Why Did Robby Benson Fail So Miserably?

Because of his voice.

Maybe he didn't want a crazy Hollywood career? Seems sensible to me.

Bitch did you see Ice Castles??

Why did he age so marvelously?

r1

I thought so too, but he has a big career as a voice over / voice actor

r3

Yeah a movie about a straight male ice skater. Even I never watched it.

His balls never dropped.

He absolutely got much hotter when he aged. I thought him quite meh when he was young. And R1 is correct.He had a terrible voice.

He had a good career. I remember reading he just sort of had "enough." He'd been in the public eye since he was a young teen. "Death Be Not Proud" is one of his best.

Because of his looks and manner he played "boys" and not really "men". It is kind of creepy when you're looking at guys who turn into "elderly boys". Keith Cassidy had this same quality.

Ice Castles was good shit

Saw him in NYC at the Cherry Lane Theater in his Off- Broadway autobiographical musical "Open Heart" co starring his wife Carla DeVito. They are both great singers. We became Facebook friends and chat every now and then. Both of them are such nice people. As he was making his entrance to the stage through the house he stepped on my foot, we had a nice laugh over that. The Cherry Lane is really tiny.

He was in a hilarious bad movie about a yuppie couple who get into smoking crack- his wife played by Tawny Kitaen-

It’s called like White Hot or Ice Hot, something like that.

with a name like Robby, I suppose he would be type cast as the leading man in silly romcom then transitioned to dad with fart jokes

[quote]Why Did Robby Benson Fail So Miserably?

Peter Gallagher and Rob Lowe were available?

Robby Benson Thought This Secret Would Ruin His Career 🤔

He was dreamy in his youth and got hot as he aged. Lucky bitch.

Ode to Billy Joe was a huge box office success but universally panned by the critics at the time, however the current ratings from viewers are much in favor of the film.

What about Robert Hays? He was in a hit movie and was funny and HOT. This guy kind of was a less good looking Brian Bloom - meh. And Ice Castles! I mean come on.

Abs like steel.

He didn’t- maybe you did OP and you’re projecting?

Unfortunately, his two movies with Liza ("Lucky Lady" and "Rent-a-Cop") did fail miserably.

I always mix him up with Clark Brandon and at least Clark Brandon got to see Diana Prince turn into Wonder Woman

Weenie.

He gives off "decent person" vibes. Maybe he just didn't want to play the game any more.

He looks great, then and now. His voice is not high-pitched, it's just very soft.

OP, it was way after the studio system - NOBODY was "built up" in the 1970s.

MAN WEARING PURPLE AT R16 ALERT!

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

r10 Keith Cassidy? I assume you mean Keith Carradine.

R28, I think R10 meant David Cassidy, aka Keith Partridge.

LoL, R29 beat me to it. Also, my sister liked Robby Bendon back in the day, teen magazine pinups all over her wall, she thought he was dreamy. I thought he was okay, but more like a boy. Even in middle school, I liked manly men, tall, big shoulders, hairy chest, deep voice. Robby Benson seemed like he'd be too polite in the bedroom, like a boy scout or altar boy. Nothing wrong with that...

He was really before my time to really know his career, but I knew him. I remember seeing (probably a rerun) of a movie where he moved to California and hooked up with a model. That’s all I remember of it though. Anyone remember it? Ice Castles was so good.

I didn't think he was at all cute when he was young. His features were too soft and feminine. He's better looking now at what, 105?

His wiki entry says he was nominated for a Stinky award for 3 different movies over 3 consecutive years, and a Razzie nomination a few years later. That couldn’t have been good for his career.

Also, his heart surgery occurred at a time when a lot of young and middle aged men were getting sick and dying, maybe some important Hollywood people thought he had AIDS or a substance abuse issue.

In the 70s.

R34 Perfection!

As a gayling I was so in love with him.

r31 California Girls

Huge cock. Probably just didn’t offer it enough.

Robby's best film was The Chosen (1981), based on a great book of the same title. Watch the film on Tubi for free!!!

He's married to Carla DeVito? I didn't know that!

The guy has had 4(!) open heart surgeries. He's probably happy just to be alive.

There are probably a ton of B-Z list actors who wish they had had a career like his.

I liked him opposite Paul Newman in Harry and son. I wonder if Newman was one of the “great actors” who told him about the heart concern limiting his ability to work in the industry.

