Robert Benjamin
American lawyer (1909-1979)
Robert Saul Benjamin (1909 , October 22, 1979) was a founding partner of the movie-litigation firm Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon, a former co‐chairman of United Artists, and a founding member of Orion Pictures.
01Biography
Robert Saul Benjamin was born to a Jewish family.
02Career
Benjamin, along with his longtime friend and partner Arthur B. Krim, took over United Artists in 1951. The deal that they struck with then-owners Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford was that if the company showed a profit in any one of the first three years of their management, the two would be able to purchase a 50% share of the company for one dollar.
The Krim-Benjamin team quickly showed a profit, and they bought out Chaplin and Pickford to own the company outright in 1955. In 1957, they took the company public.
In 1975 Benjamin was a senior adviser to the United States delegation to the United Nations.
03Awards
In 1979, Robert Benjamin won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award posthumously. His wife Jean accepted the award on his behalf.
04Personal life
Robert Benjamin married Jean Kortright. They had two kids, Jonathan and Margret.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Robert Benjamin”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Robert Benjamin, United Artists Executive (cropped).jpg by Gotfryd, Bernard, photographer, Public domain
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.