Robert Benton: Oscar-winning filmmaker of Kramer vs. Kramer and Bonnie and Clyde dies at 92

Robert Benton, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter turned director who co-wrote Bonnie and Clyde and directed Kramer vs. Kramer, has passed away at 92. His longtime assistant and manager, Marisa Forzano, told The New York Times that Benton died on Sunday in his Manhattan home. Benton’s influence in Hollywood is vast, with writing credits for such classics as the 1984 Period Drama Places in the Heart and Richard Donner’s Superman (with Mario Puzo and Leslie Newman), starring Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, and Gene Hackman.

With Places in the Heart, a coming-of-age drama Robert Benton wrote and directed, the filmmaker shared an autobiographical epic based on his grandmother’s arduous experiences during the Depression in Texas. Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, and Danny Glover lead the 1930s-set film, which focuses on a widow with two small children who tries to save her small 40-acre farm with the help of a blind boarder and an itinerant black handyman.

Robert Benton’s other well-known writing credits include screenplays for The Late Show, a thriller about a grumpy semi-retired private investigator who partners with a quirky female client to catch the people who murdered his partner, starring Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, and Bill Macy. 1982’s Still of the Night, a crime drama starring Roy Scheider, Meryl Streep, and Jessica Tandy, is about a Manhattan psychiatrist who probes a patient’s murder and falls for the victim’s mysterious mistress. Another classic of Benton’s is Nobody’s Fool, the comedic drama starring Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, and Jessica Tandy. The film revolves around a stubborn man past his prime who reflects on his life of strict independence and seeks more from himself.

Benton’s Kramer vs. Kramer won five awards at the 52nd Academy Awards, including the prize for Best Picture. The classic drama stars a young Dustin Hoffman as Ted Kramer, a work-obsessed Manhattan advertising executive forced to learn long-neglected parenting skills after his wife leaves him. However, a heated custody battle over the couple’s young son deepens the wounds left by the separation.

Robert Benton was born on Sept. 29, 1932, in Dallas and raised in the nearby town of Waxahachie. As a child, Benton had dyslexia, an affliction few people knew about back then. Instead of focusing on his studies (Benton was a struggling student), his father would take him to the movies, where he could listen and learn from actors on the silver screen. Benton knew how to write through the power of film, taking his talent to the University of Texas, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree before serving in the U.S. Army from 1954-56. After his time in the service, he became an assistant to the art director at Esquire. Eventually, he was fired, but he’d already met David Newman, an editor at Esquire. The duo spent a decade penning scripts until Bonnie and Clyde lit the fuse of Benton’s career.

Throughout the years, Robert Benton surrounded himself with top-shelf actors whose professionalism helped make his filmmaking job more palatable. With patience, understanding, and a keen eye for dramatics, Benton climbed the Hollywood ladder one rung at a time.

Robert Benton is survived by his son, John.

We offer Mr. Benton’s family, friends, and fans our sincere condolences and wish him safe travels to the Great Hereafter.

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