Robby Benson

Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956 ) is an American actor, director, and musician.

Benson made his film debut with an uncredited role in Wait Until Dark (1967) as the Boy Tossing Ball and his Broadway debut in The Rothschilds (1970).

He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the sports films One on One (1977) and Ice Castles (1978).

Benson had an early role on the daytime soap Search for Tomorrow (1971–1972).

As a film actor, Benson was well known for teenage roles in coming of age films, such as 1972's Jory, 1973's Jeremy, and as Billy Joe McAllister in 1976's Ode to Billy Joe.

He had an appearance in a 1973 commercial for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups alongside Donny Most who would later co-star in Happy Days.

In 1975, Benson appeared in Death Be Not Proud and Lucky Lady.

That year, he also screen tested for the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, a role which eventually went to Mark Hamill.

In 1977, Benson starred in One on One (which he co-wrote with his father and needed no double for the authentic looking college basketball scenes due to his prowess at the game) and the TV movie The Death of Richie.

In 1978, he co-starred in The End and Ice Castles.

Benson, who had never ice skated before, learned to skate in order to film the movie, which had numerous skating scenes, including ice hockey.

In 1980, Benson starred in Die Laughing and Tribute.

In 1981, he costarred in The Chosen, based on the book of the same name by Chaim Potok.

The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, but noted that Benson's character was "full of a gentle inquisitiveness that cannot help but win the audience's sympathy."

Benson has been married to singer and actress Karla DeVito since July 11, 1982.

The pair met while starring together in The Pirates of Penzance.

Benson played Olympic 10,000-meter gold medalist Billy Mills in the 1983 film Running Brave.

From the filming of this movie Benson implemented his training for the 1983 New York City Marathon, completing the race in 3:05:15.

Together they have two children, daughter Lyric (b. 1983) and son Zephyr (b. 1992).

He practices Transcendental Meditation.

While a teenager, Benson was diagnosed with a heart murmur caused by a bicuspid aortic valve defect.

He began experiencing symptoms such as dizziness and losing consciousness in his late twenties, and subsequently underwent open-heart surgery in October 1984 to repair the valve defect.

Later in the 1990s he voiced lead character J.T. Marsh on the sci-fi cartoon series Exosquad.

He subsequently garnered more fame for voicing the Beast in the Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991) and its numerous sequels and spin-offs.

He has also worked as a television director, including six episodes of the sitcom Friends.

In addition to acting and directing, Benson is an activist in the field of heart research, having undergone four open-heart surgeries since age 28 to correct congenital aortic valve defects and related damage.

In 1991, he starred as the voice of Beast in the animated Disney film Beauty and the Beast.

His 2007 novel Who Stole the Funny?: A Novel of Hollywood landed Benson on the Los Angeles Times Bestseller list.

In 2012, he published a memoir recounting his medical journey and numerous surgeries.

Benson was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Freda Ann (née Benson), a singer, actor, and business promotions manager, and Jerry Segal, a writer.

His family is Jewish.

When Benson was five years old, his family relocated to New York City, where he was raised.

He subsequently took his mother's name as his stage name when he was 10.

Benson attended the Lincoln Square Academy in Manhattan, where he graduated at age fourteen as the class valedictorian.

Benson's medical memoir I'm Not Dead ... Yet! was released in June 2012.

Outside of acting, Benson is also a musician and composer.

He has composed songs in several films and has also won a RIAA Gold Records award for the song "We Are Not Alone" in the John Hughes film The Breakfast Club.

Benson has been a professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, the University of Utah and the University of South Carolina.

It was announced he would serve as a professor of Practice in the fall of 2013 at Indiana University.

Benson left the university after the Spring 2016 semester when his three-year contract expired.