Person Details

Birthday: 1938-02-04 05:13:36

Death: 2019-06-28 05:13:36

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Pelion, South Carolina, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 28

TV Involvements: 7


Most Famous Work

Biography

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.

Most Famous Work

Law & Order
Average
8

Law & Order

(1990) Lonnie Jackson
Angel
Average
8

Angel

(1999) Fellow Resident
The Shield
Average
8

The Shield

(2002) Perry
ER
Average
8

ER

(1994) Al Ervin
Escape from Alcatraz
Average
8

Escape from Alcatraz

(1979) English
Do the Right Thing
Average
8

Do the Right Thing

(1989) ML
Midnight Cowboy
Average
8

Midnight Cowboy

(1969) Bartender
Kojak
Average
7

Kojak

(1973) Willie Daniels

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2007 Sam
2005 Cody
2003 Henry Styles
Otis
2002 Perry
2001 Minister
1999 Fellow Resident
Clerk
1997 Whispers
James Carrier
1994 Al Ervin
1992 Henry Brown
1990 Lonnie Jackson
1989 ML
Rashad
1987 Harry Harrison
Big Sam
Cooper
1985 Homer Williams
1983 Lester
1982 Leon
1980 Artis
1979 N/A
Freeman
English
1978 John LeFlore
1976 Wes Ledbetter
Ramsey
1975 Senator David Lee Hart
Sgt. Elwood Horne
N/A
Swan Stebeney
1974 N/A
Pops
1973 Jacob
Willie Daniels
N/A
Lt. Valentine
1972 Jim Harris
1971 Fixer
Jimmy
1969 Bartender
1951 Arlis
Year Character Movie/Tv

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