Paul Benjamin

Paul Benjamin (February 4, 1935

Career Benjamin relocated to New York and studied at the Herbert Berghof Studio. He made his film debut in 1969 as a bartender in Midnight Cowboy. After small roles in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes (1971) and Born to Win (1971), he did extensive television work in the 1970s.

HIs 1970s film work includes a major role in Barry Shear's Across 110th Street (1972), and smaller parts in Shear's western The Deadly Trackers (1973), Michael Campus' The Education of Sonny Carson (1974), Arthur Marks' Friday Foster (1975), Gordon Parks' biopic Leadbelly (1976), and Don Siegel's prison film Escape from Alcatraz (1979). He performed in the TV adaptations of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979). He starred in the 1987 HBO movie The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, based on the novel by Robert E. Burns.

On the big screen in the 1980s and 1990s, he acted in Gideon's Trumpet (1980), Some Kind of Hero (1982) opposite Richard Pryor, Martin Ritt's drama film Nuts (1987) starring Barbra Streisand, Pink Cadillac (1989) with Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989), Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats (1991), Bill Duke's Hoodlum (1997), and John Singleton's Rosewood (1997).

On television, he appeared in the 1989 episode of In The Heat of the Night as a death row inmate and in the 1994 pilot episode of ER, which led to his recurring role of homeless man Al Ervin during the next few seasons. Benjamin worked on the American Masters documentary of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ralph Ellison, which aired on PBS. He acted in an episode of the 14th season of Law & Order entitled "Identity" (2003) and an episode of The Shield. After 2000, he acted mainly in independent films like Stanley's Gig, The Station Agent, Deacons for Defense, and James Hunter's 2005 drama Back in the Day.

Death Benjamin died on June 28, 2019, in Los Angeles at age 84.

Filmography

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Bartender - New York The Anderson Tapes (1971) - Jimmy Born to Win (1971) - Fixer Across 110th Street (1972) - Jim Harris The Deadly Trackers (1973) - Jacob The Education of Sonny Carson (1974) - Pops Distance (1975) - Sgt. Elwood Horne Friday Foster (1975) - Sen. David Lee Hart Leadbelly (1976) - Wes Ledbetter One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story (1978) - John LeFlore I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979, TV movie) - Freeman Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - English Gideon's Trumpet (1980, TV movie) - Artis Some Kind of Hero (1982) - Leon Deadly Force (1983) - Lester Nuts (1987) - Harry Harrison Do the Right Thing (1989) - ML Pink Cadillac (1989) - Judge The Five Heartbeats (1991) - Mr. King The Super (1991) - Gilliam Drop Squad (1994) - Wellington Cosbie The Fence (1994) - Del Reston New York Undercover (1995) - The Professor Rosewood (1997) - James Carrier Hoodlum (1997) - Whispers The Breaks (1999) - Clerk Stanley's Gig (2000) - Teddy Branson The Station Agent (2003) - Henry Styles Back in the Day (2005) - Cody Ascension Day (2007) - Sam The Tall Man (2011) - Dallas Occupy, Texas (2016) - Mr. Goodman