Fran Bennett obit

In Memoriam: Fran Bennett

 

 She was not on the list.

The CalArts community mourns the loss of School of Theater faculty emerita Fran Bennett, who passed away over the weekend. She served the CalArts community for 36 years as Linklater Voice faculty, as well as Head of Acting/Director of Performance from 1996-2003. She retired from full-time teaching at CalArts in 2014.

For those who met Bennett, her booming voice was instantly recognizable. Her looming presence was unforgettable.

In a message sent earlier today to the School of Theater, Dean Travis Preston wrote:

    Fran’s voice was unmistakable. She never shied away from using it. And she taught so many throughout the years to find and free their own.

    Before there were diversity committees and personnel at CalArts, there was Fran. She unceasingly championed students, artists, and innovators of all backgrounds, and demanded that leaders do more to serve the left out and kept out.

    Her King Lear launched the CalArts Center for New Performance. As her director, I was utterly blown away by her fearlessness and ferocity, and it has emboldened me and my work ever since.

    Her legacy will live on in the hearts and minds and voices of the countless people she impacted. I will never forget her, and miss her terribly. May we all follow her example – and speak with honesty, grace, strength, and freedom.

Born in 1937, in Malvern, Ark., Bennett earned a BS and an MA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Her acting career spanned several decades over stages and screens, beginning on the daytime drama Guiding Light in 1965. Her extensive television credits included Quantum Leap, In the Heat of the Night, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Book of Daniel and Scandal. In 2019, Bennett starred in Live in Front of a Studio Audience, which reprised Norman Lear’s classic sitcoms, All In The Family and The Jeffersons. She starred as Mother Olivia Jefferson on The Jeffersons episode. Her last film, The Manor, will be released in October as part of Welcome to the Blumhouse’s horror/thriller slate for Amazon Studios.

Bennett also had a significant impact on theater in Los Angeles and beyond. A member of the classical theater company Antaeus, she was also a founding member of Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company’s (LAWSC), an organization that produces professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays with an all-female ensemble. For playing both the Duke of Venice and the Prince of Morocco in LAWSCs The Merchant of Venice, Bennett received the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Featured Actress in a Play.

In addition to receiving an NAACP Theatre Award, Bennett was the first recipient of an AEA/SAG/AFTRA Diversity Honor Award. She was named to the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, joining poet Maya Angelou and President Bill Clinton, among others. Aug. 7, 2005, was named Fran Bennett Day by the mayor of Malvern, Arkansas.

On social media, former colleagues and students are reminiscing and paying tribute to the actor, teacher, and mentor.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1979      Promises in the Dark       ER Nurse             

1985      The Dancing Bulrushes   Narrator               Short

1989      How I Got into College   Mrs. Cook           

1994      Wes Craven's New Nightmare     Dr. Christine Heffner     

1996      Foxfire Judge Holifield  

1997      Leave It to Beaver            Dr. Beawoot      

1999      Unbowed            Miss Bennett    

2000      The Next Best Thing        Judge Tracey Bennett    

2001      Maple   Grandmother    Short

2001      The Sky Is Falling              Mrs. Quinn         

2002      Crazy as Hell       Mrs. Ada Barnett             

2014      Jessabelle            Mrs. Davis          

2016      Growing Up        Lenora Short

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1965–1966          Guiding Light      Mrs. Matson      

1978      Diff'rent Strokes               Mrs. Thompson                 "The Social Worker"

1979      Roots: The Next Generations      Trixie     "1.6"

Friendships, Secrets and Lies       Clarissa                 TV film

1980      Here's Boomer Dr. Joyce Clarke                "Molly"

1980      The Righteous Apples     Evelyn   "Convictions"

1980      Knots Landing    Bev Tolner           "Let Me Count the Ways"

1981      The Violation of Sarah McDavid Ms. Merriam      TV film

1981      Lou Grant            Sarah / Chaney "Boomerang", "Wedding"

1982      Knots Landing    Kimya Haman    "Abby's Choice"

1983      Matt Houston    Lucille   "The Ghost of Carter Gault"

1983      General Hospital               Flora Johnston   3 episodes

1984      Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter        Miss Deal             TV film

