The China Mail - 'Kramer vs Kramer' director Robert Benton dies: representative

Benton was also known for the 1984 film "Places in the Heart" and had extensive writing and directing credits for influential movies throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

The New York Times reported Benton died on Sunday. Hillary Bibicoff from the law firm Feig Finkel, which represented him, confirmed his death to AFP.

Benton co-wrote Arthur Penn's groundbreaking crime thriller "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) -- starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty -- with David Newman. But he is probably best known for his script and direction on "Kramer vs Kramer," the 1979 film that offered an unflinching look at divorce and became one of the most awarded films of its time.

It picked up nine Oscar nominations, and brought home five -- Benton's Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman, Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep and the year's grand prize of Best Picture.

He and Newman co-wrote Peter Bogdanovich's "What's Up, Doc?," which was released in 1972, the same year that Benton made his directorial debut with "Bad Company."

In 1978, Benton teamed up again with Newman and Newman's wife Leslie to write the screenplay for "Superman" (1978) starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando and Margot Kidder.

Despite coaxing Oscar-winning performances out of a host of 20th century legends of the silver screen, Benton was known in Hollywood as a self-effacing director.

"There are directors who can get great performances out of actors. I am not one of them," the filmmaker once said.

Appearing at a fan event in Hollywood in 2018, he remained modest about his stellar career.

"I have found actors -- through luck, through the judgment of casting directors or through my own instinct -- that are extraordinarily good," he told the crowd.

"There's a thing you've just got to gamble with, and when you see it and it works, it's brilliant."

Asked how he got some of Tinseltown's biggest stars to perform for him, he deadpanned: "I tried not to get in their way... that's not so easy."

The Times reported Benton is survived by his son, John. His wife of six decades, Sallie, died in 2023.

C.Fong--ThChM