Paul Benjamin
Known For
Acting
Born
1935-02-04 in Pelion, South Carolina, USA
Died
2019-06-28
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.
Most Known For
Law & Order
as Lonnie Jackson
ER
as Al Ervin
Angel
as Fellow Resident
The Shield
as Perry
Knots Landing
as Mr. Carter
Police Woman
Starsky & Hutch
Kojak
as Willie Daniels
Police Story
Hoodlum
as Whispers
Escape from Alcatraz
as English
Night Heat
Midnight Cowboy
as Bartender
Leadbelly
as Wes Ledbetter
Distance
as Sgt. Elwood Horne
Do the Right Thing
as ML
The Station Agent
as Henry Styles
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Arlis
The Atlanta Child Murders
as Homer Williams
Rosewood
as James Carrier