Paul Benjamin - 01-30-95
Original air date Paul Benjamin (I) More at IMDbPro »
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Date of
Birth
1938,
Pelion, South Carolina,
USA
Height
6' 1½" (1.87 m)
Mini Biography
Born and raised for a time in Pelion, South Carolina, African-American actor Paul Benjamin is the youngest of twelve children born to a Baptist preacher, the
Reverend Fair Benjamin, and his wife
Rosa.
Paul lost his mother while still a baby and his father as a child. He moved to
Columbia, South Carolina, where he was taken in by one of his older brothers,
David, and his wife and family. Suppressing his teenage desires of becoming an actor due to social pressures, he attended
C.A. Johnson High and, upon graduation, enrolled at
Benedict College for about a year before deciding to move to
New York City and pursue his dream. Studying at the
Herbert Berghof Studio, he finally made his professional stage debut in the late 60s at the
New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater. His theater career quickly picked up steam with such classical and contemporary plays as "
Hamlet" (
1967), "
Cities in Bezique (
1969), "
The Owl Answers" (1969), "
No Place to Be Somebody" (1969), "The Year
Boston Won the
Pennant" (1969), "
Camino Royal"
1970, "
Operation Sidewinder" (1970),
Boesman and Lena (1970), "
The Black Terror" (
1971), "
Assassination 1865" (1971), "
The Cherry Orchard" (
1973) and "
The Old Glory" (
1976).
Benjamin made his film debut inauspiciously as a bartender in
Midnight Cowboy (1969), which highlighted
New York's seamier side.
Following small roles in
The Anderson Tapes (1971) and
Born to Win (1971), he earned a top featured role and strong notices playing a robber-turned-killer in
Across 110th Street (
1972) co-starring
Anthony Quinn and
Yaphet Kotto, which again took place on the gritty
New York streets. He then gave incisive, strong-armed portrayals as part of a gang in
The Deadly Trackers (1973) and as a lieutenant alongside
Tony Lo Bianco and
Hal Linden in the above-average
TV-movie Mr. Inside/
Mr. Outside (1973) (TV). His film and TV career, which peaked in the
1970s, included the "blaxploitation" scene -- he appeared with
Mary Alice as the parents of the titular character in
The Education of Sonny Carson (
1974) and as a senator in the
Pam Grier vehicle
Friday Foster (
1975).
Throughout the decades he has worked with prestigious actors in prestigious projects yet never attained the public attention he merited. Neverthless he added solid authenticity to the musical bio
Leadbelly (1976);
Clint Eastwood's
Escape from Alcatraz (
1979); the
Richard Pryor comedy-drama
Some Kind of Hero (
1982);
Barbra Streisand's courtroom vehicle
Nuts (
1987);
Spike Lee's lacerating, one-two punch on urban black life in
Do the Right Thing (
1989); the Temptations-like story of
The Five Heartbeats (
1991); and the excellent, fact-based drama in
Rosewood (
1997) with racism at its core. On the mini-movie circuit he appeared in good company as
LeVar Burton's father in the baseball story
One in a Million: The
Ron LeFlore Story (1978) (TV), and was a noticeable factor in
Gideon's Trumpet (
1980) (TV) starring
Henry Fonda;
Maya Angelou's
I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings (1979) (TV); the hard-hitting "
The Atlanta Child Murders" (
1985)_ (TV) and, perhaps most notably, the chain-gang story
The Man Who Broke 1,
000 Chains (1987) (TV) in which he portrayed
Big Sam.
Paul the actor has added to his success as an award-winning playwright as well and, broaching age 70, continues to write as well as perform. His play "
Carrier", in which he appeared with
Roscoe Lee Browne and
Paula Kelly, received special citations for its writing and performances.
IMDb Mini Biography By:
Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Trivia
Durable African-American character from stage, TV and film who appeared on the scene in the late 60s.
Mayor
Tom Bradley presented Paul with a
Commendation from the
City of Los Angeles for Paul's play, "Carrier," for which Paula Kelly won the 1982
NAACP Image Awards for
Best Actress. She, along with Paul and actor/poet Roscoe Lee Browne, received Certificates of
Recognition from Sen.
Diane Watson for their performances in the same play.
- published: 14 Sep 2009
- views: 9204