Richard Benjamin

About Richard Benjamin

Who is it?: Actor, Director, Producer
Birth Day: May 22, 1938
Birth Place:  New York City, New York, United States
Birth Sign: Gemini
Alma mater: Northwestern University
Occupation: Actor Director Producer
Years active: 1962–present
Spouse(s): Paula Prentiss (1961–present; 2 children)

Richard Benjamin Net Worth

Richard Benjamin was born on May 22, 1938 in  New York City, New York, United States, is Actor, Director, Producer. Although his actress wife Paula Prentiss became a star by the early 1960s, it took Richard Benjamin almost fifteen years to establish his screen persona, but the wait was rewarding. After extensive work in theatre as actor and director, and his participation in the cult TV series He & She (1967), in which he co-starred with Prentiss, he won the starring role in the screen adaptation of Philip Roth's best-seller, Goodbye, Columbus (1969). That was followed by roles in Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971) and another Roth adaptation, Portnoy's Complaint (1972), that turned him into a prominent "archetype of East Coast Jewish intellectual agony", as critic Jonathan Romney defines him. But his forte was comedy and he won a Golden Globe when he repeated his stage role in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys (1975). Although he still performs, Benjamin turned to direction since the 80s with the highly acclaimed comedy My Favorite Year (1982).
Richard Benjamin is a member of Actor

💰Richard Benjamin Net worth: $800,000

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Biography/Timeline

1910

Benjamin was born in New York City, the son of Samuel Roger Benjamin (1910–1997), a garment industry worker, and Chelsea Angelina (née Roberts) Benjamin (1913–1959), a homemaker. His family was Jewish. 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.

1961

He married Actress Paula Prentiss on October 26, 1961; they have two children who are also actors: Ross Benjamin and Prentiss Benjamin. They appeared together in short-lived television series He & She (1967–68) and the movie version of Catch-22 (1970), as well as the Australian film No Room to Run (1976) and the 1981 horror spoof Saturday the 14th. In 1978, he starred in the ambitious but short-lived television series Quark.

1969

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

1973

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.

1978

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.

1979

On April 7, 1979, Benjamin hosted Saturday Night Live.

1982

Benjamin's first film as a Director (after helming a small number of productions for television) was the highly acclaimed period 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 Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood and The Money Pit (1986) with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. He also directed Cher and Winona Ryder in Mermaids (1990) and the 1993 romantic comedy Made in America that co-starred Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson.

1997

Benjamin's acting appearances have become less frequent. His later work includes a 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.

2006

In 2006, Benjamin directed award-winning cable television drama A Little Thing Called Murder, starring Australian Judy Davis. It was based on the true story of Sante and Kenny Kimes, mother and son grifters and killers.