Richard Benjamin
Encyclopedia
Richard Benjamin is an American actor
and film director
. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus
(1969), based on the novella (1959)
by Philip Roth
, and Westworld
(1973).
worker. 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). In 1978, he starred in the ambitious, but short-lived, television
series Quark
.
Benjamin starred in Goodbye, Columbus
(1969), based on the novella by Philip Roth
. After appearing with a star-studded cast in the Mike Nichols
film (1970) version of another best-seller, Catch-22
, he starred in Diary of a Mad Housewife
, 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
, a variation of Brynner's iconic role in The Magnificent Seven
.
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
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
.
On April 7, 1979, Benjamin hosted Saturday Night Live
.
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
. Benjamin went on to direct a number of Hollywood films, mainly comedies, including City Heat
(1984) with Clint Eastwood
and The Money Pit
(1986) with Tom Hanks
. He also directed Cher
in Mermaids
(1990).
The most recent film Benjamin has directed was a drama, A Little Thing Called Murder
(2006), featuring Judy Davis
. It is based on the true story of Sante and Kenny Kimes
, mother and son grifters
and killers.
Benjamin's acting appearances have become less frequent. They include a small role in the Woody Allen
comedy Deconstructing Harry
(1997). He directed and appeared in Marci X
(2003), a comedy starring Lisa Kudrow
and Damon Wayans
.
He most recently appeared in Henry Poole Is Here
(2008) and the television series Pushing Daisies
(2008).
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus
Goodbye, Columbus (film)
Goodbye, Columbus is a 1969 American romantic comedy drama film starring Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, directed by Larry Peerce and based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth...
(1969), based on the novella (1959)
Goodbye, Columbus
Goodbye, Columbus is a 1959 book by American novelist Philip Roth. It was the writer's first book: a collection of five short stories and one novella, also titled "Goodbye, Columbus"....
by Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, and Westworld
Westworld
Westworld is a 1973 science fiction-thriller film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton and produced by Paul Lazarus III. It stars Yul Brynner as a lifelike robot in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, and Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.Westworld was the...
(1973).
Life and career
Benjamin was born in New York City, New York, the son of a garment industryTextile manufacturing
Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is based in the conversion of three types of fibre into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. These are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. Cotton remains the most important natural fibre, so is treated in depth...
worker. He attended the High School of Performing Arts
High School of Performing Arts
The High School of Performing Arts, more formally known as The School of Performing Arts: A Division of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, informally known as "PA", was a public alternative high school in New York, New York, USA that existed from 1948 through...
and graduated from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, where he was involved in many plays and studied in the Northwestern theater school.
He married actress Paula Prentiss
Paula Prentiss
Paula Ragusa , better known by her stage name Paula Prentiss, is an American actress well-known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Stepford Wives, What's New Pussycat?, The Black Marble, and The Parallax View and her co-starring role in the television situation...
on October 26, 1961; and they have two children. They appeared together in the short-lived television series He & She
He & She
He & She is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network as part of its 1967-68 lineup, originally sponsored by General Foods and Lever Brothers. This landmark sitcom is widely considered to be ahead of its time by broadcast historians...
(1967–68) and the film Catch-22
Catch-22 (film)
Catch-22 is a 1970 satirical war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel, it was the work of a talented production team which included director Mike Nichols and...
(1970). In 1978, he starred in the ambitious, but short-lived, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series Quark
Quark (TV series)
Quark is an American science fiction situation comedy starring Richard Benjamin broadcast on NBC. The pilot first aired on May 7, 1977, and the series followed as a mid-season replacement in February 1978. The series was cancelled in April 1978. Quark was created by Buck Henry, co-creator of the...
.
Benjamin starred in Goodbye, Columbus
Goodbye, Columbus (film)
Goodbye, Columbus is a 1969 American romantic comedy drama film starring Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, directed by Larry Peerce and based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth...
(1969), based on the novella by Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
. After appearing with a star-studded cast in the Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
film (1970) version of another best-seller, Catch-22
Catch-22
Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953, and the novel was first published in 1961. It is set during World War II in 1943 and is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century...
, he starred in Diary of a Mad Housewife
Diary of a Mad Housewife
Diary of a Mad Housewife is a 1967 novel that was adapted into 1970 drama film about a frustrated wife, portrayed by Carrie Snodgress, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award in the same category. The film was adapted by Eleanor Perry from the 1967...
, The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker is an American motion picture released by Twentieth Century Fox, and was a comedy romance based upon the novel by Charles Webb...