“His wiki entry says he was nominated for a Stinky award for 3 different movies over 3 consecutive years, and a Razzie nomination a few years later.”

I feel like before the internet these types of awards wouldn’t mean much but I could be wrong…

[quote] His wiki entry says he was nominated for a Stinky award for 3 different movies over 3 consecutive years, and a Razzie nomination a few years later.

I agree with everyone saying he aged well. Maybe having the heart problem caused him to take extra care of his health resulting in him aging better than most of the other actors in his generation

Robby Bensonmum.

Benson may not have been a major A-lister, but according to Wiki, he has worked quite a bit throughout his career. Take a look--he has quite a list of credits. He did okay.

In my first gay sex dream I was giving Robby oral pleasure while Lance Kerwin tore up my virgin hole.

R47 Luckiest man on Earth,

He refused to be Jon Peters rent boy.

[quote]He didn’t- maybe you did OP and you’re projecting?

No he did fail, as stated, he did a lot of voice acting but in real life he failed all the time

[quote]OP, it was way after the studio system - NOBODY was "built up" in the 1970s.

No, he WAS built up. He was given chance after chance after chance, and failed all the time. This happened to a lot of different positions, such as directors and producers too.

Again, he had a lot of work as a voice actor but so what? So do the Simpsons actors but that doesn't translate to the off scream fame.

R22 Jesus Liza was fugly.

I met this guy in the late 90s and he was a total asshole.

In 'The End' (1978), there was this cute scene where Burt Reynolds (who is supposed to have terminal cancer) goes to a Catholic church in order to make final confession, and the only one available to hear it is the very young Father Dave Benson (Robby Benson), who clearly isn't mature enough for the job. He giggles, makes little noises, pops his plastic collar against his teeth, etc.

BY WHO, R51?

He had jobs, yes, built up like Marilyn Monroe, no.

He did not FAIL. He retained his good looks and is now 66. By DL standards, he is a SUCCESS.

White Hot is so bad it’s good. Love the Nile Rogers soundtrack.

R10- Leonardo DeCaprio is an elderBOY

Michael J Fox is an elderBOY

These are people who at 30 look 12 but they never look like anything BUT boys even when they get old - The just become OLD boys.

Ralph Macchio owns the elderBOY patent.

The same era had Keith Gordon. What the hell happened to him.

r60

Benson was good looking, Keith Gordon was scary looking.

r60 Keith Gordon lost his hair and became a director.

Being in love with that kid at R34 would be like being in love with your teen sister in the 70s. Yuck.

His legacy will be the voice of The Beast in Beauty and the Beast. Not bad. The Disney classics will always play. They're timeless. People will hear his voice forever and ever. And ever.

I am not that familiar with his career, but I did read his memoir "I'm Not Dead Yet" at someone's recommendation. I had the same congenital heart issue he had, and had to undergo open-heart surgery when I was 29 (I believe he had his first one at 28). It was an interesting read for me on the basis that we had that in common. He initially had a cow valve transplant for his aortic valve, which failed after a decade or so (as they do) before having the Ross procedure, where they swap the pulmonary valve with the aortic valve. This also failed and he had to go through two more operations—a true nightmare.

When I was a kid, my cardiologist had proposed both the Ross procedure and a bovine valve as potential solutions, but I'm thankful I ended up going with a mechanical one, which is significantly less likely to have any problems (they tend to outlast the patient; only downside is you are on blood thinners, which is a small price to pay for not croaking IMO).

He looks damned good. Love the salt and pepper hair.

He was nerdy cute/good looking when young. Like Patrick Dempsey, who was also on the nerdy side....aged into very handsome men.

Robby Benson kind of looks like Ben Stiller

I think he sort of disappeared because he had limited acting abilities. He had a pleasant on screen presence but his performances were far from engaging.

His best performance is probably in The Chosen (1981) which was way out of his comfort zone and has was good but still he is effortlessly upstaged by Barry Miller (was has happened to him?).

Benson was blessed with an olive complexion and blue eyes, which makes for a striking combination.

OP seems obsessed with the idea that he somehow failed (and with the notion of "ElderBOYS")

The reality is that Benson has a career that 99% of actors aspire to, probably has millions in the bank as a result, is unique enough looking that he probably gets recognized and asked for an autograph often enough to keep his ego stoked, but not at the level of a Brad Pitt or Justin Bieber, e.g., he can still mostly lead a normal life.

