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Gallery
Three - Historical
Historical
Profile: BETTY
BENNETT, Photojournalist 1927
- 1996
By:
Nancy Clendaniel
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.
Samples
of her photography can be viewed upon request by contacting:
Please contact Nancy
Clendaniel for information or photographs from the Betty Bennett
library of images-
Ple
The Betty Bennett
Archive
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