# Richard Benjamin
**Richard Benjamin** (born May 22, 1938, in New York City) is an American actor and film director whose screen persona in the 1970s, built on roles in [Philip Roth](https://www.edgepedia.org/philip-roth) adaptations and [Neil Simon](https://www.edgepedia.org/neil-simon) comedies, gave way in the 1980s to a directing career that began with the acclaimed *My Favorite Year* (1982).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/) He has been married to actress [Paula Prentiss](https://www.edgepedia.org/paula-prentiss) since 1961.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | May 22, 1938, New York City; height 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/) |
| Education | New York High School of Performing Arts; Northwestern University, graduated 1960, where he met Paula Prentiss[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benjamin-richard) |
| Marriage | Married Paula Prentiss on October 26, 1961; children Ross (born 1974) and Prentiss (born 1978)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/) |
| Breakthrough | Broadway debut in Neil Simon's *Star-Spangled Girl* (1966), earning a Theatre World Award; film debut in *Goodbye, Columbus* (1969)[3](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/2006/International-Television-Almanac-2006-Whos-Who.pdf) • [4](https://www.fandango.com/people/richard-benjamin-50080/film-credits) |
| Golden Globe | Won Best Supporting Actor for *The Sunshine Boys* (1975); earlier nominated for *The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker* (1971)[5](https://goldenglobes.com/person/richard-benjamin/) • [2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benjamin-richard) |
| Directing debut | *My Favorite Year* (1982), which brought Peter O'Toole an Academy Award nomination[6](https://www.avclub.com/richard-benjamin-on-peter-o-toole-celebrity-treasure-h-1798234629) |
| Later directing | *City Heat* (1984), *The Money Pit* (1986), *Mermaids* (1990), *Made in America* (1993), *Mrs. Winterbourne* (1996)[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benjamin-richard) |
## Training and stage work
Benjamin studied at the New York High School of Performing Arts and then at [Northwestern University](https://www.edgepedia.org/northwestern-university), where he met Paula Prentiss; he graduated in 1960.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benjamin-richard) While Prentiss's film career took off immediately, Benjamin concentrated on the stage. He toured in productions including *The Taming of the Shrew*, *As You Like It*, *A Thousand Clowns*, and *Barefoot in the Park*, and made his Broadway debut in Neil Simon's *Star-Spangled Girl* (1966), winning a Theatre World Award.[3](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/2006/International-Television-Almanac-2006-Whos-Who.pdf) The previous year he had directed *Barefoot in the Park* in London.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/richard_benjamin) His first screen appearance came opposite Prentiss in the television series *He & She* (1967), a cult series in which the couple co-starred.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/)
## 1970s screen career
Benjamin's film debut was the starring role of Neil Klugman in *Goodbye, Columbus* (1969), the adaptation of Philip Roth's novella.[4](https://www.fandango.com/people/richard-benjamin-50080/film-credits) He followed it with *Diary of a Mad Housewife* (1970), [Mike Nichols](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-nichols)'s *[Catch-22](https://www.edgepedia.org/catch-22-film)* (1970) as [Major Danby](https://www.edgepedia.org/list-of-catch-22-characters), *The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker* (1971), and a second Roth adaptation, *Portnoy's Complaint* (1972), in the title role.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/) These parts made him, in the words of critic Jonathan Romney, a prominent "archetype of East Coast Jewish intellectual agony"; the A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin described him in the same terms as one of American cinema's favorite tormented Jewish intellectuals of the decade.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/) • [6](https://www.avclub.com/richard-benjamin-on-peter-o-toole-celebrity-treasure-h-1798234629)
