Paul Benjamin (February 4, 1935 – June 28, 2019) was an American actor. is an American actor.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0071345
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3038551
Facebook: No data
Instagram: No data
X: No data
Filmography (Movies)
Ascension Day
Character:Sam
Release Date:02/02/2007
Back in the Day
Character:Cody
Release Date:24/05/2005
Deacons for Defense
Character:Otis
Release Date:05/04/2005
The Station Agent
Character:Henry Styles
Release Date:05/12/2003
DMX: Angel
Character:Minister
Release Date:18/12/2001
Stanley's Gig
Character:Teddy Branson
Release Date:19/06/2000
The Breaks
Character:Clerk
Release Date:26/02/1999
Hoodlum
Character:Whispers
Release Date:27/08/1997
Rosewood
Character:James Carrier
Release Date:21/02/1997
Back to the Streets of San Francisco
Character:Henry Brown
Release Date:27/01/1992
The Five Heartbeats
Character:Mr. King
Release Date:29/03/1991
Do the Right Thing
Character:ML
Release Date:14/06/1989
The Meeting
Character:Rashad
Release Date:03/05/1989
Nuts
Character:Harry Harrison
Release Date:20/11/1987
The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains
Character:Big Sam
Release Date:31/10/1987
A Stranger Waits
Character:Cooper
Release Date:29/03/1987
Deadly Force
Character:Lester
Release Date:08/07/1983
Some Kind of Hero
Character:Leon
Release Date:02/04/1982
Gideon's Trumpet
Character:Artis
Release Date:30/04/1980
Escape from Alcatraz
Character:English
Release Date:22/06/1979
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Character:Freeman
Release Date:28/04/1979
One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story
Character:John LeFlore
Release Date:26/09/1978
Leadbelly
Character:Wes Ledbetter
Release Date:28/05/1976
Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys
Character:Ramsey
Release Date:22/04/1976
Friday Foster
Character:Senator David Lee Hart
Release Date:25/12/1975
Distance
Character:Sgt. Elwood Horne
Release Date:22/12/1975
Friendly Persuasion
Character:Swan Stebeney
Release Date:18/05/1975
The Education of Sonny Carson
Character:Pops
Release Date:17/07/1974
The Deadly Trackers
Character:Jacob
Release Date:21/12/1973
Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside
Character:Lt. Valentine
Release Date:14/03/1973
Across 110th Street
Character:Jim Harris
Release Date:19/12/1972
Born to Win
Character:Fixer
Release Date:01/12/1971
The Anderson Tapes
Character:Jimmy
Release Date:17/06/1971
Midnight Cowboy
Character:Bartender
Release Date:25/05/1969
Television Appearances
The Shield
Character:Perry
Angel
Character:Fellow Resident
ER
Character:Al Ervin
Law & Order
Character:Lonnie Jackson
The Atlanta Child Murders
Character:Homer Williams
Night Heat
Character:
Knots Landing
Character:Mr. Carter
Starsky & Hutch
Character:
Police Woman
Character:
Kojak
Character:Willie Daniels
Police Story
Character:
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character:Arlis
Images
