Robert Benton, Director of Best Picture Winner ‘Kramer vs. Kramer,’ Dies at 92

Three-time Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Robert Benton, who helmed the 1979 best picture Oscar winner “Kramer vs. Kramer” as well as such films as “The Late Show,” “Places in the Heart” and “Nobody’s Fool” and collaborated on the screenplay for “Bonnie and Clyde,” died Sunday in Manhattan. He was 92.

His death was confirmed to the New York Times by his assistant and manager Marisa Forzano.

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Benton, who started out as an art director at Esquire magazine, was partnered early on with fellow Esquire alumnus David Newman. They penned the innovative, award-winning 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde,” which launched both their careers. They gradually diverged as Benton expanded into directing starting with “Bad Company,” starring Jeff Bridges.

After “Kramer,” he continued to turn out dramatic films, which he often wrote as well as directed. He brought Oscar fortune to actors including Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Sally Field, John Malkovich, Jane Alexander and Paul Newman, with the first three of these winning Oscars for their work in Benton films. He himself won an Oscar as best director for “Kramer vs. Kramer” and for that film’s screenplay as well as for the script for “Places in the Heart.”

Benton began his collaboration with Newman at Esquire. Their first film script, “Bonnie and Clyde,” was rejected repeatedly until Arthur Penn stepped in as director and Warren Beatty as producer and star. The controversial and violent epic became a rage in 1967, bringing the duo an Oscar nomination.

They continued their collaborative efforts with Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “There Was a Crooked Man” in 1970 and Peter Bogdanovich’s “What’s Up, Doc?,” were among the writers on 1978 blockbuster “Superman” and made contributions to the film version of “Oh Calcutta!” When Newman decided he wanted to direct, Benton got the itch, too. His first film, 1972’s “Bad Company,” which he also co-wrote, was warmly received but died a quick commercial death. It set back his directing career for a few years.

Then, through his agent Sam Cohn, Benton submitted his tongue-in-cheek detective yarn “The Late Show” to Robert Altman, who agreed to produce, with Art Carney and Lily Tomlin starring, in 1977. Benton’s second directing effort was a modest hit.

In 1979, working with Hoffman and newcomer Streep, Benton directed “Kramer vs. Kramer” after Francois Truffaut dropped out of the project. It won him two Oscars and grossed more than $100 million.

His 1982 Hitchock-style thriller “Still of the Night,” with Streep and Roy Scheider, had a muted reception. Two years later, however, “Places in the Heart,” set in his Texas home town, proved a modest commercial success and won Oscars for Field and for Benton’s detailed script.

“Places” was Benton’s last hit movie for a decade. “Nadine” and “Billy Bathgate” were disappointments

Benton rebounded with 1994’s “Nobody’s Fool,” starring Paul Newman, bringing in several Oscar nominations, including one for Benton’s script, and performing well at the box office.

Next he drew stellar performances from Newman, Gene Hackman and Susan Sarandon in the autumnal noir “Twilight.”

Benton also directed Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman to inspired performances in 2003’s “The Human Stain,” an adaptation of a Philip Roth novel. But many questioned the casting of Hopkins in the role of a light-skinned black man who has pretended to be white.

Benton’s next effort was 2005 comedy “The Ice Harvest,” which he scripted with Richard Russo and exec produced; Harold Ramis directed. Some fans were ardent, but the picture was not a box office success.

The director appeared in a number of documentaries about filmmaking, including 2006’s “Wanderlust” and TCM’s “Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood” in 2010.

Benton was honored by the Writers Guild of America with its Ian McLellan Hunter Award for lifetime achievement in writing in 1995 and in 2007 with its Laurel Award for screenwriting achievement.

Robert Douglas Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, and received a BFA at the U. of Texas. He pursued his Master’s at Columbia U., with ambitions to be a painter, and tried to support himself as a cartoonist. He landed a job as an assistant to the art director at Esquire.

He was drafted in 1954 and painted dioramas at Fort Bliss during his stint in the Army. Afterwards, he landed back at Esquire, working as the magazine’s art director from 1958-64.

His first larger collaboration with Newman was “Extremism: A Non Book.” Then they wrote the Hal Prince musical “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman,” which flopped in 1966, before the duo penned “Bonnie and Clyde.”

He is survived by a son, John.

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