He's also been married to the same woman for 40 years and has two kids.

It seems pretty obvious that his heart issues limited his career in some ways but compared to most child stars he's a huge success.

I've been listening to Karla DeVito's second album recently. Robby co-wrote some of the tracks. One track was also released in a version by Diana Ross.

[Quote] Robby Benson kind of looks like Ben Stiller

Robby Benson is handsome. Ben Stiller... does his best.

He looks like the love child of Ben Stiller and Daniel Day Lewis,

He presented as an all-American dreamy boy and it worked well for his youth but in fact I always saw him as a good looking androgynous jewish guy with a winy voice but he never played ethnic roles. At 20 he had the face of a pleasant jewish girl and he could have played a girl or a tranny very well, despite his tight body and treasure trail.

So he was the original Zac Efron?

Why do people think because an actor choose to step away the failed. He became a succesful TV director including six episodes of "Friends"

Met him a few years at CHILLER, he was seated next to his wife you can tell they are close. The eyes were amazing,, the voice was cool and I have "Beauty & The Beast" steelbook signed by him. (scroll down for photo from CHILLER)

I don't think anyone other than OP thinks that R79

And the usual DL crew of "I find this incredibly good-looking actor to be hideous and nowhere near as sexy as Danny DeVito who is a real man looks like in my book" posters.

^^for R76, not R79

Why do people think because an actor choose to step away the failed. He became a succesful TV director including six episodes of "Friends"

What do their offspring look like?

Here’s his son Zephyr.

No, R75, David Cassidy was the original Zac Efron

I scroll quickly and thought that was Ben Stiller.

Not sure why this thread has 83 replies. R1 nailed it.

That soft, annoying, breathy-baby voice.

David Cassidy could sing, r82.

How can a soft voice be like nails on a chalkboard? Make it make sense.

The Beast has a soft, breathy, baby voice?

He was horribly miscast as a Latino gang member in the 1979 movie "Walk Proud".

Our Robby was in a 1976 episode of One Day at a Time. 🤣

Ice Castles was his best

That was D.B. Sweeney.

Don't forget Michael Damian!

He was great in The Chosen and Harry and Son with Paul Newman.

He was apart of a second wind of child stars who received legitimate respect as actors. But most of them were floundering by the mid 80's. Jodie Foster was the only one of that bunch who got her career completely revitalized.

Ben Stiller is hot?

The rat-face and mapache eyes may have contributed. He looks better in OP's photo in his 60s than he did in his career prime. He had a talent?

He had a beautiful face, but the giant helmet hair and breathy little boy voice didn't help. Plus, he was too surly in Ice Castles to be sympathetic. But, yeah, he has aged well, and transitioning his career from acting to directing is something most actors can't do.

ONE ON ONE (1977) - Both wrote and starred in. One on my all-time 70s movies.

r97 It helped a lot that Annette O'Toole was his co-star.

Annette O'Toole is a huge star.

Helmet hair troll @R96

He's the SAME troll who shits on EVERY thread.

R86, because both are extremely irritating and annoying. He was a GROWN MAN, yet he had this mannered, fake-sounding baby voice that may have worked when he was a teen, but not when you're in your 20's and 30's.

Breathy baby voiced troll says what?

Do people really think maintaining star status for 40 years straight is the norm, so you "fail" if you don't become Tom Cruise? Tom Cruise is a freak? Tom Hanks almost as much. Very few can maintain their peak altitude and that's ok.

But what about Tom and Tom's Breathy Babay Voices?

I liked him in The Ode to Billy Joe despite his awful Southern accent.

How cute of you, R106

He’s still good looking.

I watched his movies, which all aired repeatedly on HBO, even though his acting wasn’t very good. He’s like one of those nerdy high school boys you see decades later and think, oh, he got better with age.

I saw this pic in a magazine or book when I was a budding gayling and remember feeling funny “down there.” I’m still a sucker for clean cut, boy next door types like Robby. As much as I stared at that picture, though, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually watched any of his movies aside from Beauty and the Beast.

[R65] What heart condition is it that the both of you have ?

Didn't read the posts. He seems to have had a happy life so don't agree with 'fail so miserably.'

