Charles C. Bennett

Bennett, Charles C.
Award winning art director and production designer, died June 25th of complications from a liver transplant. He was 62. Mr. Bennett was born in Independence, Louisiana on March 30, 1940. He studied design at Louisiana State University and apprenticed in film art production under the great Gene Callahan and worked with him in "Hurry Sundown" and "Funny Girl". He went on to a distinguished film and television career that spanned four decades. Towards the end of his career, he concentrated on television and became an expert in period set design. He worked on "I'll Fly Away" for NBC for three years and did almost 40 features and miniseries for television. He was awarded the Emmy three times for his work on three miniseries; "Roots" in 1977, "Evergreen" with Leslie Anne Warren and Armand Assante in 1987 and most recently "The Last Confederate Widow Tells All" with Donald Sutherland. His last years were spent with HBO on such projects as "Boycott" and "For Love and Country: The Auturo Sandoval Story" with Andy Garcia, which gained him two more nominations. He has also been nominated several times for production design excellence by the Art Directors Guild. He is survived by three brothers, Bobby Joe Bennett, of Oscar, LA, Rodney Bennett, of Baton Rouge, LA, and Robert Earl Smith of West Orange, TX; two sisters, Vickey Grieger of LaGrange, TX, Shirley Ann Williams of Cheyenne, WY, a beloved nephew, Taylor Bennett of Atlanta, GA, and a host of aunts, uncles and cousins, also, a legion of devoted friends. Burial will be in Wesson, Mississippi with a graveside service followed by a reception at a friend's home in Kentwood, Louisiana.