Biography for
Robert Benchley More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

15 September 1889, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Date of Death

21 November 1945, New York City, New York, USA (cerebral hemorrhage)

Birth Name

Robert Charles Benchley

Mini Biography

Although by his own account Benchley was not quite a writer and not quite an actor, he managed to become one of the best-known humorists and comedians of his time. As a Harvard undergraduate, Benchley gave his first comic performance, impersonating a befuddled after-dinner speaker. The act made him a campus celebrity -- and remained in Benchley's repertoire for the rest of his life. (Landing the position of editor of the Harvard Lampoon was the other highlight of his college career.) As a post-graduate journalist, between frequent firings and other disruptions, Benchley made his mark as a theater critic and as writer of whimsical musings on the vagaries of modern life. He served briefly as managing editor of the magazine Vanity Fair, where his lieutenants were Dorothy Parker and Robert E. Sherwood, but he quit to protest Parker's firing. (Benchley, Parker and Sherwood were among the regulars at the so-called Algonquin Round Table, a social circle of New York wits that also included Harpo Marx and George S. Kaufman). Benchley was among the first contributors to The New Yorker, where his work influenced other writers -- such as E.B. White and James Thurber

IMDb Mini Biography By: David S. Smith

Spouse

Gertrude Darling

(6 June 1914 - 21 November 1945) (his death)

Trivia

Interred at Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA

Father of Nathaniel Benchley, who wrote the novel "The Off-Islanders", which became the film The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966).

Grandfather of Nat Benchley and Peter Benchley, author of "Jaws.".

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 40-41. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

The town of Benchley, Texas, is named after his grandfather, who founded it.

Is portrayed by Campbell Scott in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)

Proposed the following epitaph for his tombstone although it was not ultimately used: "This is all above my head.".

Personal Quotes

Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.

Tell us your phobias, and we'll tell you what you are afraid of.

Every boy should have a dog, for a dog teaches a boy three valuable traits: fidelity, perseverance and to turn around three times before lying down.

In America there are two classes of travel - First Class, and with children. Traveling with children corresponds roughly to traveling third class in Bulgaria.

In Milwaukee last month a man died laughing over one of his own jokes. That's what makes it so tough for us outsiders: we have to fight home competition.

There is no such place as Budapest. Perhaps you are thinking of Bucharest . . . and there is no such place as Bucharest, either.

It took me 15 years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.

Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it's compounding a felony.

The only real cure for a hangover is death.

If you'll excuse me, I'd like to get out of these wet things and into a dry martini.

Salary

Janie Gets Married (1946)	$1,750/week
The Bride Wore Boots (1946)	$1,750/week
The Stork Club (1945)	$1,750/week
Snafu (1945)	$1,750/week
Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)	$1,750/week
Duffy's Tavern (1945)	$1,750/week
Stewed, Fried and Boiled (1929)	$5,500
Lesson No. 1 (1929)	$5,500
Furnace Trouble (1929)	$5,500
The Spellbinder (1928/I)	$5,500
The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928)	$5,500
The Treasurer's Report (1928)	$2,000
You'd Be Surprised (1926)	$500/week
A Social Celebrity (1926)	$2,000
The American Venus (1926)	$2,000

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