Anyone seen Die Laughing? I've never heard of it but this pic is giving me serious Moment By Moment/Sommersby vibes

113 comments and no mention of Running Brave? Remember when shower scenes were fairly common.

[quote]His best performance is probably in The Chosen (1981) which was way out of his comfort zone and has was good but still he is effortlessly upstaged by Barry Miller (was has happened to him?).

The Chosen is currently running on Amazon Prime. If I can pull myself away from Yellowstone, I'm going to watch it.

Didn't Barry Miller fall off the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge into NY Harbor?

The Chosen always sounded like a horror movie title to me so I was disappointed to find out it's about Jewish kids coming of age

Why Did Robby Benson Fail So Miserably?

Oye Vey!

The OP is an idiot. Robby Benson didn't "fail miserably." As a young actor he got lots of work. He makes a good living doing voice work; maybe he prefers doing that. His career was no "miserable failure."

Barry Miller was limited by his brand- "Kooky Jewish guy you'd meet in a psych hospital" which just isn't as popular as it used to be.

Plus, I think he is a very idiosyncratic actor most people found weird to work with. That gets exhausting.

I watched Fame, the movie for the first time when I was about 11 years old and didn't even notice Barry Miller and then I watched it in my late 30s and had the biggest crush on him. I like damaged goods.

As they grew older, he and Michael Chabon began to look alike.

[quote]Yeah a movie about a straight male ice skater. Even I never watched it.

Obviously you didn't, otherwise you would have known that his character was a hockey player. Lynn Holly Johnson was the ice skater.

Thank you, r121. That's been driving me crazy for years, who Michael Chabon reminds me of.

[quote]The Chosen is currently running on Amazon Prime. If I can pull myself away from Yellowstone, I'm going to watch it.

It should be very easy to pull yourself away from Yellowstone, especially the most recent season or last season. It has gone downhill BIG time in seasons 4 & 5. So disappointing to fans.

And Happy Birthday Kevin Costner - who turned 67 this week and looks terrible in close-ups.

Never heard of him, but “One on One” popped up on YouTube and I’m watching it. He’s a very cute guy. Melanie Griffith as the scamming hitchhiker was funny. He supposedly can’t read, yet he read his class list without issue. He read Moby Dick. Eh, going to try to finish this.

There seems to be some weird idea that every working actor is grasping for fame and worldwide recognition and attention. This is not true. A lot of actors just want to make a decent living. Some lose interest in the acting and take other paths, like work behind the cameras.

R110

Arrested development?

[Quote] don't agree with 'fail so miserably.'

That is the idiot poster’s tag line if you aren’t already aware. The other being the one that includes “right down the shitter”. I suspect the person who continually perpetuates the threads is either a foreigner from another country living in the US with no working knowledge of entertainment culture history trying to make up for decades lost OR an equivalent type poster who raised in a strict religious home (Amish) and wasn’t allowed to consume media. I will admit that I may be wrong in my assumptions. The person may be a self designed provocateur or just a moron.

People thought he was going to be a thing? Really?

He looks better as an old man, and good for him.

But as a young man he had a certain premature, forceps baby look. And the voice to match, as mentioned.

Can the person who met him in the '90s and said he was an ass provide the story?

If you read the wiki bio that contain the pic you’ll find that he’s had a pretty eventful life and career- and stable considering significant health challenges.

[quote]he is effortlessly upstaged by Barry Miller

Mmmmm, R69. Barry Miller. Lordy, I had such a crush on him in the 70s-80s. I loved his face, his voice, and his mien. In fact, I thought Travolta was such a personality vacuum in SNF; my interests were Miller and that gorgeous guy in their posse, whose name I never could remember. Travolta's priest brother was kind of dorky-cute, too.

And he's such a good actor too, one who deserved a bigger career. Oddly enough just a few weeks ago my sister was visiting from TX, and when I randomly pulled up [italic]The Practice[/italic] on Prime Video, guess who pops up in 3-4 (so far) episodes in the first two seasons? Yep, Barry Miller, as Eugene's and Jimmy's sorta nemesis. I said, "Oh, wow, I had SUCH a crush on him when I was a kid!" Sis said "Me, too!" I was shocked; I'm the one who always loved offbeat guys, while she went for the studious stud type.

He was still hot to me.

Sorry for derail--carry on with Robby!