Richard Benner
Richard Benner | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1943 Sterling, Illinois, United States |
| Died | December 2, 1990 |
| Occupation(s) | Film director Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1977-1990 |
Richard Benner (1943 – December 2, 1990) was an American film director and screenwriter who worked predominantly in Canada.[1] His 1977 film Outrageous! was entered into the 28th Berlin International Film Festival, where Craig Russell won the Silver Bear for Best Actor.[2]
Benner grew up in Kentucky, studied drama in California and England, and moved to Toronto in the early 1970s. Writing for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he pitched an idea for a film about a gay hairdresser with dreams of New York City success to the Canadian Film Development Corporation (now Telefilm Canada). Approved, he was able to secure financing with the help of Toronto producers, and Outrageous!, the first film to feature Craig Russell, an openly gay cabaret performer, went on to critical success at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Funny and sympathetic, Outrageous! is considered a landmark film in Canadian queer cinema. Ten years later, Benner talked Russell into doing a sequel (1987), which fared not nearly as well. Benner died from complications due to AIDS in 1990. In addition to his films, he directed several episodes of the Canadian television series 9B, Monsters, Street Legal and Road to Avonlea.[1]
Selected filmography[edit]
- Outrageous! (1977)
- Happy Birthday, Gemini (1980)
- Too Outrageous! (1987)
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Richard Benner; Screenwriter and Director, 44". Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1990.
- ^ "Berlinale 1978: Prize Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
External links[edit]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1943 births
- 1990 deaths
- American male screenwriters
- People from Sterling, Illinois
- Film directors from Illinois
- AIDS-related deaths in Canada
- American LGBT screenwriters
- Canadian LGBT screenwriters
- Canadian LGBT film directors
- Canadian gay writers
- Film directors from Toronto
- Writers from Toronto
- American television directors
- Canadian television directors
- American emigrants to Canada
- Screenwriters from Illinois
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century Canadian screenwriters
- 20th-century American screenwriters
- LGBT television directors
- 20th-century American LGBT people
- American gay writers
- Gay screenwriters
- 20th-century Canadian LGBT people