23, 1975, p. 31.
  21. ↑ Chambers, Andrea. "Malcolm McDowell's Romance with Mary Steenburgen Has Gone Just Like Clockwork." People, Sept. 1, 1980, p.64.
  22. ↑ Houseman, Victoria. Made in Heaven: The Marriages and Children of Hollywood Stars. Bonus Books, 1991, p. 196.
  23. ↑ Correspondence between Lindsay Anderson and Margot Bennett (McDowell), Lindsay Anderson Collection, University of Stirling Archives, Stirling, UK.
  24. ↑ The Defenders Episode Guide, Season 4, Episode 7, "Turning Point (1964)", imdb.com, accessed Mar. 26, 2015.
  25. ↑ "N.E.T. Playhouse" listing, Pasadena Independent Star-News, May 14, 1967, TV Week section p. 22.

External links

Margot Bennett at the Internet Movie Database