Adrienne Morrison

Who was Adrienne Morrison?

Mabel Adrienne Morrison was a semi-successful stage actress of the early 20th century. She married actor Richard Bennett, with whom she had three daughters who later would become actresses. She was the daughter of actress Rose Wood and actor Lewis Morrison. In 1905, she appeared as Nat-u-ritch, an Aboriginal American woman, in the play The Squaw Man opposite William Faversham. Cecil B. DeMille would film the story three times in 1914, 1918 and 1931. Her part would be played by Lupe Vélez in DeMille's 1931 sound film of the story.

Morrison and Bennett married on November 9, 1903, but she retained her maiden name. Their daughters, Barbara Bennett, Constance Bennett, and Joan Bennett would all become film actresses. Of the three, Joan would become the best known in acting, although both she and Constance would see wide success. Barbara would never achieve the success of her sisters in acting, but she would marry Morton Downey, and the couple would have a son, Morton Downey Jr.

In April 1925 she and Richard Bennett divorced. Two years later, in 1927, she would marry Eric Pinker. That marriage produced no children, but would last until her death in New York City of a heart attack in 1940.