Paul Benjamin
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.
Known For
Credits
- 2007 · Ascension Day as Sam
- 2005 · Back in the Day as Cody
- 2003 · The Station Agent as Henry Styles
- 2003 · Deacons for Defense as Otis
- 2002 · The Shield as Perry
- 2001 · DMX: Angel as Minister
- 2000 · Stanley's Gig as Teddy Branson
- 1999 · Angel as Fellow Resident
- 1999 · The Breaks as Clerk
- 1997 · Hoodlum as Whispers
- 1997 · Rosewood as James Carrier
- 1994 · ER as Al Ervin
- 1992 · Back to the Streets of San Francisco as Henry Brown
- 1990 · Law & Order as Lonnie Jackson
- 1989 · Do the Right Thing as ML
- 1989 · The Meeting as Rashad
- 1987 · Nuts as Harry Harrison
- 1987 · The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains as Big Sam
- 1987 · A Stranger Waits as Cooper
- 1985 · The Atlanta Child Murders as Homer Williams
- 1985 · Night Heat as
- 1983 · Deadly Force as Lester
- 1982 · Some Kind of Hero as Leon
- 1980 · Gideon's Trumpet as Artis
- 1979 · Knots Landing as Mr. Carter
- 1979 · Escape from Alcatraz as English
- 1979 · I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as Freeman
- 1978 · One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story as John LeFlore
- 1976 · Leadbelly as Wes Ledbetter
- 1976 · Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys as Ramsey
- 1975 · Friday Foster as Senator David Lee Hart
- 1975 · Distance as Sgt. Elwood Horne
- 1975 · Starsky & Hutch as
- 1975 · Friendly Persuasion as Swan Stebeney
- 1974 · Police Woman as
- 1974 · The Education of Sonny Carson as Pops
- 1973 · The Deadly Trackers as Jacob
- 1973 · Kojak as Willie Daniels
- 1973 · Police Story as
- 1973 · Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside as Lt. Valentine
- 1972 · Across 110th Street as Jim Harris
- 1971 · Born to Win as Fixer
- 1971 · The Anderson Tapes as Jimmy
- 1969 · Midnight Cowboy as Bartender
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Arlis