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Paul Benjamin is a Actor American born on 4 february 1938 at Pelion (USA)

Paul Benjamin

Paul Benjamin
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Nationality USA
Birth 4 february 1938 at Pelion (USA)
Death 28 june 2019 (at 81 years)

Paul Benjamin (born 1938) is an American actor.

Benjamin was born in Pelion, South Carolina. He made his film debut in 1969 as a bartender in Midnight Cowboy. After small roles in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes (1971) and Born to Win (1971), he did extensive television work in the 1970s.

A few notable exceptions were a major role in Barry Shear's Across 110th Street (1972), and smaller parts in Shear's western The Deadly Trackers (1973), Michael Campus' The Education of Sonny Carson (1974), Arthur Marks' Friday Foster (1975), Gordon Parks' biopic Leadbelly (1976), and Don Siegel's prison film Escape from Alcatraz (1979). He gave exceptional performances in the TV adaptations of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979) and Gideon's Trumpet (1980). He later starred in the 1987 HBO movie The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, based on the novel by Robert E. Burns.

On the big screen in the 1980s and 1990s, Benjamin worked with some well known actors and directors. He acted in Some Kind of Hero (1982) opposite Richard Pryor, Martin Ritt's drama film Nuts (1987) starring Barbra Streisand, Pink Cadillac (1989) with Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989), Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats (1991), Bill Duke's Hoodlum (1997), and John Singleton's Rosewood (1997).

On television, he appeared in the 1994 pilot episode of ER, which led to his recurring role of homeless man Al Ervin during the next few seasons. Benjamin also worked on the American Masters documentary of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ralph Ellison, which aired on PBS. He also acted in an episode of The Shield.

After 2000, he acted mainly in independent films like Stanley's Gig, The Station Agent, Deacons For Defense, and James Hunter's 2005 drama Back in the Day.

