Robert Benton, the acclaimed director and screenwriter best known for the 1979 Oscar-winning film Kramer vs. Kramer, passed away Sunday at the age of 92 in Manhattan. His death was confirmed by his assistant and manager, Marisa Forzano.
Benton’s illustrious career spanned decades, earning him three Academy Awards. He won Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Kramer vs. Kramer, which also brought Oscar wins for actors Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Sally Field. He also received a screenplay Oscar for his 1984 film Places in the Heart.
Born in Waxahachie, Texas, Benton started his career as an art director at Esquire magazine, where he partnered with fellow Esquire alumnus David Newman. The duo wrote the groundbreaking screenplay for 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde,” a film that became a cultural sensation. The movie’s success launched their careers, with Benton and Newman continuing to collaborate on several projects throughout the 1970s.
In 1972, Benton made his directing debut with Bad Company, which received critical praise but failed commercially. His breakthrough came in 1977 with The Late Show, a detective film starring Art Carney and Lily Tomlin, which became a modest hit.
In 1979, Benton directed Hoffman and Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer, a film that became a critical and commercial success, grossing over $100 million worldwide and earning Benton two Oscars. The film also marked the beginning of Benton’s long career of writing and directing emotionally resonant dramas, including Places in the Heart (1984), which won Sally Field an Oscar and brought Benton another Academy Award for his screenplay.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Benton’s films included Still of the Night (1982), a Hitchcockian thriller starring Meryl Streep and Roy Scheider, and Nobody’s Fool (1994), which garnered multiple Oscar nominations and starred Paul Newman. He later directed Newman, Gene Hackman, and Susan Sarandon in the 1998 noir Twilight.
In the 2000s, Benton directed Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman in The Human Stain (2003), based on the Philip Roth novel. The film received mixed reviews, particularly due to the casting of Hopkins as a light-skinned Black man who had passed for white. His final project, the 2005 dark comedy The Ice Harvest, was not a box-office success despite its cult following.
Benton was honored with several career accolades, including the Writers Guild of America’s Ian McLellan Hunter Award for lifetime achievement in writing in 1995 and the Laurel Award for screenwriting achievement in 2007.
Benton is survived by his son, John.
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