Robert Benton Papers

Writer and director Robert Douglass Benton was born on September 29, 1932, in Waxahachie, Texas.  He is the son of Ellery Douglass and Dorothy (Spaulding) Benton.  Benton attended The University of Texas at Austin and received a BFA in 1953.  His classmates included Jayne Mansfield and Rip Torn, an actor he would direct in the 1987 film Nadine.  While serving in the U.S. Army from 1954-1956, Benton painted dioramas at Fort Bliss.  He was discharged with the rank of corporal.  He enrolled at Columbia University to study Art History but dropped out after one semester.  Benton would then begin his professional career as a freelance writer and artistic associate at Esquire.

Benton remained with Esquire for several years where he worked in various editorial capacities.  Here he would meet future collaborator David Newman.  The pair published Extremism:  A Non-Book (1959) and wrote the libretto for the Broadway musical It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman (1966).  Benton’s first film industry success was with Bonnie and Clyde (1967), a screenplay he co-wrote with Newman.  Starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, the film was critically acclaimed and Benton and Newman received an Oscar nomination for best story and screenplay.  His other early writing credits include There Was a Crooked Man (1970), What’s Up Doc (1972), and Oh! Calcutta! (1972).

Paramount president Stanley Jaffe encouraged Benton to move into directing.  He made his directorial debut in 1972 with Bad Company, a wild west adaptation of Dickens’ Oliver Twist starring Jeff Bridges, Barry Brown, and David Huddleston.  Benton directed The Late Show in 1977 and wrote the screenplay for Superman (with Mario Puzo and David and Leslie Newman) in 1978.  His next directorial role was with the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer.  A box office hit and critical success, the film won the Oscar for Best Picture while Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep also won Oscars for their performances.  Benton won Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay.

1982’s Still of the Night saw Benton direct Meryl Streep again in a starring role.  Benton directed and wrote the screenplay for Places in the Heart (1984), a semi-autobiographical film starring Sally Field.  The film was honored with two Oscars; Benton won Best Screenplay while Field won Best Actress.  He wrote and directed Nadine in 1987 and directed Billy Bathgate, an adaptation of an E.L. Doctorow novel, in 1991.  It was the first film that Benton directed but did not write.  Benton directed Paul Newman in the 1994 adaptation of Richard Russo’s Nobody’s Fool.  A friendship was forged and Benton and Newman worked together again on Twilight (1998).  Benton directed the 2003 adaptation of Phillip Roth’s The Human Stain.  His most recent work as a director is the 2007 film Feast of Love.  Benton is currently working on the screenplay for North of Cheyenne, slated for a 2011 release.