Oddly, I can't find a real obituary.

But at least I'm sure this isn't about the other writer/illustrator, who would now be 76.

https://www.facebook.com/110562982352771/posts/jill-bennetti-was-so-sad-to-hear-the-news-yesterday-that-kdf-friend-supporter-ji/2397738886968491/

(with 13 comments)

London Dollshouse Festivals
September 17, 2019 ·
JILL BENNETT
I was so sad to hear the news yesterday, that KDF friend & supporter, Jill Bennett, passed away suddenly on Sunday.

Jill was an original exhibitor at the 1st Festival back in 1985 & she continued attending the show up until 2012. Her dolls were not only beautifully moulded & painted, but she also had a clever system so their metal bodies could be positioned in any pose. The characters she created were all unique.

This is not surprising as Jill started life in costume design & theatre, then, after starting a family, she began illustrating children's books. We will ALL remember her characters from some of the best loved childhood stories, from tales by Dick King Smith, Helen Creswell & even Roald Dahl. (Fantastic Mr Fox & Danny the Champion of the World).

Then her 2d characters became 3d. You just have to look at her dolls to see the stories behind them. This is what made her dolls so unique - they all had a story & it was there for you to discover.

Jill was a constant supporter of the Festival. She taught workshops, allowed dolls house enthusiasts to visit her home & workshop, she designed a special paper cut out for our 25th Anniversary & even after she stopped exhibiting herself, she carried on attending the show to help her daughter Kate (Kate Pinsent Dolls) with her stand.

We are planning a Retrospective of her work for the KDF Summer Show.

(there are photos of dolls underneath - click to see all ten photos; two are of Roald Dahl's books and one is of Bennett)

https://dollshouseshowcase.com/2020/09/18/fabulous-miniatures/

(about her early life and her career in making fancy dolls - plus the cover of "Stand Up, Mr. Dickens")

"A passion for storytelling Jill Bennett’s journey from 2D illustrations to 3D characters."

https://www.google.com/search?q=jill+bennett+books+dahl&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwihyMrUw7CCAxX0DWIAHS92AWoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=jill+bennett+books+dahl&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1AAWJYHYMoJaABwAHgAgAFDiAGpApIBATWYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=53ZJZeG4EfSbiLMPr-yF0AY&bih=929&biw=1920&rlz=1CALYMZ_enUS1083
(some of her illustrations for Roald Dahl)

https://www.google.com/search?q=jill+bennett+%22dick+king+smith%22+&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj_ru_aw7CCAxXsIWIAHShyADUQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=jill+bennett+%22dick+king+smith%22+&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoGCAAQBxAeOggIABAIEAcQHjoFCAAQgARQ-QhYoDlg0DtoAHAAeACAAXGIAfQLkgEEMjQuMZgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=9HZJZf_kHOzDiLMPqOSBqAM&bih=929&biw=1920&rlz=1CALYMZ_enUS1083
(pictures for Dick King Smith)

________________________________________________

What I posted in 2014:

Born in Johannesburg, she lived from 4 to 11 in Jamaica, moved to
England in the 1940s and now lives in Bath.

She's also illustrated for Joan Aiken, Rosemary Harris and Dick King-Smith.

(Not to be confused with the writer/illustrator born in
Pakistan. Or the two actors of that name.)

https://www.childrensbookillustration.com/illustrator/jill-bennett/
(includes a short biography)

First sentence:

"Jill Bennett was the very first illustrator to work on Roald Dahl’s British publications of 'Fantastic Mr Fox' and 'Danny The Champion of the World' in the 1970’s."

From a bio I can't find anymore:

"...She studied Theatre Design in the 1950's at Wimbledon School of Art and at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. So began a life long study of historical clothes and the social history of the people who wore them.

"After her marriage to Rodney Bennett, a television drama director. and, with two children of her own, she began to illustrate children's books. Almost the first book she was offered was 'Fantastic Mr Fox' by Roald Dahl. With over fifty books to her name she is a very successfull illustrator, including works by famous authors such as Dick King-Smith and Helen Cresswell.

"Towards the end of the 1970s for relaxation from the many deadlines the books demanded, she joined forces with ceramicist and sculptor, Sukey Erland. Their children were at the same primary school. They became known as Bennett and Erland. Their first works were vignettes for ornamental use. This was in the days before dolls house enthusiasm in England had really begun. Then they had the idea to try to make dolls house dolls that could be repeated and were not expensive. As the movement grew, they even tried all metal dolls with moulded hair. These were too heavy and the wire used was too fragile..."

She also contributed illustrations to Catherine Storr's funny series about little Polly and the Wolf, who are longtime friends - even though he wants to eat her up and she knows it! (Storr was also known for "Marianne Dreams," which was made into the scary 1988 movie "Paperhouse.")

There are four books in the series, but I'm pretty sure Bennett didn't start drawing for it until book 3 or so.
https://childrensbookshop.com/book-98825.html
(cover of one book)
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31407381685&searchurl=xpod%3Doff%26bi%3D0%26ds%3D30%26bx%3Doff%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dpolly%2Bwolf%26kn%3Dbennett%26an%3Dstorr%26recentlyadded%3Dall&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp2-_-image21
(two Bennett illustrations from the same book)

At any rate, in 2016, the four were collected into "The Complete Polly and the Wolf." All the illustrations were in B&W.

I love this review of the omnibus, from New York Review Books:

"When Catherine Storr’s daughter was very small, she was afraid of the wolf under her bed, so every night her mother would tell her a story in which Polly outwitted the wolf. These bedtime stories eventually became the collection Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf, a wonderfully thrilling and reassuring series of adventures in which the clever, independent, and unstoppable Polly fools the persistent, hungry young wolf time and again. In a match much like Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner but more polite and quick-witted, Polly and the wolf develop ever-more complicated ways of turning the tables on each other as they grow older and, in Polly’s case at least, wiser. Three more collections of stories followed the original Clever Polly..."

Of course, the reviewer likely meant to say Wile E. Coyote, not Bugs Bunny!

(The other illustrator was Marjorie-Ann Watts, who is still around in her 90s, I hope. She's the daughter of "Punch" cartoonist Arthur Watts. In 2021, she did a video interview about the worldwide association of writers, PEN International, which was founded in London in 1921. In 2010, she wrote a book of "wickedly funny" short stories: "Are They Funny, Are They Dead?")

Also...Bennett's husband Rodney (1935-2017) directed the 1980 TV version of "Hamlet" (starring Derek Jacobi, Claire Bloom and Patrick Stewart), plus three serials of "Doctor Who," all with Tom Baker! They were: "The Ark in Space," "The Sontaran Experiment," and "The Masque of Mandragora."