Joan Bennett and William Ward
Toronto Daily Star, July 20 1936
Joan Bennett (1910-1990) was one of three sisters who went into the movies. She appeared in one movie in 1916 and another in 1923, and then started her film career in earnest in the late 1920s. In 1951, her husband, Walter Wanger, shot her agent, Jennings Lang, in a fit of jealousy. Mr. Lang survived, and Mr. Wanger, pleading a fit of temporary insanity, served only four months in jail for the shooting. The scandal, however, effectively ended Ms. Bennett's movie career; she continued to work extensively on the stage and in television.
William Ward, the 3rd Earl of Dudley (1894-1969) served two terms in the British Parliament as a Conservative before being elevated to the House of Lords in 1932. He was a widower at the time of the punch described here, as his first wife, Lady Rosemary Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, died in a plane crash in 1930. He married twice more after that, and allegedly proposed to Mandy Rice-Davies in 1961 when he was 67 and she was 17. He was also stridently opposed to the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, which partially decriminalized male homosexuality, as he claimed that he could not stand gay people.
Created September 23, 2025.