Joan Bennett had three phases in her long career: Cute little wispy blonde, dark-haired femme fatale, and comfortable mother-figure. The phase that had the most lasting impact, of course, was the middle one.
She made over 70 movies, but it was in The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlett Street (1945), both directed by the brilliant Fritz Lang, that Joan Bennett made her reputation as a film noir icon, and an all-time favorite of bad girl fans.
After a mediocre career in the ‘30’s, Joan changed her appearance, dropping the blonde look, and her popularity as an actress soared—on such trivial things are careers in Hollywood made. But the new look, combined with her sexy, throaty voice and dark, hypnotic eyes, gave her an entirely glamorous and seductive new persona.
Some of her best films, aside from the two mentioned above: 1941’s Manhunt, also directed by Lang, The Man I Married—an anti-Nazi drama—and The House Across the Bay.
From 1966 to 1971, she starred in the cult classic supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows.
Her last film was Dario Argento’s Suspiria, in 1977.
She died in 1990.
"I don't think much of most of the films I made, but being a movie star was something I liked very much."
She made some great film noirs!
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