Robert Benchley Born: Sep 15, 1889 in Worcester, Massachusetts Died: Nov 21, 1945 Occupation: Actor, Writer, Active: '30s-'40s Major Genres: Comedy, Romance Career Highlights: Foreign Correspondent, Sky Devils, The Major and the Minor First Major Screen Credit: Sky Devils (1932)
|
8 Videos for Robert Benchley
Photos
There are currently no photos.
Biography:
Born in Worcester, MA, on September 15, 1889, Robert Benchley became a journalist upon graduating from Harvard in 1912, soon joining the staff of the {~New York Tribune}. After serving in World War I, he returned to New York to accept the position of managing editor at {~Vanity Fair} magazine, later tenuring as a columnist for the {~New York World} before being named the drama editor of {~Life} in 1920. The following year, Benchley published his first book collection, {-Of All Things}, and in 1922 performed an acclaimed monologue, The Treasurer's Report, as a skit in an amateur revue. Throughout the decade of the 1920s, Benchley also earned notoriety as a charter member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table, a much-publicized group of New York City writers, actors, and artists -- also including Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott, George S. Kaufman, Marc Connelly, and Harpo Marx -- who met for lunch daily at the Algonquin Hotel to share sparkling conversation, juicy gossip, and scathing insults.
Through his work in {~Life} as well as books including 1925's {-Pluck and Luck} and 1927's {-Early Worm}, Benchley emerged as one of America's most popular and well-respected writers, acutely dissecting the comic futility of Roaring Twenties society. His subtle, whimsical humor primarily depicted the struggles of the common man, often spinning off on purely nonsensical tangents; Benchley's friend Donald Ogden Stewart (The Philadelphia Story) dubbed his sensibility crazy humor, and it found an eager audience among pre-Depression readers. Benchley first began working in movies in 1928, reprising The Treasurer's Report in one of the earliest short films to feature sound; in all, he appeared in some 46 acclaimed short features, typically appearing as a lecturer to muse on subjects including The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928), The Courtship of a Newt (1938), and How to Take a Vacation (1941). In 1935, Benchley even won an Academy Award for How to Sleep. In 1929, he rose to new prominence as the drama critic at {~The New Yorker}, a magazine founded by Algonquin lunchmate Harold Ross.
Beginning in 1932, Benchley began writing for feature films as well, making his debut with The Sport Parade, in which he also co-starred as a broadcaster. He continued to play any number of comedic supporting roles in the years to come, typically cast as a bumbling yet lovable sophisticate, a cocktail glass always firmly in hand. In 1940, he appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Foreign Correspondent; he also contributed dialogue to the script. Robert Benchley died on November 21, 1945, at the peak of his fame. Benchley's son, Nathanial, was a well-regarded novelist and children's books author while his grandson, Peter, later became a well-known novelist in his own right, authoring the book that inspired the film Jaws. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide.
|
|