, and yet another film based on a famous Roth novel, Portnoy's Complaint
Portnoy's Complaint
Portnoy's Complaint is the American novel that turned its author Philip Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation using various props including a piece of liver...
(1972), in the title role.
He played a sexually ambiguous murder suspect in The Last of Sheila
The Last of Sheila
The Last of Sheila is a 1973 mystery film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, It stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Ian McShane, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch....
(1973), a mystery conceived and co-scripted by Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
and Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
. In an imaginative Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
story, Westworld
Westworld
Westworld is a 1973 science fiction-thriller film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton and produced by Paul Lazarus III. It stars Yul Brynner as a lifelike robot in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, and Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.Westworld was the...
(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
Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
, a variation of Brynner's iconic role in The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...
.
Then he returned to comedy, with a supporting role as a harried theatrical agent in the Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
hit The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys is a play by Neil Simon that was produced on Broadway in 1972 and later adapted for film and television.-Plot:The play focuses on aging Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a one-time vaudevillian team known as "Lewis and Clark" who, over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew to hate...
opposite Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
and George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
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
Love At First Bite
Love at First Bite is a 1979 comedy horror film directed by Stan Dragoti and written by Robert Kaufman, using characters originally created by Bram Stoker. It stars George Hamilton, Susan Saint James, Richard Benjamin and Arte Johnson. The original music score was composed by Charles Bernstein...
(1979) starring George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...
and Susan Saint James
Susan Saint James
Susan Saint James is an American actress and activist, most widely known for her work in television during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.-Early life:...
.
On April 7, 1979, Benjamin hosted Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
.
Benjamin's first project as a director was the hit comedy My Favorite Year
My Favorite Year
My Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, and Gloria Stuart. O'Toole was...
(1982), which brought an Oscar nomination to its star, Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
. Benjamin went on to direct a number of Hollywood films, mainly comedies, including City Heat
City Heat
City Heat is a 1984 American action-comedy film starring Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. The film was released in North America in December 1984. The pairing of Eastwood and Reynolds in a Prohibition-era action-comedy seemed to give the film the potential to be a hit...
(1984) with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
and The Money Pit
The Money Pit
The Money Pit is a 1986 comedy film and remake of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Directed by Richard Benjamin and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the film stars Tom Hanks and Shelley Long as a couple who attempt to renovate a recently purchased house. The Money Pit was filmed in New...
(1986) with Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
. He also directed Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
in Mermaids
Mermaids (film)
Mermaids is a 1990 comedy-drama film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder , and Christina Ricci in her first film role...
(1990).
The most recent film Benjamin has directed was a drama, A Little Thing Called Murder
A Little Thing Called Murder
A Little Thing Called Murder is a 2006 drama film starring Judy Davis and Jonathan Jackson and directed by Richard Benjamin. This film made for television, by Stonemade Entertainment for Lifetime TV, was based on a true story, as told in the book Dead End by reporter Jeanne King.-Synopsis:Judy...
(2006), featuring Judy Davis
Judy Davis
Judy Davis is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, A Passage to India and in the TV miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows....
. It is based on the true story of Sante and Kenny Kimes
Sante Kimes
Sante Kimes is an American felon who has been convicted of two murders, along with robbery, violation of anti-slavery laws, forgery and numerous other crimes. Many of these crimes were committed with assistance from her children, especially her son Kenneth...
, mother and son grifters
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
and killers.
Benjamin's acting appearances have become less frequent. They include a small role in the Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
comedy Deconstructing Harry
Deconstructing Harry
Deconstructing Harry is a black comedy film by Woody Allen released in 1997. This film tells the story of a successful writer called Harry Block, played by Allen himself, who draws inspiration from people he knows in real-life, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to...
(1997). He directed and appeared in Marci X
Marci X
Marci X is a 2003 romantic comedy film, directed by Richard Benjamin and written by Paul Rudnick. It stars Lisa Kudrow as Jewish-American Princess Marci Feld, who has to take control of a hip-hop record label, as well as the controversial rapper Dr S, played by Damon Wayans.The film also featured...
(2003), a comedy starring Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...
and Damon Wayans
Damon Wayans
Damon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, one of the Wayans brothers.-Early life:Wayans was born in New York City, New York, the son of Elvira, a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Wayans, a supermarket manager...
.
He most recently appeared in Henry Poole Is Here
Henry Poole is Here
Henry Poole Is Here is a 2008 American drama film directed by Mark Pellington. The screenplay by Albert Torres focuses on a dying man whose religious neighbor insists the water stain on the side wall of his house is an image of Jesus Christ....
