Back to the Utah State Aggies Newsfeed

Utah actor Michael Jesse Bennett, who performed as Charles Dickens for 56 years, dies at 90

Michael Jesse Bennett, an actor who entertained audiences in Utah and around the country for more than five decades with his one-man Charles Dickens play, has died at the age of 90.

Bennett researched and wrote “An Evening With Charles Dickens,” and portrayed the author for some 56 years. He created a repertoire of one-man shows, including “A Man of the Mountains,” about 19th century mountain men, as well as shows about Patrick Henry and Christopher Columbus. All told, he gave more than 1,400 performances for more than 230,000 spectators.

Bennett was a founding member of the Babcock Readers Theater, now Babcock Performing Readers, a nonprofit program where people read and perform works of literature.