Richard Samuel Benjamin was born on May 22,1938 and is an American actor and film director.
30 Facts About Richard Benjamin
2.
Richard Benjamin has starred in a number of well-known films, including Goodbye, Columbus, based on the novella by Philip Roth; Catch-22, from the Joseph Heller best-seller; Westworld, a science-fiction thriller by Michael Crichton; and The Sunshine Boys, written by Neil Simon, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
3.
Richard Benjamin 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.
4.
Richard Benjamin struggled to get work early in his career, while Prentiss became a film star almost immediately in Where the Boys Are.
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Richard Benjamin appeared on stage in The Taming of the Shrew and guest-starred on shows such as The New Breed and Dr Kildare.
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Richard Benjamin later toured in The Odd Couple with Dan Dailey.
7.
Richard Benjamin appeared alongside Anthony Perkins and Connie Stevens, and the show ran for 261 performances.
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Richard Benjamin followed it with a key support role in the film of Catch-22.
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Richard Benjamin was top billed in Diary of a Mad Housewife from the team of Eleanor and Frank Perry, appearing alongside Carrie Snodgress and Frank Langella.
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Richard Benjamin played the lead in The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker, directed by the producer and the original author of The Graduate, though it was not as successful.
11.
Richard Benjamin acted in a comedy, The Steagle, the directorial debut of designer Paul Sylbert, which was little seen.
12.
In 1972, Richard Benjamin returned to Broadway with The Little Black Book, which only ran for nine performances.
13.
Richard Benjamin then acted in two more successful films, as part of an all-star cast in The Last of Sheila, from a script by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, and in Westworld, directed by Michael Crichton and co-starring Yul Brynner.
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Richard Benjamin supported Walter Matthau and George Burns in the film adaptation of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys, for which he won a Golden Globe award.
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Richard Benjamin went to Australia to make a TV film with his wife, No Room to Run.
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Richard Benjamin played a frustrated fiance of a woman who falls for the vampire Count Dracula in the surprise box-office smash Love at First Bite starring George Hamilton and Susan Saint James.
17.
Richard Benjamin has hosted Saturday Night Live twice, once by himself on April 7,1979 and the other nearly a year later on April 5,1980 with his wife Paula Prentiss.
18.
Richard Benjamin was top billed in Scavenger Hunt, an ensemble film.
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Richard Benjamin had directed in theatre and was keen to do it in film.
20.
Richard Benjamin had supporting roles in The Last Married Couple in America, How to Beat the High Co$t of Living, Witches' Brew, and First Family.
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Richard Benjamin was then called in at short notice to replace Blake Edwards on City Heat with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, which was a critical and commercial disappointment.
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Richard Benjamin directed a comedy for Steven Spielberg's company, The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.
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Richard Benjamin then directed a thriller Little Nikita with Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix, and a comedy with Dan Aykroyd, My Stepmother Is an Alien.
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Richard Benjamin did another comedy, Downtown, with Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker.
25.
Richard Benjamin had a moderate hit with Mermaids starring Cher and Winona Ryder.
26.
Richard Benjamin returned to features with The Shrink Is In and Marci X, in which he had a small role.
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Richard Benjamin produced and directed a TV adaptation of Simon's The Goodbye Girl with Jeff Daniels and Patricia Heaton.
28.
In 2006, Richard Benjamin directed the award-winning cable television drama A Little Thing Called Murder, starring Australian Judy Davis.
29.
Richard Benjamin's later acting appearances on television include Ray Donovan and Childrens Hospital.
30.
Richard Benjamin married actress Paula Prentiss on October 26,1961; they have two children who are actors: Ross Benjamin and Prentiss Benjamin.