Robert Benton | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Douglas Benton (1932-09-29) September 29, 1932 (age 90) Waxahachie, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1967–2007 |
| Spouse |
Sallie Rendig
(after 1964) |
Robert Douglas Benton (born September 29, 1932) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the writer and director of the film Kramer vs. Kramer, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He had previously written the screenplay (with David Newman) for the film Bonnie and Clyde.
Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Dorothy (née Spaulding) and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee.[1] He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University.[1]
In 1959, he co-wrote the book The IN and OUT Book with Harvey Schmidt, published by The Viking Press. He was the art director at Esquire in the early 1960s.[2]
Benton won the Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Best Original Screenplay for Places in the Heart (1984).
Benton garnered three additional Oscar nominations: two for Best Original Screenplay for both Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Late Show (1977) and one for Best Adapted Screenplay for Nobody's Fool (1994).
He also directed Twilight (1998) and Feast of Love (2007), and co-wrote the screenplays for Superman (1978) and The Ice Harvest (2005).
In 2006, he appeared in the documentary Wanderlust.
| Year | Film | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Bad Company | Yes | Yes | Directorial debut |
| 1977 | The Late Show | Yes | Yes | |
| 1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Yes | Yes | Based on the novel by Avery Corman |
| 1982 | Still of the Night | Yes | Yes | |
| 1984 | Places in the Heart | Yes | Yes | |
| 1987 | Nadine | Yes | Yes | |
| 1991 | Billy Bathgate | Yes | Based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow | |
| 1994 | Nobody's Fool | Yes | Yes | Based on the novel by Richard Russo |
| 1998 | Twilight | Yes | Yes | |
| 2003 | The Human Stain | Yes | Based on the novel by Philip Roth | |
| 2007 | Feast of Love | Yes | Based on the novel by Charles Baxter |
| Year | Film | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | A Texas Romance, 1909 | Yes | Short film[5] | |
| 1967 | Bonnie and Clyde | Yes | ||
| 1970 | There Was a Crooked Man... | Yes | ||
| 1972 | What's Up, Doc? | Yes | ||
| 1978 | Superman | Yes | ||
| 1988 | The House on Carroll Street | Executive | ||
| 2005 | The Ice Harvest | Yes | Executive |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman | Libretto; adaptation in television film (1975) |
| 1969 | Oh! Calcutta! | Contribution in libretto; adaptation in theatrical film (1972) |
Films directed by Robert Benton | |
|---|---|
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
