Richard Samuel Benjamin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Benjamin

Richard Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director.[1]

He has starred in a number of well-known film productions, including Goodbye, Columbus (1969), based on the novella by Philip Roth;[2] Catch-22 (1970), from the Joseph Heller best-seller;[3] Westworld (1973), a science-fiction thriller by Michael Crichton,[4] and The Sunshine Boys (1975), written by Neil Simon.[5]

He has directed, among other films, the 1982 comedy My Favorite Year.[6]

Benjamin was born in New York City, New York, the son of a garment industry worker.[7] He attended the High School of Performing Arts and graduated from Northwestern University, where he was involved in many plays and studied in the Northwestern theater school.

He married actress Paula Prentiss on October 26, 1961; and they have two children. They appeared together in the short-lived television series He & She (1967–68) and the film Catch-22 (1970).[3] In 1978, he starred in the ambitious, but short-lived, television series Quark.[8]

Benjamin starred in Goodbye, Columbus (1969), based on the novella by Philip Roth[2] as well as Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Steagle,[9] The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker, and yet another film based on a famous Roth novel, Portnoy's Complaint (1972), in the title role.

He played a sexually ambiguous murder suspect in The Last of Sheila (1973), a mystery conceived and co-scripted by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim. In an imaginative Michael Crichton story, Westworld (1973), Benjamin played a man vacationing as a make-believe cowboy in a theme park where he ends up being stalked by a robot gunslinger played by Yul Brynner.[4]

Then he returned to comedy, with a supporting role as a harried theatrical agent in the Neil Simon hit The Sunshine Boys opposite Walter Matthau and George Burns[5] and as Matthau's colleague at an ineptly run hospital in House Calls (1978). Benjamin also played a frustrated fiance of a woman who falls for the vampire Count Dracula in the surprise box-office smash Love at First Bite (1979) starring George Hamilton and Susan Saint James.[10]

On April 7, 1979, Benjamin hosted Saturday Night Live.[citation needed]

Benjamin's first project as a director was the hit comedy My Favorite Year (1982), which brought an Oscar nomination to its star, Peter O'Toole.[6] Benjamin went on to direct a number of Hollywood films, mainly comedies, including City Heat (1984) with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood[11] and The Money Pit (1986) with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.[12] He also directed Cher and Winona Ryder in Mermaids (1990). The most recent film Benjamin has directed was a drama, A Little Thing Called Murder (2006), featuring Judy Davis which was based on the true story of Sante and Kenny Kimes, mother and son grifters and killers.[13]

Benjamin's acting appearances have become less frequent and include a role in the Woody Allen comedy Deconstructing Harry (1997).[14] He directed and appeared in Marci X (2003), a comedy starring Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans.[15]

Acting filmography[edit] Goodbye, Columbus (1969) Catch-22 (1970) Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971) The Steagle (1971) Portnoy's Complaint (1972) The Last of Sheila (1973) Westworld (1973) The Sunshine Boys (1975) No Room to Run (1976) (TV movie) Quark (1977–78) House Calls (1978) Love at First Bite (1979) Scavenger Hunt (1979) Witches' Brew (1980) The Last Married Couple in America (1980) How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980) First Family (1980) Saturday the 14th (1981) Packin' It In (TV 1983) Lift (1992) Deconstructing Harry (1997) The Pentagon Wars (1998) The Shrink Is In (2001) Marci X (2003) Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) Henry Poole Is Here (2008) Directing filmography[edit] My Favorite Year (1982) Racing with the Moon (1984) City Heat (1984) The Money Pit (1986) Little Nikita (1988) My Stepmother is an Alien (1988) Downtown (1990) Mermaids (1990) Made in America (1993) Milk Money (1994) Mrs. Winterbourne (1996) The Pentagon Wars (1998) Marci X (2003) The Goodbye Girl (2004) A Little Thing Called Murder (2006) References[edit] Jump up ^ "Richard Benjamin". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-04-10. ^ Jump up to: a b Canby, Vincent (April 4, 1969). "Goodbye Columbus (1969) GOODBYE, COLUMBUS". The New York Times. ^ Jump up to: a b Canby, Vincent (June 25, 1970). "Catch 22 (1970) CATCH-22". The New York Times. ^ Jump up to: a b "Westworld". The New York Times. ^ Jump up to: a b Canby, Vincent (November 7, 1975). "The Sunshine Boys (1975) Simon's Comic 'Sunshine Boys' Opens". The New York Times. ^ Jump up to: a b Maslin, Janet (October 1, 1982). "My Favorite Year (1982) 'FAVORITE YEAR' WITH PETER O'TOOLE". The New York Times. Jump up ^ Jonas, Gerald (1968-09-08). "Hello Again To 'Goodbye, Columbus'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-04-10. Jump up ^ Decaro, Frank (December 24, 2008). "A Space Garbage Man and His Eclectic Crew". The New York Times. Jump up ^ Weiler, A. H. (September 16, 1971). "The Steagle (1971) A Brazilian Youth's Joys and Shocks:' Plantation Boy' Opens at 5th Ave. Cinema Benjamin Proves Deft Comic in 'The Steagle'". The New York Times. Jump up ^ Maslin, Janet (April 13, 1979). "Love At First Bite (1979) Screen: 'Love at First Bite,' Dracula's 'Plaza Suite': Full-Blooded Humor". The New York Times. Jump up ^ Maslin, Janet (December 7, 1984). "BENJAMIN DIRECTS 'CITY HEAT'". The New York Times. Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent (March 26, 1986). "The Money Pit (1986) FILM: 'THE MONEY PIT,' A DOMETIC COMEDY". The New York Times. Jump up ^ "A Murdering Mommy Dearest With a Swell Son to Match". The New York Times. January 23, 2006. Jump up ^ Maslin, Janet (December 12, 1997). "Deconstructing Harry (1997) FILM REVIEW; Gleefully Skewering His Own Monsters". The New York Times. Jump up ^ Holden, Stephen (August 23, 2003). "Marci X (2003) FILM REVIEW; In Giddy Rap Land, It's Senator Vs. Smut". The New York Times.