1984      Cat on a Hot Tin Roof      Sookey TV film

1984      Trapper John, M.D.          Mrs. Ramsey      "School Nurse"

1985      Falcon Crest        Nurse    "Cold Comfort", "Confessions"

1985      Shadow Chasers               Dr. Frolov            "Spirit of St. Louis"

1986      St. Elsewhere     Nurse Julie Attucks          "To Tell the Truth"

1986      Simon & Simon Wanda Tale        "The Blue Chip Stomp"

1986      Benson Sen. Williams     "Secret Love"

1986      Foley Square      Dr. Charney        "Nobody's Perfect"

1986      Cagney & Lacey                 Judge Hansen    "Family Connections"

1987      A Year in the Life              Mrs. Caldwell     "Don't I Know You from Somewhere?"

1987      The Bold and the Beautiful           Judge Madeline Collins Recurring role

1987–1988          L.A. Law                Judge Hillary Miller Johnson        "The Douglas Fur Ball", "Hand Roll Express"

1988      Highway to Heaven         Flora      "Back to Oakland"

1988      Dynasty                Gloria Wilby       "The Trial", "The Proposal"

1988      Nightingales       Lenore Ritt, RN TV film

1988      Roots: The Gift Mammy May     TV film

1989      Nightingales       Head Nurse Lenore Ritt Main role

1989      ALF         Mrs. Watson      "Happy Together"

1989      Tour of Duty       Mrs. Johnson     "Green Christmas"

1990      Mancuso, F.B.I. Anna      "Conspiracy"

1990      Amen    Judge Wilde        "Deacon's Dilemma"

1990      The Knife and Gun Club Nurse Mary Falk               TV film

1990      Matlock                Betty Harding    "The Personal Trainer"

1990–1991          WIOU    Leonara Gates   "The Inquisition", "Labored Relations"

1990–1992          In the Heat of the Night                 Ruda Gibson       "Family Matters", "Ruda's Awakening", "Last Rights"

1991      Plymouth             Debra    TV film

1991      Crazy from the Heart      Judge Sandra Farrell        TV film

1991      Quantum Leap Ada Simpson      "Justice"

1991      Star Trek: The Next Generation Fleet Adm. Shanthi          "Redemption II"

1992      Jake and the Fatman       Thornton             "Last Dance"

1992      Breaking the Silence        Judge Richards TV film

1992      Quantum Leap Marie Billings     "Trilogy: Parts 1, 2 & 3"

1992      Melrose Place    Dr. Miller             "Jake vs. Jake"

1994      Murder, She Wrote         Det. MacKenzie                 "Proof in the Pudding"

1994      Once in a Lifetime            Dr. Liz Wells        TV film

1994      A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Grimacing Governor      Judge Donna Andrews   TV film

1996      Arliss     Amelia Halimon                "Negotiating: It's Never Personal"

1996      ER           Phyllis   "Union Station"

1996      What Love Sees                Bessie Hays         TV film

1997      Crisis Center       Tess's Mother    Recurring role

1997      Sunset Beach     Chief Harris         Recurring role

1997      Sports Theater with Shaquille O'Neal       Grandma Williams           "4 Points"

1997      Chicago Hope     Dr. Andrea Porter             "Second Chances"

1998      Team Night Rider             Miss Barrett       "Angels in Chains"

1998      Tempting Fate   Nurse Lorenzo   TV film

1999      Early Edition       Judge A. Harding Joseph               "Pinch Hitters"

2000      Chicago Hope     Dr. Odelia Wilkes              "Letting Go"

2000      City of Angels     Hattie Brewster                "Prototype", "Weenis Between Us"

2000      Becker Enid Connelly     "Sight Unseen"

2001      The Jennie Project           Judge    TV film

2002      Any Day Now     Mrs. Raymond   "Just the Beginning: Part 1"

2002      Days of Our Lives              Judge Ross          1 episode

2003      Boomtown          Beatrice Rahming             "The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang"

2006      The Book of Daniel          Rainy     Regular role

2006      Boston Legal       Judge Diane Avent           "Shock and Owww!"

2008      ER           Michelle               "Owner of a Broken Heart"

2008      Grave Misconduct            Mrs. Crutch         TV film

2009      Numbers             Estelle Brown     "Shadow Markets"

2010      Community         Nana Barnes       "Basic Genealogy"

2015      Scandal                 Lois        "Run"

2015      The Fosters         Iris          "Going South", "Idyllwild"

2019      Live in Front of a Studio Audience             Mother Olivia Jefferson Episode: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons