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Her next three films-----The Man in the Iron Mask
(1939), The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939), and Green Hell (1940)-----hinted at the femme fatale roles
which were to come in the mid-Forties. Wanger's production of The House Across the Bay (1940) made better use
of her cool sexuality and she was convincing as the stoic wife with a Nazi husband (Francis Lederer) in The Man I Married
(1940). Her last picture under her long-term contract with Wanger was on loan-out to producer Edward Small in a period
piece entitled The Son of Monte Cristo (1940).
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| The House Across the Bay, 1940 |
Joan and Wanger were married by a justice of the peace in
Phoenix, Arizona on January 12, 1940. Joan was twenty-nine, Wanger was forty-five.
She Knew All the Answers and Wild Geese
Calling (both released in 1941) failed to capitalize on Joan's dark-haired sorcery, but Confirm or Deny (1941)
might have if Lang had not been fired by Darryl F. Zanuck. Twin Beds, The Wife Takes a Flyer, Girl
Trouble (all released in 1942), and Margin for Error (1943) were from the same treadmill.
Joan's screen work, along with her war efforts, halted in
1943 when, learning she was pregnant for the third time, she retired to her Holmby Hills home. On Mother's Day of that
year, a fire started in the basement of the house, caused by improper wiring in the hot water furnace. Joan was the
first to detect smoke and alert other members of the household, none of whom would believe her until the flames became obvious.
Everyone escaped without injury, but much of the house was damaged by smoke, water, and the firemen's axes. Because
of the wartime shortage of construction materials, it took a year before the damaged house could be restored.
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| Joan, Melinda, and Stephanie |
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| Publicity photo for The Housekeeper's Daughter, 1939 |
In January 1940, having just completed The House Across
the Bay, Joan said yes to Wanger's telephoned marriage proposal. "By then I knew I was in love with Walter and
felt I could give him, at last, the settled domestic life he'd never had. . . . Most important of all, he loved Ditty and
Mims." Wanger, now divorced from Justine Johnstone with whom he'd previously had an "open" marriage, was one of Hollywood's
busiest and most respected citizens. Among his many official posts was the presidency of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences (1939 - 1945).
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| Just Married, January 1940 |
Joan signed deals with Columbia and 20th Century Fox in 1941.
Man Hunt (1941), her first for Fox under this contract, was also the first of her four films with Fritz Lang, the
director for whom she would give her best performances. Man Hunt, one of Lang's best, is a well-paced thriller
about a big game hunter (Walter Pidgeon) who sets out to assassinate Hitler. Joan surprised everyone with her realistic,
poignant portrayal of the Cockney tart who gives her life to help Pidgeon. For her compelling performance, Joan received
some of the best reviews in her lengthy career. While promoting the film, Lang told the press: "She is a remarkable
woman, a fine actress, runs her home well, is a lovely wife and the best mother I've ever known."
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| She Knew All the Answers, 1941 |
On June 26, 1943, Stephanie Wanger was born. "Walter
always said he really didn't want children of his own, but he was the proudest of fathers."
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Joan Bennett, Diana Anderson, Diana Markey, Melinda Markey, Melinda
Beno, Stephanie Wanger, Stephanie Guest, Shelley Wanger, Shelley Mortimer, John Marion Fox, Gene Markey, Walter Wanger, Richard
Bennett, Constance Bennett, Barbara Bennett, Barbara Downey, Adrienne Morrison, Adrienne Bennett, Mabel Bennett, Mabel Morrison,
Adrienne Ralston Fox, www.joanbennett.net
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