Known For
Acting
Born
Feb 04, 1935
Died
Jun 28, 2019
Place of Birth
Pelion, South Carolina, USA
Credits
53 titles
Paul Benjamin
Biography
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.
Known For
Filmography
Occupy, Texas
Mr. Goodman
Ascension Day
Sam
Back in the Day
Cody
Deacons for Defense
Otis
The Station Agent
Henry Styles
The Shield
Perry
DMX: Angel
Minister
Stanley's Gig
Teddy Branson
Angel
Fellow Resident
Last Rites
Fez
The Breaks
Clerk
Hoodlum
Whispers
Rosewood
James Carrier
Vanishing Point
Mose, Snake Wrangler
Drop Squad
Wellington Cosbie
ER
Al Ervin
The Fence
Del Reston
Back to the Streets of San Francisco
Henry Brown
The Super
Gilliam
The Five Heartbeats
Mr. King
Law & Order
Lonnie Jackson
Do the Right Thing
ML
The Meeting
Rashad
Nuts
Harry Harrison
The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains
Big Sam
A Stranger Waits
Cooper
The Atlanta Child Murders
Homer Williams
Night Heat
Deadly Force
Lester
Some Kind of Hero
Leon
American Playhouse
Rashad
Gideon's Trumpet
Artis
Knots Landing
Mr. Carter
Escape from Alcatraz
English
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Freeman
One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story
John LeFlore
Leadbelly
Wes Ledbetter
Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys
Ramsey
Friday Foster
Senator David Lee Hart
Distance
Sgt. Elwood Horne
Starsky & Hutch
Friendly Persuasion
Swan Stebeney
Police Woman
The Education of Sonny Carson
Pops
The Deadly Trackers
Jacob
Kojak
Willie Daniels
Police Story
Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside
Lt. Valentine
Across 110th Street
Jim Harris
Born to Win
Fixer