Robby Benson
Encyclopedia
Robby Benson is an American
film
and television
actor
, television director
, educator and singer.
, the son of Freda Ann (née Benson), a singer, actress, and business promotions manager, and Jerry Segal, a writer. His family is Jewish and his sister, Shelli Segal, is a designer for the clothing line known as Laundry by Shelli Segal. Benson was raised in New York City and took his mother's maiden name as his stage name when he was 10.
(1967) as the "Boy Tossing Ball". He made Broadway debut in The Rothschilds (1970). Benson had an early role on the daytime soap Search for Tomorrow
(1971-72). As a film actor, Benson was popular for roles of teens in coming-of-age films, such as in 1972's Jory
(his screen debut), in Jeremy
(1973), and as Billy Joe McAllister in Ode to Billy Joe
(1976).
He was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 28. (1976), and auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars
(1977), but lost the role to Mark Hamill
. He received critical acclaim for his role as the hockey player, Nick Peterson, in Ice Castles
(1978). In Walk Proud (1979), he played a Chicano
gang member.
Other notable performances include Death Be Not Proud
and Lucky Lady
, both in 1975, and One on One
co-starring Annette O'Toole
in 1977. Also in 1977 came the TV movie The Death of Richie
, co-starring actor Ben Gazzara
. In 1978 he starred with Burt Reynolds
and Dom DeLuise
in The End
, directed by Reynolds. In 1981, he costarred with Rod Steiger
in the film The Chosen
, based on the book of the same name by Chaim Potok
. The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, but noted: "Robby Benson, who might not be expected to be the quiet surprise of a movie like this one, nevertheless makes a fine impression as Danny. He is eager without being overeager, and full of a gentle inquisitiveness that can't help but win the audience's sympathy."
Also in the early 1980s, he appeared as a young man with a learning disability in the made-for-television film Two of a Kind, along with George Burns
playing the role of his "Grand-Poppy".
In 1983, he portrayed distance runner Billy Mills
in Running Brave
, a story of an Oglala Sioux who against all odds achieves greatness with a come from behind gold medal win in the 10,000 meter race at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
In 1984, he co-starred with Paul Newman
in Harry & Son
.
In Disney's
animated feature film Beauty and the Beast
, Benson demonstrated his vocal abilities by providing the voice of Beast. He would later reprise the role in the Kingdom Hearts video game series. This role led to other voice work
for animated features, including the widely popular Prince Valiant
cartoon series The Legend of Prince Valiant
, as well as Exosquad
(as the heroic Able Squad leader J.T. Marsh). Benson also lends his voice to some computer and video game work, such as the voice of Prince Alexander in the computer game King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
.
Benson directed over 100 sitcom episodes including Friends
, Sabrina
, an entire season of Ellen
, and two seasons of Thunder Alley
.
Benson is also an author, having penned the 2007 novel Who Stole the Funny?: A Novel of Hollywood.
's Tisch School of the Arts
, having previously taught at Appalachian State University
and the University of South Carolina
.
Benson has been married to singer and actress Karla DeVito
since 1982. They have two children, a daughter named Lyric and a son named Zephyr Segal.
Benson was born with a heart defect which necessitated heart valve surgery in October 1984 and again in 1998. He is an activist and fundraiser for heart research, which, in 2004, led him to write the book, lyrics, and music for an original Off-Broadway play called Open Heart. The play starred Robby and his wife Karla, and expressed the trials of heart surgery with a modern artistic flair.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
, educator and singer.
Early life
Benson was born Robin David Segal in Dallas, TexasDallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, the son of Freda Ann (née Benson), a singer, actress, and business promotions manager, and Jerry Segal, a writer. His family is Jewish and his sister, Shelli Segal, is a designer for the clothing line known as Laundry by Shelli Segal. Benson was raised in New York City and took his mother's maiden name as his stage name when he was 10.
Career
Benson made his film debut with an uncredited role in Wait Until DarkWait Until Dark (film)
Wait Until Dark is a suspense-thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer. It stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for some drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem...