(2008) and the television series Pushing Daisies
Pushing Daisies
Pushing Daisies is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller that aired on ABC from October 3, 2007 to June 13, 2009. The series stars Lee Pace as Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life with his touch, an ability that comes with stipulations...
(2008).
Acting filmography
- Goodbye, ColumbusGoodbye, Columbus (film)Goodbye, Columbus is a 1969 American romantic comedy drama film starring Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, directed by Larry Peerce and based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth...
(1969) - Catch-22Catch-22 (film)Catch-22 is a 1970 satirical war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel, it was the work of a talented production team which included director Mike Nichols and...
(1970) - Diary of a Mad HousewifeDiary of a Mad HousewifeDiary of a Mad Housewife is a 1967 novel that was adapted into 1970 drama film about a frustrated wife, portrayed by Carrie Snodgress, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award in the same category. The film was adapted by Eleanor Perry from the 1967...
(1970) - The Marriage of a Young StockbrokerThe Marriage of a Young StockbrokerThe Marriage of a Young Stockbroker is an American motion picture released by Twentieth Century Fox, and was a comedy romance based upon the novel by Charles Webb...
(1971) - The Steagle (1971)
- Portnoy's ComplaintPortnoy's Complaint (film)Portnoy's Complaint is a 1972 American dramedy film written and directed by Ernest Lehman. His screenplay is based on the bestselling 1969 novel of the same name by Philip Roth.-Plot synopsis:...
(1972) - The Last of SheilaThe Last of SheilaThe Last of Sheila is a 1973 mystery film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, It stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Ian McShane, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch....
(1973) - WestworldWestworldWestworld is a 1973 science fiction-thriller film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton and produced by Paul Lazarus III. It stars Yul Brynner as a lifelike robot in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, and Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.Westworld was the...
(1973) - The Sunshine BoysThe Sunshine Boys (film)The Sunshine Boys is a 1975 comedy film directed by Herbert Ross and produced by Ray Stark, based on the play of the same name by Neil Simon. The cast included real-life experienced vaudevillian actor George Burns as Lewis, Walter Matthau as Clark, and Richard Benjamin as Ben, with Lee Meredith, F....
(1975) - QuarkQuark (TV series)Quark is an American science fiction situation comedy starring Richard Benjamin broadcast on NBC. The pilot first aired on May 7, 1977, and the series followed as a mid-season replacement in February 1978. The series was cancelled in April 1978. Quark was created by Buck Henry, co-creator of the...
(1977–78) - House CallsHouse Calls (film)House Calls is a 1978 film comedy starring Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, directed by Howard Zieff.-Plot summary:Charles Nichols is a respected doctor. He is also a new widower, and as soon as he returns from a tropical vacation and period of mourning, he finds himself propositioned by a number...
(1978) - Love at First BiteLove At First BiteLove at First Bite is a 1979 comedy horror film directed by Stan Dragoti and written by Robert Kaufman, using characters originally created by Bram Stoker. It stars George Hamilton, Susan Saint James, Richard Benjamin and Arte Johnson. The original music score was composed by Charles Bernstein...
(1979) - Scavenger HuntScavenger HuntScavenger Hunt is a 1979 comedy film with a large ensemble cast, in the mold of the 1963 comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.-Plot summary:...
(1979) - Witches' BrewWitches' Brew (film)Witches' Brew is a 1980 horror comedy film directed by Herbert L. Strock and Richard Shorr who co-wrote screenplay with Syd Dutton. It was based on Fritz Leiber Jr.'s novel Conjure Wife...
(1980) - The Last Married Couple in AmericaThe Last Married Couple in AmericaThe Last Married Couple in America is a 1980 comedy film released in the US.It was directed by Gilbert Cates, whose most successful film Oh, God! Book II, was released in the same year...
(1980) - How to Beat the High Co$t of LivingHow to Beat the High Co$t of LivingHow to Beat the High Co$t of Living is a 1980 comedy film, starring Jane Curtin, Susan Saint James and Jessica Lange. Also in the cast are Dabney Coleman, Fred Willard, Richard Benjamin, Eddie Albert, Cathryn Damon, and a cameo by Jane Curtin's fellow Saturday Night Live co-star Garrett Morris...
(1980) - First Family (1980)
- Saturday the 14thSaturday the 14thSaturday the 14th is an American horror-comedy film released in 1981, directed by Howard R. Cohen and produced by Julie Corman. The film was followed by Saturday the 14th Strikes Back in 1988.-Plot:...
