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Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Robert Benton obituary: director of Kramer vs. Kramer
Robert Benton wrote his first screenplay, Bonnie and Clyde, after getting fired from Esquire magazine: there was a retrospective on Alfred Hitchcock at New York's Museum of Modern Art and he had spent afternoon after afternoon watching films with his colleague David Newman, a fellow cinephile, when he should have been at his desk. Benton had already worked with Newman on an article for Esquire called The New Sentimentality, which highlighted cultural changes in American life in the 1960s, and persuaded him to collaborate on a film. 'I am dyslexic,' Benton explained. 'I cannot spell or punctuate. I knew a young editor at Esquire, a wonderful writer. I sold him on the glamorous life of the Hollywood screenwriter.' The New Sentimentality had helped
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Robert Benton obituary
Cultured, modest, intelligent: not words that immediately spring to mind when describing most Hollywood moviemakers. But for the writer-director Robert Benton, who has died aged 92 they are entirely apt. Combined with a sparse output, those qualities kept him on the periphery of mainstream cinema and its publicity treadmill – despite Oscar-winning successes including Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984), plus one of the most celebrated debuts in movie history when, at 35, he won his first Oscar nomination as co-writer of Bonnie and Clyde (1967). He was 40 when he made the Jeff Bridges western Bad Company – the first of only 11 feature film directorial credits. Born in a small town not far from Dallas, Texas, to Dorothy (nee Spaulding) and Ellery Benton, who worked for a telephone company, Robert studied art at the state university before joining the army, where his talent found a modest outlet in the painting of dioramas. He subsequently studied at Columbia University before joining the art department of Esquire magazine, eventually becoming a contributing editor until he finally abandoned journalism in 1972. During those years he formed two relationships crucial to his life and career. The first was with the artist Sallie Rendig, who illustrated his children's book, Little Brother No More, in 1960. Four years later they were married. He also met David Newman, a slightly younger fellow editor on Esquire and they became regular collaborators, initially on books and then on an unsuccessful Broadway show, It's a Bird … It's a Plane … It's Superman. When they wrote a film script it was with the French new wave director François Truffaut in mind, but luckily Bonnie and Clyde became a project for director Arthur Penn and actor-producer Warren Beatty. This highly original take on 1930s rural lawlessness blended grotesque comedy with brutal actuality and became one of the most imitated of all movies. It enjoyed the rare distinction of being a cult success that moved on to become a critical and commercial hit. The duo, who won two Writers Guild of America awards for best drama and best original screenplay, stayed in their day jobs while working on their next project, another brilliant, literary screenplay for a quirky western. There Was a Crooked Man (1970) starred Henry Fonda as a prison governor and Kirk Douglas as a devious convict. It was innovatory and witty, giving colourful roles to the fine supporting cast, just as its predecessor had done. Having up-ended aspects of the western and gangster genres, the pair were called on for a script indebted to the screwball comedies of the 1930s in general and Bringing Up Baby in particular. Their screenplay, polished by Buck Henry, became What's Up Doc? (1972) and won the WGA's award for best comedy. After contributing to Oh! Calcutta! that same year, they wrote what became Benton's first – and most original – movie. Bad Company (1972) had a youthful cast headed by Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown as draft dodgers from the American civil war, travelling west and leading a small gang into lawlessness on their traumatic journey. Once again the work took an almost perversely original view of its subject, blending dark comedy with a vivid portrait of a world where poverty is rife, thievery is commonplace and the myth of chivalry out west – perpetuated by movies – is completely demolished. Benton gave up journalism, having enjoyed several productive and profitable years, although it was a further five years before his next movie, The Late Show (1977), written by him and produced by Robert Altman. Showing that nothing was sacred, Benton turned his attention to the private eye works of the 1930s and 40s with a sympathetic, even nostalgic, film that added a wryly comic twist to familiar characters. The hard-boiled detective had aged, there was a capricious modernity to the narrative and an elegance in the performances, the script and direction typical of his best work. He received an Oscar nomination for the film and a lucrative commission to help on the screenplay for the 1978 Superman, directed by Richard Donner. After that blockbuster Benton made his first adaptation of a novel for the screen and the result remains his most famous work. Although inherently conventional, Kramer vs. Kramer transcended melodrama to become, in the words of one commentator, 'an upmarket new-fashioned tearjerker'. Its story, of a couple who divorce and start a battle over the custody of their son, struck a chord with audiences and