Peter Bennett (17 September 1917 – 23 December 1989) was a British stage and television actor. He had served on both the

National Council for Drama Training The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT) was a partnership of employers in the theatre, broadcast and media industry, employee representatives and training providers from 1976 to 2012. History The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT ...

and the

British Actors' Equity Association Equity, formerly officially titled the British Actors' Equity Association, is the trade union for the performing arts and entertainment industries in the United Kingdom. Formed by a group of West End performers in 1930, the union grew to incl ...

Biography

Peter Egerton Bennett was born in Chelsea, London, England, on 17 September 1917. His father was a

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and a recipient of the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

. Bennett attended

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

and trained for the stage at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

. Peter Bennett married Sheila Bramwell-Jones. He died in London on 23 December 1989.

Career

Peter Bennett made his first stage appearance on 27 January 1936 as Ma Ta in a stage adaptation of ''

Lady Precious Stream Hsiung Shih-I ( zh, c=熊式一; also S. I. Hsiung or Xiong Shiyi; 1902–1991) was a writer, biographer, translator, academic, and playwright in Beijing and London. He was the first Chinese person to direct a West End theatre, West End play, and ...

'' at the Pleasure Gardens Theatre in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

, England. His first appearance in London theatre was on 9 May 1936 as Possum and Ed Sweet in a production of ''Little Ol' Boy'' at the

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It opened on April 20, 1927. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre cen ...

. Bennett made his first and only

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

performance as Corporal Cramp in the short-lived January 1947 production of '' Love Goes to Press'' at the Biltmore Theatre. Other major venues at which Bennett performed include the

Westminster Theatre The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster. History The structure on the site was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, by William Dodd with money from his wife Mary Perkins. Through Peter Ri ...

, the Ambassadors Theatre, Embassy Theatre, and the Richmond Theatre. From 1970 through 1980, Peter Bennett was a council member and Vice President of the

, known as Equity. In 1975, he served as the director for the Festival of British Theatre. In 1979, he was appointed to the

Film and television

Bennett appeared in more than 200 films and television productions, including ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Epic film, epic swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and written by Norman Reilly Ra ...

'' and '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' on TV, and the films of '' Carry On Constable'' (1960), ''

Tarka the Otter ''Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers'' is a 1927 novel by English writer Henry Williamson, first published by G. P. Putnam's Sons with an introduction by Sir John Fortescue. It won the Hawthornd ...

'' (1979) and ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the final novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Florence, Italy, and in 1929, in Paris, France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Ki ...

'' (1981). In addition to these, he also appeared in the following TV series in the 1960s: ''Probation Officer'', ''Unwelcome Stranger'', ''Magnolia Buildings'', ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...

'', ''

Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created ...

'', ''Compact'', ''Misleading Cases'' and '' The Troubleshooters''.

Biography

Career

Film and television

Notes

Further reading