(1967) as the "Boy Tossing Ball". He made Broadway debut in The Rothschilds (1970). Benson had an early role on the daytime soap Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
(1971-72). As a film actor, Benson was popular for roles of teens in coming-of-age films, such as in 1972's Jory
Jory
Jory is a western movie featuring Robby Benson. It was based upon a novel by Milton R. Bass, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
(his screen debut), in Jeremy
Jeremy (film)
Jeremy is a 1973 film directed by Arthur Barron and starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. In 1974, it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award...
(1973), and as Billy Joe McAllister in Ode to Billy Joe
Ode to Billy Joe (film)
Ode to Billy Joe is a 1976 film with a screenplay by Herman Raucher, inspired by the 1967 hit song by Bobbie Gentry, titled "Ode to Billie Joe" ....
(1976).
He was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 28. (1976), and auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
(1977), but lost the role to Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
. He received critical acclaim for his role as the hockey player, Nick Peterson, in Ice Castles
Ice Castles
Ice Castles is a 1978 American romantic drama, starring Lynn-Holly Johnson and Robby Benson.It is the story of Alexis, a young figure skater, and her rise and fall from super stardom. Tragedy strikes when, following a freak accident, Lexie loses her sight, leaving her to hide away in the privacy of...
(1978). In Walk Proud (1979), he played a Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
gang member.
Other notable performances include Death Be Not Proud
Death Be Not Proud
Death Be Not Proud is a memoir by American author John Gunther, taking its name from Holy Sonnet X by John Donne. The story was portrayed in a 1975 TV movie starring Robby Benson as Johnny Gunther and Arthur Hill as John Gunther.-Story:...
and Lucky Lady
Lucky Lady
Lucky Lady is a 1975 American film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Gene Hackman, Liza Minnelli and Burt Reynolds, with Robby Benson. Its story takes place during Prohibition in the United States in the year 1930....
, both in 1975, and One on One
One on One (film)
One on One is a 1977 drama film starring Robby Benson and Annette O'Toole. It was written by Benson and Jerry Segal , and shot on location in 1976 at Colorado State University. The film features songs from Seals and Crofts and was directed by Lamont Johnson.-Plot:Henry Steele , a naive high school...
co-starring Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
in 1977. Also in 1977 came the TV movie The Death of Richie
The Death of Richie
The Death of Richie is a made-for-TV movie drama which premiered on the NBC television network on January 10, 1977. The film is unrated.The Death of Richie is based on "Richie", a true story written by Thomas Thompson about the 1972 death of George Richard "Richie" Diener, Jr...
, co-starring actor Ben Gazzara
Ben Gazzara
-Early life:Gazzara was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina and Antonio Gazzara, who was a laborer and carpenter. Gazzara grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. He actually lived on E. 29th Street and participated in the drama program at...
. In 1978 he starred with Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
and Dom DeLuise
Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death and the father of: actor, director, pianist, and writer Peter DeLuise; actor David DeLuise; and actor Michael DeLuise...
in The End
The End (film)
The End is a 1978 comedy film, directed by Burt Reynolds and starring Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Sally Field, Strother Martin, David Steinberg, Joanne Woodward, Norman Fell, Myrna Loy, Kristy McNichol, Pat O'Brien, Robby Benson, and Carl Reiner.- Plot :...
, directed by Reynolds. In 1981, he costarred with Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
in the film The Chosen
The Chosen (film)
The Chosen is a 1981 drama film directed by Jeremy Kagan, based on the bestselling book of the same name by Chaim Potok published in 1967. It stars Maximilian Schell and Rod Steiger. It won three awards at the 1981 Montréal World Film Festival.-Plot:...
, based on the book of the same name by Chaim Potok
Chaim Potok
Chaim Potok was an American Jewish author and rabbi. Potok is most famous for his first book The Chosen, a 1967 novel which was listed on The New York Times’ best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies.-Biography :Herman Harold Potok was born in The Bronx, New York City, to...
