Besides starring in several noir classics, The Woman in the Window ( 1944), Scarlet Street (1945), Hollow Triumph (1948) and our favorite, The Reckless Moment (1949), Joan Bennett delivered the most famous adulterer’s line of dialogue in Hollywood history.
In 1951, Bennet’s marriage to producer Walter Wanger was on the rocks. Wanger’s distinguished career was in decline and he was drowning in debt. Bennett and Wanger were in danger of losing their lovely Holmby Hills home. The financial burden of their family fell entirely on Joan’s slim shoulders. Unhappy, worried about her career as TV colonized movie audiences, Joan was approaching that certain age where female stars are forced into character roles. Under these trying circumstances Joan drifted into an affair with her agent Jennings Lang. Wanger followed his wife and her agent to a parking lot where, in a fit of jealousy, Wanger shot Lang in the crotch—twice.
Joan said: “Oh for Chrissake’s Walter, he’s ONLY an agent!”