(1981) - Packin' It In (TV 1983)
- Lift (1992)
- Deconstructing HarryDeconstructing HarryDeconstructing Harry is a black comedy film by Woody Allen released in 1997. This film tells the story of a successful writer called Harry Block, played by Allen himself, who draws inspiration from people he knows in real-life, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to...
(1997) - The Pentagon WarsThe Pentagon WarsThe Pentagon Wars is a 1998 HBO film, starring Kelsey Grammer, Cary Elwes and Richard Schiff, based on a book of the same name by Colonel James G. Burton, USAF...
(1998) - The Shrink Is In (2001)
- Marci XMarci XMarci X is a 2003 romantic comedy film, directed by Richard Benjamin and written by Paul Rudnick. It stars Lisa Kudrow as Jewish-American Princess Marci Feld, who has to take control of a hip-hop record label, as well as the controversial rapper Dr S, played by Damon Wayans.The film also featured...
(2003) - Keeping Up with the Steins (2006)
- Henry Poole Is HereHenry Poole is HereHenry Poole Is Here is a 2008 American drama film directed by Mark Pellington. The screenplay by Albert Torres focuses on a dying man whose religious neighbor insists the water stain on the side wall of his house is an image of Jesus Christ....
(2008)
Directing filmography
- My Favorite YearMy Favorite YearMy Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, and Gloria Stuart. O'Toole was...
(1982) - Racing with the MoonRacing with the MoonRacing with the Moon is a 1984 dramatic film starring Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern, and Nicolas Cage. It was directed by Richard Benjamin and written by Steven Kloves. The original music score was composed by Dave Grusin.-Synopsis:...
(1984) - City HeatCity HeatCity Heat is a 1984 American action-comedy film starring Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. The film was released in North America in December 1984. The pairing of Eastwood and Reynolds in a Prohibition-era action-comedy seemed to give the film the potential to be a hit...
(1984) - The Money PitThe Money PitThe Money Pit is a 1986 comedy film and remake of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Directed by Richard Benjamin and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the film stars Tom Hanks and Shelley Long as a couple who attempt to renovate a recently purchased house. The Money Pit was filmed in New...
(1986) - Little NikitaLittle NikitaLittle Nikita is a cult 1988 American drama film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix.-Plot synopsis:...
(1988) - My Stepmother is an AlienMy Stepmother Is an AlienMy Stepmother Is An Alien is a 1988 comedy science fiction film produced by the Weintraub Entertainment Group for release through Columbia Pictures, directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Kim Basinger and Dan Aykroyd, with featured performances by Jon Lovitz and Alyson Hannigan.-Plot:Celeste is...
(1988) - DowntownDowntown (film)Downtown is a 1990 American police action comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin. This would be the second pairing of Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker both of whom played roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. -Plot:...
(1990) - MermaidsMermaids (film)Mermaids is a 1990 comedy-drama film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder , and Christina Ricci in her first film role...
(1990) - Made in AmericaMade in America (film)Made in America is a 1993 comedy film released on May 28, 1993 by Warner Bros. starring Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson, and featuring Nia Long, Jennifer Tilly and Will Smith.-Plot:...
(1993) - Milk Money (1994)
- Mrs. WinterbourneMrs. WinterbourneMrs. Winterbourne is a 1996 romantic comedy/drama starring Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, and Brendan Fraser. The film is loosely based on Cornell Woolrich's novel I Married a Dead Man, which has already been filmed in Hollywood as No Man of Her Own starring Barbara Stanwyck, and in Bollywood as...
(1996) - The Pentagon WarsThe Pentagon WarsThe Pentagon Wars is a 1998 HBO film, starring Kelsey Grammer, Cary Elwes and Richard Schiff, based on a book of the same name by Colonel James G. Burton, USAF...
(1998) - Marci XMarci XMarci X is a 2003 romantic comedy film, directed by Richard Benjamin and written by Paul Rudnick. It stars Lisa Kudrow as Jewish-American Princess Marci Feld, who has to take control of a hip-hop record label, as well as the controversial rapper Dr S, played by Damon Wayans.The film also featured...
(2003) - The Goodbye GirlThe Goodbye GirlThe Goodbye Girl is a 1977 American romantic comedy-drama film. Directed by Herbert Ross, the film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings, and Paul Benedict...
(2004) - A Little Thing Called MurderA Little Thing Called MurderA Little Thing Called Murder is a 2006 drama film starring Judy Davis and Jonathan Jackson and directed by Richard Benjamin. This film made for television, by Stonemade Entertainment for Lifetime TV, was based on a true story, as told in the book Dead End by reporter Jeanne King.-Synopsis:Judy...
(2006)