Usually with

Bruce Surtees
Bruce Surtees
(3 films)
Bill Duke
Bill Duke
(2 films)
Spike Lee
Spike Lee
(1 films)
Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Paul Benjamin (26 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Back in the Day, 1h43
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Crime
Themes Films about music and musicians, Hip hop films, Gangster films
Actors Joe Morton, Ja Rule, Ving Rhames, Tatyana Ali, Tia Carrere, Lahmard J. Tate
Roles Cody
Rating44% 2.219932.219932.219932.219932.21993
Reggie Cooper (Ja Rule) is a young man who lives with his father (Giancarlo Esposito) in order to avoid the violent gang activity that almost claimed his life when he was a teenager. However, when his recently paroled mentor, J-Bone (Ving Rhames) reconnects with Reggie, and when his father is murdered, Reggie slips back into a life of crime. Reggie murders a local preacher (Joe Morton), whose daughter (Tatyana Ali) later develops a relationship with him.
The Station Agent, 1h28
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Themes Transport films, Rail transport films
Actors Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams, Raven Goodwin, Paul Benjamin
Roles Henry Styles
Rating75% 3.798843.798843.798843.798843.79884
Finbar McBride, a quiet, withdrawn, unmarried man with achondroplastic dwarfism, has a deep love of railroads. He works in a Hoboken model train hobby shop owned by his elderly and similarly taciturn friend Henry Styles. Because he feels ostracized by a public that tends to view him as peculiar due to his size, Fin keeps to himself.
Deacons for Defense, 1h35
Directed by Bill Duke
Genres Drama
Actors Forest Whitaker, Christopher Britton, Ossie Davis, Jonathan Silverman, Mpho Koaho, Melanie Nicholls-King
Roles Otis
Rating69% 3.4856953.4856953.4856953.4856953.485695
In 1965 Louisiana, war veteran Marcus (Forest Whitaker) works in the town's mill for meager wages, and must endure the ongoing humiliation meted out by his white supervisors. Encouraged by an idealistic white Northerner (Jonathan Silverman), his daughter becomes a civil rights activist. When his daughter is abused at a nonviolent demonstration, Marcus is pushed too far. Marcus organizes the Deacons for Defense and Justice, an all-black defense group dedicated to patrolling the black section of town and protecting its residents from the aspects of "white backlash".
The Breaks
The Breaks (1999)
, 1h26
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about music and musicians, Hip hop films, Gangster films
Actors Paul Benjamin, Mitch Mullany, Lamont Bentley, Anthony Anderson, Carl Anthony Payne II, Loretta Devine
Roles Clerk
Rating61% 3.0519553.0519553.0519553.0519553.051955
A Sunday in the life of Derrick King, an Irish kid raised in South Central L.A. by a black family. He talks black, dresses black, and thinks of himself as black. It is a day of disasters: his mom kicks him out of the house, his uncle fires him, the woman he loves dismisses him as childish, the LAPD (wearing Confederate flag shoulder patches) impounds his car and tosses him in the drunk tank, a mean dude is after him for money, he is imprisoned in a store basement by gay sadists, and he is shot at. Along the way, however, he shows kindness to a near-sighted kid, and those random acts may prove to be his salvation. Rappers Xzibit and Flesh-n-Bone appear in the film.
Hoodlum
Hoodlum (1997)
, 2h10
Directed by Bill Duke
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes Mafia films, Gangster films
Actors Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams, Andy García, Cicely Tyson, Chi McBride
Roles Whispers
Rating63% 3.150043.150043.150043.150043.15004
After being paroled from Sing Sing, Bumpy Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) returns to Harlem to resume his old life. He is welcomed back by his cousin, Illinois Gordon (Chi McBride) as well as Stephanie "Madame Queen" St. Clair, the monarch reigning over the numbers racket in Harlem. The psychopathic Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth), a Mafia associate who reports to mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Andy Garcia) runs the numbers rackets in downtown New York. His gang has been crowding into Harlem, terrorizing residents to only play the numbers with his operation.
Rosewood
Rosewood (1997)
, 2h20
Directed by John Singleton
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Historical
Themes Films about racism
Actors Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Bruce McGill, Loren Dean, Esther Elizabeth Rolle
Roles James Carrier
Rating71% 3.595823.595823.595823.595823.59582
A married white woman, Fanny Taylor, claims to have been beaten and raped by a black man. The movie shows a white man, not Fanny’s husband, in her bedroom where they have sex. They have an argument and strike each other. Some black workers outside heard what was happening but did not think they should intervene in white people's business. The white residents readily believe Fanny's claim. Hearing of an escaped black convict, a posse and other unaffiliated white men from Sumner and nearby towns go to Rosewood to investigate. The black residents of Rosewood quickly become targeted by a white mob, including men from out of state and members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Vanishing Point, 1h31
Directed by Charles Robert Carner
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Action, Adventure
Themes Transport films, Films about automobiles, Road movies, Chase films
Actors Viggo Mortensen, Christine Elise, Steve Railsback, Rodney Arnold Grant, Geno Silva, Peter Murnik
Rating56% 2.801742.801742.801742.801742.80174
Jimmy Kowalski (Mortensen), a Gulf War veteran and former stock car racer, works as an automobile restorer and delivery driver at a shop in Idaho. He takes an assignment delivering a 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner to New Mexico, to pay his wife's mounting medical bills. While in New Mexico, he is offered another job: delivering a 426 Hemi-powered 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T to Salt Lake City, Utah. On the way, he's informed that his wife's already-difficult pregnancy has taken a turn for the worse, so he heads back home to Idaho, refusing to stop for police when flagged down for speeding.