. The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, but noted: "Robby Benson, who might not be expected to be the quiet surprise of a movie like this one, nevertheless makes a fine impression as Danny. He is eager without being overeager, and full of a gentle inquisitiveness that can't help but win the audience's sympathy."
Also in the early 1980s, he appeared as a young man with a learning disability in the made-for-television film Two of a Kind, along with 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...
playing the role of his "Grand-Poppy".
In 1983, he portrayed distance runner Billy Mills
Billy Mills
William Mervin Mills or "Billy" Mills, also known as Makata Taka Hela , is the second Native American to win an Olympic gold medal....
in Running Brave
Running Brave
Running Brave is a 1983 movie based on the story of Billy Mills, a North American Indian brought up on the reservation, destined against all odds to become the best distance runner in the world in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics....
, a story of an Oglala Sioux who against all odds achieves greatness with a come from behind gold medal win in the 10,000 meter race at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
In 1984, he co-starred with Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
in Harry & Son
Harry & Son
Harry & Son is a 1984 American drama film directed by Paul Newman, who also stars. The screenplay by Newman and Ronald Buck focuses on the relationship between a blue-collar worker and his son, who fails at various odd jobs while aspiring to be a writer. Much of the film was shot in Lake Worth, FL...
.
In Disney's
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
animated feature film Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...
, Benson demonstrated his vocal abilities by providing the voice of Beast. He would later reprise the role in the Kingdom Hearts video game series. This role led to other voice work
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
for animated features, including the widely popular Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
cartoon series The Legend of Prince Valiant
The Legend of Prince Valiant
The Legend of Prince Valiant is an American animated television series based on the Prince Valiant comic strip created by Hal Foster. Set in the time of King Arthur, it's a family-oriented adventure show about an exiled prince who goes on a quest to become one of the Knights of the Round Table. He...
, as well as Exosquad
Exosquad
Exosquad is an American animated television series created by Universal Cartoon Studios as a response to Japanese anime. The show is set in the beginning of the 22nd century and covers the interplanetary war between humanity and Neosapiens, a fictional race artificially created as workers/slaves...
(as the heroic Able Squad leader J.T. Marsh). Benson also lends his voice to some computer and video game work, such as the voice of Prince Alexander in the computer game King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is the sixth installment in the King's Quest series of adventure games produced by Sierra Entertainment...
.
Benson directed over 100 sitcom episodes including Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, Sabrina
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is an American sitcom based on the Archie comic book series of the same name.The show stars Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman, a teenager with magical powers, who lives with her aunts Hilda and Zelda , and their magical talking cat Salem...
, an entire season of Ellen
Ellen (TV series)
Ellen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...
, and two seasons of Thunder Alley
Thunder Alley
Thunder Alley is an American sitcom which aired from March 9, 1994 to July 4, 1995 on ABC.-Premise:The show stars Edward Asner as retired race-car driver Gil Jones. The unaired original pilot episode featured Felicity Huffman in the role of Bobbi Turner, Gil's daughter. When ABC picked up the...
.
Benson is also an author, having penned the 2007 novel Who Stole the Funny?: A Novel of Hollywood.
Personal life
Benson is currently a visiting professor at New York UniversityNew York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, having previously taught at Appalachian State University
Appalachian State University
Appalachian State University is a comprehensive , public, coeducational university located in Boone, North Carolina, United States. Appalachian State, also referred to as Appalachian, App State, or simply App, is the sixth largest institution in the University of North Carolina system...
and the University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
.
Benson has been married to singer and actress Karla DeVito
Karla DeVito
Karla DeVito is an American singer, actress and voice artist.DeVito and her three brothers were raised by a very musical mother, Vivienne, who, when not working to support the family, was always singing at home...
since 1982. They have two children, a daughter named Lyric and a son named Zephyr Segal.
Benson was born with a heart defect which necessitated heart valve surgery in October 1984 and again in 1998. He is an activist and fundraiser for heart research, which, in 2004, led him to write the book, lyrics, and music for an original Off-Broadway play called Open Heart. The play starred Robby and his wife Karla, and expressed the trials of heart surgery with a modern artistic flair.