Ben Astar

Acting

Ben Astar

Born — Died

1909-06-15 — 1988-10-20

Place of birth

Palestine [now Israel]

Known for

Acting

Credits

30 titles

Known for

The Andy Griffith Show poster
7.6

Andy Taylor is the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life.

The Andy Griffith Show

1960

Mission: Impossible poster
7.6

Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

Mission: Impossible

1966

Batman poster
7.3

Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing to the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.

Batman

1966

Blade Runner poster
7.9

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

Blade Runner

1982

Alfred Hitchcock Presents poster
7.8

A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1955

The Winds of War poster
7.3

Against the backdrop of world events that led to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Victor 'Pug' Henry is a career naval officer who, along with his family, learns to navigate the waters of his dangerous times in the late 1930s.

The Winds of War

1983

Film credits

1960s · 8 titles

Five Weeks in a Balloon poster
5.5

Professor Fergusson plans to make aviation history by making his way across Africa by balloon. He plans to claim uncharted territories in West Africa as proof of his inventions worth.

Five Weeks in a Balloon

1962

Bye Bye Birdie poster
5.9

A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted.

Bye Bye Birdie

1963

The Story of Ruth poster
7.5

Ruth is one of two Moabite women who marry the sons of Elimelech and Naomi. When Elimelech and sons Mahlon and Chillion die, leaving Naomi a widow with two widowed daughters-in-law, Naomi decides to return to Israel. One daughter-in-law, Orpah, bids her goodbye. Daughter-in-law Ruth however says she will not desert her.

The Story of Ruth

1960

Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round poster
5.6

A sophisticated con man mounts an intricate plan to rob an airport bank while the Soviet premier is due to arrive.

Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round

1966

Walk Don't Run poster
6.5

During the housing shortage of the 1964 Summer Olympic Games, two men and a woman share a small apartment in Tokyo, and the older man soon starts playing Cupid to the younger pair.

Walk Don't Run

1966

On the Double poster
6.9

American GI Ernie Williams, admittedly weak-kneed, has an uncanny resemblance to British Colonel MacKenzie. Williams, also a master of imitation and disguise, is asked to impersonate the Colonel, ostensibly to allow the Colonel to make a secret trip East. What Williams is not told is that the Colonel has recently been a target of assassins. After the Colonel's plane goes down, the plan changes and Williams maintains the disguise to confuse the Nazis about D-Day.

On the Double

1961

The Honeymoon Machine poster
6.5

Lt. Fergie Howard teams up with Lt. Beau Gilliam and Navy scientist Jason Eldridge to turn a supercomputer with missile-tracking capabilities into a tool to predict where a roulette ball will land. They dock in Venice, Italy, and begin making a killing at the casino, but their shore-to-ship signals get misinterpreted as signs of attack by Adm. Fitch, putting a serious crimp in the officers' get-rich-quick scheme.

The Honeymoon Machine

1961

A House Is Not a Home poster
4.9

Story follows the life of Polly Adler, who grew to become one of New York's most successful bordello madams of the 1920s.

A House Is Not a Home

1964

1950s · 13 titles

The Bad and the Beautiful poster
7.3

Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.

The Bad and the Beautiful

1952

The Robe poster
6.8

Drunk and disillusioned Roman, Marcellus Gallio, wins Jesus' robe in a dice game after the crucifixion. Marcellus has never been a man of faith like his slave, Demetrius, but when Demetrius escapes with the robe, Marcellus experiences disturbing visions and feels guilty for his actions. Convinced that destroying the robe will cure him, Marcellus sets out to find Demetrius — and discovers his Christian faith along the way.

The Robe

1953

The Light Touch poster
6.3

After a professional art thief steals a religious painting from an Italian museum, he tries to cheat his partner by claiming the painting was accidentally destroyed but his suspicious partner and the police are determined to find it.

The Light Touch

1951

Assignment: Paris poster
5.9

Paris-based New York Herald Tribune reporter Jimmy Race is sent by his boss behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest to investigate a meeting involving the Hungarian ambassador.

Assignment: Paris

1952

The Desert Song poster
6.8

Shiek Yousseff, poses as a friend of the French while secretly plotting to overthrow them. Apposing Yousseff are the Riffs, whose secret leader, The Red Shadow, is Paul Bonnard, a professor who is studying the desert, and whose attacks on the supply trains intended for Yousseff keep the Riff villages in food. Foreign Legion General Birabeau arrives to conduct an investigation, accompanied by his daughter, Margot. Birabeau hires Bonnard to tutor her, and she is attracted to a Legionaire captain, Claud Fontaine. While the general, Bonnard and Fontaine pay a visit to Yousseff, an American newspaper man, Benji Kidd, discovers a secret way in and out of Yousseff's palace, with the aid of Azuri, a dancing girl in love with Bonnard. The latter is forced to resume his role as the Riffs leader, and kidnap Margot until he can convince her of Yousseff's treachery. But Yousseff's men attack the Riff camp and take Margot prisoner.

The Desert Song

1953

This Earth Is Mine poster
6.6

Set during the Prohibition era, when wine makers were financially challenged and had to decide whether or not they wanted to cooperate with bootleggers to survive.

This Earth Is Mine

1959

5 Fingers poster
7.5

During WWII, the valet to the British Ambassador to Ankara sells British secrets to the Germans while trying to romance a refugee Polish countess.

5 Fingers

1952

Fort Ti poster
7.0

Set in the 18th century, the film recounts the exploits of Rogers' Rangers, a band of adventurers devoted to seeking out a "northwest passage" through Canada. At this juncture, however, Major Rogers is more concerned with helping the British forces at Fort Ticonderoga during a series of French and Indian raids. Fort Ti was filmed in 3D, and in typical William Castle fashion the stereoscopic gimmick is exploited to the hilt.

Fort Ti

1953

Charge of the Lancers poster
5.5

As the Crimean War rages, British Capt. Eric Evoir and Maj. Bruce Lindsey are sent to the Crimea to protect a top-secret cannon capable of blasting through the walls of a nearby Russian fort. Lindsey, unfortunately, is captured by the Russians, who subject him to brutal interrogations. It's up to Evoir to save him. Along the way, Evoir meets a beautiful gypsy girl and begins an affair as intense as the war itself.

Charge of the Lancers

1954

Queen for a Day poster
7.5

Adapted from the TV and radio series of the same name, the producer of said show reads letters from three woman providing the framing story for this melodrama anthology film. The tales focus on parenting and family struggles.

Queen for a Day

1951

Target Hong Kong poster
5.8

Yankee soldiers-of-fortune smash a spy plot aimed at seizing Hong Kong.

Target Hong Kong

1953

The Man Who Understood Women poster
3.9

A film director turns his actress wife into a star, leading to marital problems.

The Man Who Understood Women

1959

Smuggler's Island poster
4.4

An adventurer about to lose his sloop and diving equipment agrees to dive for illegal gold.

Smuggler's Island

1951

Series credits

The Andy Griffith Show poster
7.6

Andy Taylor is the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life.

The Andy Griffith Show

1960

Mission: Impossible poster
7.6

Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

Mission: Impossible

1966

Batman poster
7.3

Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing to the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.

Batman

1966

Batman poster
7.3

Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing to the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.

Batman

1966

Alfred Hitchcock Presents poster
7.8

A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1955

The Winds of War poster
7.3

Against the backdrop of world events that led to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Victor 'Pug' Henry is a career naval officer who, along with his family, learns to navigate the waters of his dangerous times in the late 1930s.

The Winds of War

1983