Gallery
Three
Historical Profile: Betty
Bennett, Photojournalist 1927 - 1996
Best known
for her work as a theatrical photographer in New York and Philadelphia in the
1960's, Betty Bennett's life and work encompassed many art forms.
Born in Philadelphia in 1927, Betty was an accomplished
concert pianist by 6 years of age. She spent the 1930's working as the child prodigy
of Leopold Stokowski. During the 1940's, Betty worked as a singer on USO Tours,
performing under the name: Valerie Gilbert. At age 17 yrs., she married actor
Leif Erickson. By 1950, her youthful first marriage had failed. She soon met and
married writer Gil Orlovitz, author of the acclaimed "milkbottle h", and moved
with him to New York. By
the early 1960's, after the birth of her first daughter, Lynne, Betty's 2nd marriage
was in ruins. She
left New York to return to her family in Pennsylvania. Soon after, she met and
married cinematographer, Joseph Nettis, with whom she had two children: her son,
Buzzy, and her youngest daughter, Jenny. While raising her young children and
living with Joe, Betty began her career as a photographer. Her first effort: "Philadelphia
Discovered" was heralded as a creative success.
Although she goes unaccredited for her contribution to this
visual document of the City of Brotherly Love, (the credits read: Photography
by Joseph Nettis), Betty's photographs comprise the majority of images in this
publication. When she challenged her husband's usurping of her photo credits,
he placed her in a mental institution for one year. Upon her release, she moved
to New York and opened her own studio. Up until her death in 1996, Betty was still
trying gain formal acknowledgement for her contribution to this book.
In the late 1960's
and early 1970's, Betty's reputation as a theatre photographer grew. One of few
women working in this industry, Betty's photographs appeared regularly in the
New York Times and Playbill. However, Betty's greatest success came when she returned
to Philadelphia to work as the house photographer for The Theatre of The Living
Arts. It was here that she established professional friendships with founders
John Guare, Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn. It was also here that she developed
lifelong personal friendships with actors Tony Zerbe, Jonathan Frid, Ron Liebman,
Linda Lavin and Sally Kirkland.
In the mid-1970's, Betty met and married her 7th husband,
actor/director Terrell Bennett. Together,
they moved to Atlanta, Georgia and worked for the Alliance Theatre, with Guy Waldron.
Betty was the photographer for the Guy's first production of the Who's Pop Opera:
"Tommy". Betty and Terrell moved to Hollywood in the late 1970's, where Betty
worked as a photographer for Dick Clark. Following the death of her son in 1979,
Betty went through a personal transformation that lasted the rest of her life.
For
most of the 1980's and up until her death in 1996, Betty worked as the Staff Photographer
for The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) in Los Angeles. Her images
during this period reflected the changes in her life. Although she still took
occasional theatrical assignments, the bulk of her work during this time were
photographs of her grandchildren, members of her church and her beloved horses.
See
Gallery on WIPI
Samples
of her photography can be viewed upon request by contacting:-
The
Betty Bennett Archive
|