**Genre work and comedy.** Away from that persona, Benjamin appeared in [Michael Crichton](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-crichton)'s *Westworld* (1973) as theme-park visitor Peter Martin, in the mystery *The Last of Sheila* (1973), and in comedies including *Love at First Bite* (1979) as Dr. Jeff Rosenberg and *Scavenger Hunt* (1979).[8](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/westworld) • [4](https://www.fandango.com/people/richard-benjamin-50080/film-credits) In *The Sunshine Boys* (1975), directed by [Herbert Ross](https://www.edgepedia.org/herbert-ross), he repeated his stage role as Ben Clark, the nephew of [Walter Matthau](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-matthau)'s character who packages the comedians' reunion as a television special; the film and Benjamin both won Golden Globes.[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/86476/the-sunshine-boys) On television he led *Quark*, Buck Henry's science-fiction comedy series, as Adam Quark, captain of an interstellar garbage ship in the United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol.[10](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/news/)
## Director
Benjamin moved behind the camera with *My Favorite Year* (1982), a comic look at the early days of television that earned wide acclaim and an Oscar nomination for star [Peter O'Toole](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-otoole).[6](https://www.avclub.com/richard-benjamin-on-peter-o-toole-celebrity-treasure-h-1798234629) His subsequent features covered several genres: the buddy action comedy *City Heat* (1984) with [Burt Reynolds](https://www.edgepedia.org/burt-reynolds) and [Clint Eastwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/clint-eastwood), the Sean Penn drama *Racing with the Moon* (1984), the comedy *The Money Pit* (1986), *Little Nikita* (1988) with Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix, *My Stepmother Is an Alien* (1988), *Mermaids* (1990) with Cher and Winona Ryder, *Made in America* (1993) with Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson, and *Mrs. Winterbourne* (1996) with Shirley MacLaine.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benjamin-richard) • [11](https://snapshot.apple.com/us/person/6621224230) He also directed television movies, including a 2004 remake of Neil Simon's *The Goodbye Girl* and *Laughter on the 23rd Floor* (2001).[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benjamin-richard) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/) Critics have described him as a conventional storyteller who worked with a wide assortment of actors, and his later theatrical features did not match *My Favorite Year* commercially or critically.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/richard_benjamin)
## Later acting
Benjamin continued acting while directing. On Broadway he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for *Rumours* in 1989.[13](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Richard-Benjamin/) His later screen credits include [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen)'s *[Deconstructing Harry](https://www.edgepedia.org/deconstructing-harry)* (1997), *Keeping Up with the Steins* (2006) as Rabbi Schulberg, and, in 2023, *You People* as Dr. Green and *Ex-Husbands* as Simon Pearce.[4](https://www.fandango.com/people/richard-benjamin-50080/film-credits)
## Name confusion
In the mid-1950s another actor, Richard Lightner, also worked under the name Richard Benjamin, and his credits are often erroneously included with those of the better-known Benjamin, who first acted professionally in the mid-1960s.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/)
## References
1. [Richard Benjamin – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/bio/)
2. [Benjamin, Richard, Encyclopaedia Judaica via Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/benjamin-richard)
3. [International Television Almanac 2006 – Who's Who, Benjamin, Richard](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/2006/International-Television-Almanac-2006-Whos-Who.pdf)
4. [Richard Benjamin Filmography and Movies, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/richard-benjamin-50080/film-credits)
5. [Richard Benjamin – Golden Globes](https://goldenglobes.com/person/richard-benjamin/)
6. [Richard Benjamin on Peter O'Toole, celebrity treasure hunts, and Woody Allen, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/richard-benjamin-on-peter-o-toole-celebrity-treasure-h-1798234629)
7. [Richard Benjamin Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/richard_benjamin)
8. [Westworld, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/westworld)
9. [The Sunshine Boys, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/86476/the-sunshine-boys)
10. [Richard Benjamin – News, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/news/)
11. [Richard Benjamin – Movies and Podcasts, Apple Snapshot](https://snapshot.apple.com/us/person/6621224230)
12. [Richard Benjamin, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000907/)
13. [Richard Benjamin – Broadway & Theatre Credits, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Richard-Benjamin/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames A to Bo*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license