Paul Benjamin

Acting

Paul Benjamin

Born 1935-02-04 · Pelion, South Carolina, USA

Paul Benjamin (February 4, 1935 – June 28, 2019) was an American actor. 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 a small role in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes, he primarily did television work in the 1970s. A few notable exceptions were a major role in Barry Shear's Across 110th Street, and smaller parts in Gordon Parks' biopic Leadbelly, Arthur Marks' Friday Foster, and Don Siegel's prison film Escape from Alcatraz. He gave exceptional performances in the TV adaptations of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Gideon's Trumpet. He later starred in the HBO movie The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, based on the novel by Robert E. Burns. On the big screen in the 1990s, Benjamin worked with some well known directors. He appeared in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats, Bill Duke's Hoodlum, and John Singleton's Rosewood. 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. After 2000, he appeared primarily in small independent films like Stanley's Gig, The Station Agent, Deacons For Defense, and James Hunter's 2004 drama Back in the Day. He recently made a special appearance in the independent film The Talk Man, directed by Gene Gallerano. Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Benjamin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Escape from Alcatraz poster
7.5

San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.

Escape from Alcatraz

1979

Do the Right Thing poster
7.8

Sal is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

Do the Right Thing

1989

Midnight Cowboy poster
7.5

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

Midnight Cowboy

1969

Hoodlum poster
6.5

In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and must resist an invasion from a merciless mobster.

Hoodlum

1997

The Station Agent poster
7.3

When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.

The Station Agent

2003

The Anderson Tapes poster
6.1

Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is being recorded on audio and video, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.

The Anderson Tapes

1971

The Super poster
5.9

Louie Kritski is a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge gives him another option -- he must live in his rat-infested hell hole until he brings it up to liveable standards.

The Super

1991

Some Kind of Hero poster
5.6

A Vietnam vet returns home from a prisoner of war camp and is greeted as a hero, but is quickly forgotten and soon discovers how tough survival is in his own country.

Some Kind of Hero

1982

Rosewood poster
6.5

Spurred by a white woman's lie, vigilantes destroy a black Florida town and slay inhabitants in 1923.

Rosewood

1997

The Five Heartbeats poster
7.3

In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.

The Five Heartbeats

1991

Across 110th Street poster
6.7

In a daring robbery, some $300,000 is taken from the Italian mob. Several mafiosi are killed, as are two policemen. Lt. Pope and Capt. Mattelli are two New York City cops trying to break the case. Three small-time criminals are on the run with the money. Will the mafia catch them first, or will the police?

Across 110th Street

1972

Nuts poster
6.4

A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.

Nuts

1987

Gideon's Trumpet poster
6.5

True story of Clarence Gideon's fight to be appointed counsel at the expense of the state. This landmark case led to the Supreme Court's decision which extended this right to all criminal defendants.

Gideon's Trumpet

1980

Drop Squad poster
3.5

Controversial film about an underground organization that kidnaps and 'deprograms' African Americans who sell out or deny their cultural heritage. Spike Lee is the Executive Producer.

Drop Squad

1994

The Breaks poster
6.5

Derrick, a racially-confused Irishman raised in the hood by a black family is having the worst day ever. Determined to prove to his fed-up mother and would-be girlfriend that he's not a screw-up, he sets out to do one thing right (get some milk) and even that proves to be a challenge! Hilarious encounters with racist red-neck cops, local gangsters and 'flamboyant' pawn shop owners ensue, and along the way Derek shows that he can actually do things for others and maybe even get his own life together.

The Breaks

1999

Vanishing Point poster
5.6

When his wife goes into a troubled labor while he is on the road over 1200 miles away James Kowalski, an ex race car driver and a former Army Ranger, attempts to elude police while trying to get home. After numerous chases he turns into a Native American reservation and reflects on his life, and his wife. He heads off to break through a police roadblock.

Vanishing Point

1997

Leadbelly poster
6.4

The life of Blues and folk singer Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly is recounted. Covering the good times and bad from his 20s to 40s. Much of that time was spent on chain gangs in the south. Even in prison he became well known for the songs he had composed and sung during and before the time he spent there.

Leadbelly

1976

Born to Win poster
5.4

A smart-mouthed junkie and a former hairdresser spends his days looking for just "one more fix".

Born to Win

1971

Friday Foster poster
6.1

Friday Foster, a magazine photographer, goes to Los Angeles International airport to photograph the arrival of Blake Tarr, the richest black man in America. Three men attempt to assassinate Tarr. Foster photographs the melee and is plunged into a web of conspiracy involving the murder of her childhood friend, a US senator, and a shadowy plan called "Black Widow".

Friday Foster

1975

Ascension Day poster
NR

A drama focused on Nat Turner and the 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia.

Ascension Day

2007

The Deadly Trackers poster
6.0

Sheriff Sean Kilpatrick is a pacifist. Frank Brand is the leader of a band of killers. When their paths cross Kilpatrick is compelled to go against everything he has stood for to bring death to Brand and his gang. Through his hunt into Mexico he is challenged by a noble Mexican Sheriff interested only in carrying out the law - not vengeance.

The Deadly Trackers

1973

Back in the Day poster
5.2

A young man slides back into a life of crime after reuniting with a shady acquaintance from his past.

Back in the Day

2005

The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains poster
6.7

The true story of Robert Elliot Burns, the prisoner who, after being sentenced to a Georgia chain gang, attempted two daring escapes.

The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains

1987

A Stranger Waits poster
7.0

Most men consider the widow Kate Bennington to be irresistible, but when she dives into a madly passionate love affair with a mysterious younger man, one of her secret admirers sets in motion a terrifying plan to end their relationship, forever.

A Stranger Waits

1987