Hollywood has lost one of its most beloved and quietly brilliant storytellers. Robert Benton, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Kramer vs. Kramer and Places in the Heart, has died at the age of 92. His longtime assistant, Marisa Forzano, confirmed the news to the New York Times, marking the end of an era in American cinema.
Benton’s career was never about loud proclamations or showy success. Instead, it was built on deeply human stories, told with warmth, honesty, and quiet grace. His path to filmmaking was anything but traditional. Fired from his job as an art director at Esquire magazine in the early 1960s, Benton – who struggled with dyslexia – decided to try his hand at screenwriting.
“I decided to write a screenplay,” he once said in an interview. “I am dyslexic. I cannot spell or punctuate. I knew a young editor at Esquire, a wonderful writer, David Newman. I sold him on the glamorous life of the Hollywood screenwriter.”
That leap of faith became a defining moment – not just for Benton, but for cinema. With Newman, he co-wrote Bonnie and Clyde (1967), a film that changed the landscape of American filmmaking. The biographical crime drama, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, was a bold, stylish and violent film for its time, earning the pair an Academy Award nomination and raking in $70 million from a modest $2.5 million budget.
The duo would collaborate again on What’s Up, Doc? (1972), a screwball comedy that became the third-highest-grossing film of its year, proving Benton’s versatility and deep love for the history of cinema.
By 1977, Benton stepped into the spotlight with The Late Show, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. A year later, he co-wrote Superman with Newman – yet another blockbuster hit. But it was in 1979 that Benton delivered what many consider his masterpiece: Kramer vs. Kramer. The emotional legal drama about a custody battle, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, struck a chord with audiences and critics alike, winning Benton two Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
In 1984, he returned to the Oscars stage once more for Places in the Heart, a quietly powerful story that earned him his third Academy Award, this time for Best Original Screenplay.
Though he never sought fame, Benton left his mark on generations of filmmakers and viewers. He had a gift for coaxing raw, honest performances from actors – from Hoffman and Streep to Nicole Kidman in Billy Bathgate (1991), and Anthony Hopkins in The Human Stain (2003). His last film, Feast of Love (2007), starred Morgan Freeman and Selma Blair, capping off a career that was always deeply human, emotionally rich, and never anything less than sincere.
In his final years, Benton was quietly working on his memoir. It will remain unfinished – a bittersweet reminder of a storyteller who still had more to say. He is survived by his son, John.
Image: United Films / IMDB
