Paul Benjamin

DOB: 1938-02-04

DOD: 2019-06-28

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 a small role in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes, he did extensive 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.

Starred In

1989
Movie

Do the Right Thing

2003
Movie

The Station Agent

1971
Movie

The Anderson Tapes

1976
Movie

Leadbelly

1980
Movie

Gideon's Trumpet

2007
Movie

Ascension Day

2000
Movie

Stanley's Gig

1997
Movie

Hoodlum

1983
Movie

Deadly Force

1969
Movie

Midnight Cowboy

1997
Movie

Rosewood

1982
Movie

Some Kind of Hero

1975
Movie

Distance

1999
Movie

The Breaks

2005
Movie

Back in the Day

2001
Movie

DMX: Angel

1971
Movie

Born to Win

1975
Movie

Friday Foster

1987
Movie

A Stranger Waits

1987
Movie

Nuts

1989
Movie

The Meeting

2002
Tv

The Shield

1999
Tv

Angel

1979
Tv

Knots Landing

1973
Tv

Kojak

1994
Tv

ER

1974
Tv

Police Woman

1973
Tv

Police Story

1985
Tv

Night Heat

1990
Tv

Law & Order