Paul Benedict

Infobox actor
name = Paul Benedict
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = birth date and age|1938|9|17
birthplace = Silver City, New Mexico, USA
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Film, television actor
yearsactive = 1960s - Present
spouse =
emmyawards =

Paul Benedict (born September 17, 1938) is an American character actor who has made several appearances in television and movies from the 1960s on. He is probably best recognized for his roles as The Number Painter on the PBS children's show "Sesame Street", and as the quirky English neighbor "Harry Bentley" on the CBS sitcom "The Jeffersons".

Biography

Benedict was born in Silver City, New Mexico, the son of Alma Marie (née Loring), a journalist, and Mitchell M. Benedict, a doctor. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/Paul-Benedict.html Paul Benedict Biography (1938-) ] ] As a young man, he suffered from acromegaly, a pituitary disorder that affects the extremities and face, which accounts for his slightly oversized jaw and nose. As one can hear in his other film and TV roles, he has a slight English accent even when not in character as Bentley. Benedict played the director of the "Richard III" production in the movie "The Goodbye Girl" starring Richard Dreyfuss, in which play Richard was to be portrayed as a stereotypical gay man. He was in a short scene in the mockumentary film "This is Spinal Tap". He also made a memorable appearance as the incorrectly assumed title character in the 1996 film "Waiting for Guffman", another mockumentary involving many of the same writers and actors.

Benedict also played the role of a slave trader in Dino De Laurentiis' "Mandingo" opposite James Mason and Perry King. Perhaps his best known movie role was of the reverend Lundquist in the Sidney Pollack film Jeremiah Johnson.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0070801|name=Paul Benedict
*ibdb name|id=14156|name=Paul Benedict
*amg name|2:5311
* [http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/archive/x1349971618 Paul Benedict] article at Somerville, MA "Wicked Local" Off-Broadway weblink