Back to the Streets of San Francisco
Directed by Mel Damski
Origin USA
Genres Crime
Actors Karl Malden, Darlene Carr, Darleen Carr, Debrah Farentino, Conor O'Farrell, Carl Lumbly
Roles Henry Brown
Rating62% 3.1423653.1423653.1423653.1423653.142365
Mike Stone enquête sur deux affaires distinctes : un meurtre atroce et la disparition de Steve Keller, son ancien partenaire.
The Super
The Super (1991)
, 1h35
Directed by Rod Daniel
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about music and musicians, Hip hop films, Children's films, Gangster films
Actors Joe Pesci, Vincent Gardenia, Madolyn Smith, Rubén Blades, Stacey Travis, Carole Shelley
Roles Gilliam
Rating56% 2.8026452.8026452.8026452.8026452.802645
Joe Pesci stars as Louie Kritski, a heartless slumlord who was born into money, thanks to his ruthless father, "Big Lou" (Vincent Gardenia), also a slumlord. However, the tables turn on Louie when he's threatened with prison for his failure to keep his New York slum up to code. The judge gives him another option, which he accepts: he must live in a vacant apartment of one of his own shoddy run-down apartment blocks until he brings it up to livable standards.
Do the Right Thing, 2h
Directed by Spike Lee
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Crime
Themes L'action se déroule en une journée, Films about music and musicians, Films about racism, Hip hop films, Musical films, Gangster films
Actors Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito
Roles ML
Rating79% 3.9980553.9980553.9980553.9980553.998055
Mookie (Spike Lee) is a young black man living in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with his sister, Jade (Joie Lee). He and his girlfriend, Tina (Rosie Perez), have a son. He's a pizza delivery man at the local pizzeria, but lacks ambition. Sal (Danny Aiello), the pizzeria's Italian-American owner, has been in the neighborhood for twenty-five years. His older son Pino (John Turturro) intensely dislikes blacks, and does not get along with Mookie. Pino is at odds with his younger brother, Vito (Richard Edson), who is friendly with Mookie.
Pink Cadillac, 2h2
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Transport films, Films about automobiles, Musical films, Road movies, Chase films
Actors Clint Eastwood, Bernadette Peters, Timothy Carhart, Jim Carrey, Geoffrey Lewis, Bill McKinney
Roles Judge
Rating53% 2.651422.651422.651422.651422.65142
A white supremacist group is chasing Lou Ann (Bernadette Peters), whose no-good husband Roy (Timothy Carhart) is a member. She has inadvertently taken counterfeit money from them by running away with his car (the pink Cadillac), which held the supremacists' stash.
Nuts
Nuts (1987)
, 1h55
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Films about sexuality, Théâtre, Erotic films, Films about prostitution, Films based on plays, Erotic thriller films
Actors Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Barbra Streisand, Karl Malden, Leslie Nielsen
Roles Harry Harrison
Rating65% 3.2976753.2976753.2976753.2976753.297675
When call girl Claudia Draper kills client Allen Green in self-defense, her mother Rose and stepfather Arthur attempt to have her declared mentally incompetent by Dr. Herbert Morrison in order to avoid a public scandal. Realizing if her parents succeed she will be remanded to a psychiatric facility for an indefinite period of time, strong-willed Claudia is determined to prove she is sane enough to stand trial.
The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, 1h55
Directed by Daniel Mann
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama
Actors Val Kilmer, Charles Durning, Paul Benjamin, Sônia Braga, Kyra Sedgwick, James Keach
Roles Big Sam
Rating70% 3.5395153.5395153.5395153.5395153.539515
Robert Burns, un vétéran de la Première Guerre mondiale retourne aux États-Unis mais n'arrive pas à trouver sa place dans la société. Parti chercher fortune dans le Sud, il est condamné pour vol à dix ans de travaux forcés dans un bagne de Géorgie : Chain Gang. Après son évasion il refait sa vie à Chicago jusqu’à ce que son passé le rattrape...
Some Kind of Hero, 1h37
Directed by Michael Pressman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Themes Political films
Actors Margot Kidder, Richard Pryor, Ronny Cox, Lynne Moody, Paul Benjamin, Ray Sharkey
Roles Leon
Rating57% 2.8995352.8995352.8995352.8995352.899535
Eddie Keller is a U.S. Army conscript private who was captured while deficating. He held in a POW Camp for years and due to his resistance to signing a confession to committing war crimesends up being one of the last POWs to be brought home from Vietnam. Keller endures several years of torture and deprivation at the hands of the Vietnamese Army. He finally relents to signing a "confession" admitting to war crimes to save the life of his cell mate.
Escape from Alcatraz, 1h52
Directed by Don Siegel
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Historical, Crime
Themes Prison films, Évasion, Se déroulant à Alcatraz
Actors Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Fred Ward, Jack Thibeau, Larry Hankin, Paul Benjamin
Roles English
Rating75% 3.799023.799023.799023.799023.79902
On January 18, 1960, Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) arrives at the maximum security prison Alcatraz, having been sent there after escaping from several other prisons. He is sent in to meet the warden (Patrick McGoohan), who curtly informs him that no one has ever escaped from Alcatraz. Eventually he meets his old friends, bank robber brothers John and Clarence Anglin (Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau), and he makes the acquaintance of the prisoner in the cell next to his, car thief Charley Butts (Larry Hankin). Morris befriends numerous other inmates, including English (Paul Benjamin), a black inmate serving two life sentences for killing two white men in self-defense; the eccentric Litmus (Frank Ronzio) who keeps a pet mouse and calls himself Al Capone, and the elderly artist and chrysanthemum grower Doc (Roberts Blossom).