with the less cynical critics. It also struck gold at the Oscars, with Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman collecting statuettes and Benton taking two, for best direction and best adapted screenplay. As usual he had surrounded himself with the cream of the movie business. His rapport with actors meant that stars including Streep, Bridges, Hoffman, Bruce Willis and Paul Newman returned to work with him, as did the composer Howard Shore and designer Paul Sylbert, while the great cameraman Néstor Almendros shot five of his movies, before his untimely death in 1992 after filming with Benton on Billy Bathgate. Despite the success of Kramer, Benton took time out before his next project and, interestingly, never looked to television or the theatre to mop up periods of inactivity. In 1982, another genre fell under his acquisitive gaze and, reunited with Streep, he wrote and directed the thriller Still of the Night. Some critics found Alfred Hitchcock's influence oppressive and the story, of a psychiatrist who falls in love with his possibly murderous patient, conventional. The literary screenplay allowed the actors to adopt an overly serious tone for what was an old-fashioned suspense story brought into the 1980s. Perhaps to shake off the claustrophobia of that movie, Benton headed for his native Texas and a sentimental story, which offered his lead actor, Sally Field, a heaven-sent opportunity to plunder Oscar-ville. It was a chance she successfully took through playing a tough, put-upon farmer battling against the Depression. Places in the Heart was filmed in and around Benton's home town, drawing on locations and values of a time past and containing specific references to his ancestors. The highly personal work gained him another Oscar, for the screenplay, plus the Berlin festival Silver Bear for best direction. Benton remained in Texas for Nadine (1987), a movie with roots in the screwball comedies and thrillers of Hollywood's golden age that reunited him with Bridges. Considered a comparative misfire, it had admirers but proved difficult to assess, since various cuts gave the movie running times of between 78 and 88 minutes. The gap between this mild-mannered movie and Billy Bathgate (1991) was several years, and his ambitious return to period-set gangsterdom failed commercially. It was the first time that he had worked as a director for hire, from a discursive screenplay by Tom Stoppard based on EL Doctorow's novel. Hoffman took the lead, giving an intriguingly mannered performance as the vicious hoodlum Dutch Schulz. Visually it was memorable, but audiences were mystified by the sometimes witty and oblique tone, used as they were to more visceral depictions of 30s gangsterdom. However, Benton was not a director given to compromise. His penultimate movie, Nobody's Fool (1994), was a characteristically graceful work, starring Newman as a wilful 60-year-old living alone in a small town, forced to confront his alienation by the return of his son. Benton introduced personal elements into his screenplay – not least for Newman, whose own estranged son had killed himself, and for Jessica Tandy as an elderly woman facing death. Critically the film was well received, but audiences showed scant regard for such a thoughtful character study. Newman received an Oscar nomination for his cleverly nuanced performance, and four years later made yet another sortie from 'retirement' to star in Twilight, the director's second private eye movie. Heading a cast that included Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon and James Garner, Newman was well cast as another ageing, alcoholic misfit – a detective living with a terminally ill actor and his wife, embroiled in a complicated blackmail scam. Co-scripted with Richard Russo, whose novel was the basis of Nobody's Fool, it owed much to 40s noir movies, but at 90 minutes seemed leisurely and was subject to postproduction editing. Praised for its atmosphere, laconic dialogue and ensemble acting, it proved overly sophisticated for modern-day cinemagoers. The same could be said of his next film, The Human Stain (2003), which he directed, but did not write, from a novel by Philip Roth. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, it was an intriguing story of a distinguished academic who for years has hidden his racial origins. The film was crafted with Benton's usual skill but was not a commercial success. Two years later he was reunited with his friend Russo on the screenplay of The Ice Harvest, a lively thriller with a witty and literate script directed by Harold Ramis. His final directorial credit was on a meditative film, Feast of Love (2007), concerning four different couples. It was not well received critically and took less than $6m worldwide. However, it could not detract from the brilliant Bad Company, the witty homages to various film genres and the Oscar-winning successes of Kramer vs. Kramer and Places in the Heart by one of Hollywood's most independent and original writer-directors. Sallie died in 2023. Benton is survived by their son, John. Robert Douglas Benton, film writer and director, born 29 September 1932; died 11 May 2025
Canberra Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Canberra Times
Kramer vs. Kramer director Robert Benton dies aged 92
Best known for writing and directing the 1979 drama movie Kramer vs. Kramer, Benton was the art director at Esquire magazine in the early '60s before joining the film industry with the help of acclaimed screenwriter David Newman.
