Fran Bennett(1937-2021)

Fran Bennett graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an M.A. and subsequently spent twelve years acting and as voice and movement director with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Her Broadway debut was a leading role in the short-lived play Mandingo at the Lyceum Theater in 1961. Thereafter, Bennett concentrated on stage acting and education, serving for many years on the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts, latterly as head of acting and director of performance at the CalArts School of Theater (1996-2003). Her credentials included a teaching spell at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and voice production workshops at several American universities. As an ensemble member of the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company, her dramatis personae tended to be powerful individuals (Othello, King Lear, Oberon, and others). Bennett's screen work has likewise shown a predilection towards sober, resolute authority figures: doctors, judges, head nurses, community leaders and family matriarchs, even a Fleet Admiral on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Her TV debut was as early as 1952 but she did not become prolific in that medium until the late 70s. From then on, she regularly guest-starred in episodes of popular fare, ranging from soapies (The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), Dynasty (1981)) to crime drama (Simon & Simon (1981), Crossing Jordan (2001), NCIS (2003)) and science fiction (The Twilight Zone (1985), Quantum Leap (1989)). The Arkansas native was a 2005 inductee into Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. Her honours have included an NAACP Theatre Award and the inaugural AEA/AFTRA/SAG Diversity Award.