Robby Benson is perhaps still best known for his youthful star turns in mid-'70s movies like "One on One," "Ode to Billy Joel" and "Ice Castles." Since the early '80s, however, after a pair of memorable performances in "The Chosen" and "Running Brave," his acting career has been ebb and flow.
But Benson has always had several backup careers going - screenwriter, director, composer. And, more recently, teacher.And now that he has signed on as an instructor at the University of Utah, Benson finds he is in demand as a television director, with several episodes of Burt Reynolds' "Evening Shade" and the new Pamela Reed-Peter Scolari sitcom "Family Album" under his belt. If that's not enough, his acting career is also in gear again, with last month's CBS movie "Precious Victims" and a new straight-to-video film that has just been released, "Deadly Exposure." Both feature a new hard-edged, adult Robby Benson, complete with a beard.
"Hey, it took me 37 years to grow this beard," Benson said with a chuckle during an interview on the University of Utah campus last week. "Actually, the truth is, I hate to shave."
In a frank and freewheeling discussion, Benson talked about his varied show business interests, as well as his love of teaching.
The teaching position came as a result of his friendship with U. president Arthur K. Smith. "I taught full time at the University of South Carolina for a little over two years. And when I was there, Art Smith was the provost, and Art and June Smith became friends of my family. They're just great people.
"I've always wanted to make teaching a part of my life. I did some work at UCLA. But the goal was to get out of Los Angeles. And I called Art and asked for some advice and he asked if I would be interested in coming up here.
"So we came up, my wife (singer/actress Karla DeVito) and our two children and I, and we loved it. The goal, if things work out, is that instead of flying back here to teach, eventually we'll live here and I'll fly back (to L.A.) to work. That's what we're working toward.
"The business still is in Los Angeles, but I've been extremely fortunate in the past few years to make a name for myself in the world of television directing, and the great thing about that is you begin on Monday and you see the light at the end of the tunnel by Friday, and the show is shot. And you edit a few days the following week and you have a life. So, that's been a really wonderful addition to my career."
Benson says he's enjoying his work in the U. film department and has special praise for his students. "They're great. They're very talented and they're doing it for all the right reasons."
When he was teaching at the University of South Carolina, Benson made a feature film as part of a class project. "Modern Love" is now on video and eight of his former students are budding professionals. Benson and his wife starred in the feature, and Benson also wrote, directed and produced, calling upon some celebrity friends to put in appearances - Burt Reynolds, Rue McClanahan, Louise Lasser, Frankie Valli.
"It's a sweet little flawed movie," Benson says now. "It really doesn't work, but there are sections of the film that I'm so proud of. It was really a great experience for my students. Every student took part. And now the movie lives on and it's in Blockbuster Video."
Benson says his acting career was revitalized two years ago with the release of "Beauty and the Beast," as Hollywood casting directors discovered that he provided the roily, thunderous bass voice of the Beast.
"It actually resurrected what was almost a dead career," Benson said, "because I started when I was so young and I went through so many changes. It's really difficult to maintain a credible career as you jump from age group to age group and suddenly you're not the flavor of the month anymore, you're not in demand.
"Fortunately, I've learned other crafts. I've learned to sell my music, I've learned to direct, I've written screenplays . . . . All of this fulfilled my artistic needs but also put food on the table."
"Beauty and the Beast" was far from Benson's first voice performance, however. "When I was a little kid I started doing voice work. I was living in New York and when a foreign film would come into this country and they would need a kid's voice, I was one of the kids they would call in. And I would do this two or three times a week. I was watching films that normally most kids never saw -`The Garden of the Finzi-Continis,' `Godzilla vs. Gigan,' `War and Peace' . . . And that's why they were funky, you'd always hear the same voices trying to fit in these long paragraphs of dialogue in mouths that didn't fit. It was really a lot of fun.
"And I did a lot of commercial voice-overs. I used to sing like a bird. When I was in a musical on Broadway my voice changed. It was a nightmare experience to be on Broadway night after night, eight times a week and your voice is changing.
"I've always done voice work and never had a chance after my voice-change to really utilize the bass aspect. And when I went in and auditioned for `Beauty and the Beast,' it was one of those exciting auditions that any actor can tell you happens only a few times in life. You go in and you know that everyone on earth is auditioning for this part. They hand you a piece of copy, they're bored, they're tired. You start to read and suddenly people are sitting up and they can't hand you more copy fast enough. And you just read and read and read and read and before you know it, you realize you're giving them something that they were looking for."
Benson says he is happy to be getting so much work these days, especially since there was a time when he thought his acting career might be permanently stalled. "Nine years ago I had open-heart surgery and I was suddenly uninsurable, damaged goods. Especially since, as a younger person, I was seen as very vital, from `Running Brave' or `One on One,' that athletic quality. And suddenly I wasn't youthful anymore even though I still had a youthful face. I was damaged goods because I had a congenital heart defect that needed surgery. And it was a frightening time."
As for audience perceptions, Benson says he is patient enough to go with the flow. "All things take time. A lot of my films still run on cable and are in video stores and there's a whole generation that doesn't know who I am. So, it's a dichotomy. In some people's minds I may never grow up. And other people say, `Who is he?' So, I really feel rejuvenated right now."