Metro
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Oscar winning Kramer Vs Kramer director Robert Benton dies aged 92
Robert Benton, the director of the award-winning 70s classic Kramer Vs Kramer, has died aged 92. His death was confirmed on Tuesday by his assistant and manager Marisa Forzano, as told to the New York Times The late filmmaker is best remembered for Kramer Vs Kramer which scooped up five Academy Awards including a win for lead stars Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. He also landed an Oscar for 1984's Places in the Heart as well as co-writing huge hits such as 1967's Bonnie & Clyde and 1978's Superman starring Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent. Benton was born Waxahachie, Texas during the Depression and landed a job at Esquire in his 20s. He eventually developed an avid fascination with the notorious 20s criminal duo Bonnie and Clyde leading to his iconic first screenplay written with longtime collaborator David Newman. The move went on to secure eight Oscar nominations, foreshadowing an acclaimed career. Newman and Benton, who had known each other from Esquire went on to write more movies together such as What's Up, Doc?. Speaking about the partnership in an interview, Benton once said: 'I had been working as an art director at Esquire and I got fired. 'I decided to write a screenplay. I am dyslexic. I cannot spell or punctuate. I knew a young editor at Esquire, a wonderful writer, David Newman. I sold him on the glamorous life of the Hollywood screenwriter.' During the span of his decades-long career he only directed 11 movies such as 1998 noir thriller Twilight. His last movie was The Feast of Love in 2007 – a romantic comedy starring Morgan Freeman. In an interview with Box Office Mojo in 2003, towards the end of his career, he reflected on his time in the film industry. During the chat he explained how he came about co-writing Superman. More Trending 'I had sold The Late Show [script] to [Robert] Altman…. [Newman and I] were making very little money, I had a family, and David and I were offered [the chance to write] Superman. 'The initial script that David and I did was based on the [The Godfather's Mario] Puzo story. It was Superman on the farm, and we also wrote some of the stuff where he first rescues Lois Lane. 'David wrote one of the movie's best lines, when Lois is [literally swept off her feet for the first time by Superman] and says: 'I know you're holding me but who's holding you?' That was David Newman's line.' Other Hollywood A-Listers Benton has worked with over the years include Nicole Kidman, Sally Field, Anthony Hopkins and Bruce Willis. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Bella Hadid struggles to shower after 13 years with 'excruciating' chronic illness MORE: A look back at Cannes Film Festival's most daring outfits following nudity ban MORE: Cassie Ventura details Sean 'Diddy' Combs' four-day marathon 'freak off' sex session in emotional court appearance
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Robert Benton, Oscar-winning director of Kramer vs Kramer, dies aged 92
Oscar-winning writer and director Robert Benton has died at the age of 92. He won his two Academy awards for divorce drama Kramer vs Kramer. His longtime assistant and manager confirmed his death to the New York Times. Benton's first screen credit was for co-writing 1967 hit Bonnie and Clyde with David Newman. The film won two Oscars and was nominated for eight others, including best screenplay. 'I had been working as an art director at Esquire and I got fired,' Benton later said in an interview. 'I decided to write a screenplay. I am dyslexic. I cannot spell or punctuate. I knew a young editor at Esquire, a wonderful writer, David Newman. I sold him on the glamorous life of the Hollywood screenwriter.' The project was 'turned down for four years' until Warren Beatty expressed interest. It went on to make $70m from a $2.5m budget. Benton went on to collaborate again with Newman, as well as Buck Henry, on screwball comedy What's Up, Doc? His first solo credit was for Robert Altman's comedy noir The Late Show. He was one of four writers for Richard Donner's Superman before writing and directing Kramer vs Kramer, which was a critical and commercial hit in 1979. He won the Oscars for best director and best screenplay for his work. 'I don't think they would make it today because I think there's been an enormous shift in film,' Benton said of the film in 2009. 'Even in the late 70s, the studios were still owned and run by entrepreneurs … and a business that is run by entrepreneurs makes decisions in a different way than a corporation which is a public company and responsible to the stockholders. I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong, I'm just saying they're different models.' He reunited with Kramer vs Kramer star Meryl Streep for Still of the Night, a Hitchcockian thriller he wrote and directed in 1982 before winning his third Oscar for the Places in the Heart screenplay. The drama starring Sally Field also secured him a best director nomination. His later credits as both writer and director included 1994 comedy drama Nobody's Fool and 1998 thriller Twilight, both starring Paul Newman, and Philip Roth adaptation The Human Stain starring Anthony Hopkins. He also wrote the screenplay for Christmas comedy The Ice Harvest with John Cusack. His last credit was for directing the ensemble drama Feast of Love, which starred Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear. 'I'm looking for something that's different from what I did last time,' he said of his process in 2003. 'Scripts survive a kind of winnowing process, and I reach the point where I enjoy these characters enough to spend two years with them.' According to the New York Times, he had been working on his memoir at the time of his death.
