Bennett, Jill (1931–1990)

British actress. Born Dec 24, 1931, in Penang, Federated Malay States (now Malaysia); committed suicide, Oct 4, 1990, in London, England; dau. of James Randle and Nora Adeline (Beckett) Bennett; attended Priors Field, Godalming; attended Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; m. Willis Hall (div.); m. John Osborne (1929–1994, playwright), 1968 (div. 1977).

Actress who often played in the works of playwright husband, made stage debut at Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon (1949), followed by London debut in Captain Carvallo (1950); had 1st success as Isabelle in Dinner with the Family (1957); won Evening Standard and Variety Club Awards for Best Actress for performance as Pamela in Time Present (1968); also appeared as Helen Eliot in The Night of the Ball (1955), Masha in The Seagull (1956), Mrs. Marin in The Bald Prima Donna (1956), Susan Roper in Breakfast for One (1961), Feemy Evans in The Showing-Up of Blanco Posnet, Ophelia in Castle in Sweden (1962), Isabelle in The Love Game (1964), Countess Sophia Delyanoff in A Patriot for Me (1965), Frederica in West of Suez (1971), Hedda in Hedda Gabler (1972), Fay in Loot (1975), Sally in Watch It Come Down (1976), and Mrs. Shankland and Miss Railton-Bell in Separate Tables (1977), among others; made a number of films, including The Charge of the Light Brigade, Inadmissible Evidence, Julius Caesar and I Want What I Want; also appeared on British tv.

See also memoir Godfrey: A Special Time Remembered, concerning her relationship with Sir Godfrey Tearle.