Barbara Benedek

Barbara Benedek (* 1956 in the United Kingdom ) is an American screenwriter .

Life

Benedek studied psychology at New York University and after graduating from college, worked as a research assistant in psychiatric facilities in New York and Los Angeles for eight years . During this time she was already writing screenplays, which, however, remained unpublished. She started her career in television; For the production company Witt-Thomas-Harris she worked as an author on the sitcoms I'm A Big Girl Now and Making a Living in the early 1980s . In 1983 she wrote the screenplay for The Great Frustration together with director Lawrence Kasdan , who became aware of Benedek after reviewing her unpublished books. For their screenplay, Kasdan and Benedek were nominated for an Oscar , the Golden Globe Award and the British Academy Film Award and received the WGA Award . In 1989, Jonathan Kaplan's Second Hand Family was created , which was then Benedek's first solo script, starring Glenn Close , James Woods and Mary Stuart Masterson . After that she was involved in two remakes ; 1990 Crazy Times , a remake of the French feature film But Life Goes on and 1995 Sabrina , the remake of Billy Wilder's comedy Sabrina .

Together with Billy Ray , she revised the script for the 1996 disaster film Volcano .

She is married to Peter Benedek, one of the founders of Hollywood - artist agency United Talent Agency , which, among other things Johnny Depp , Angelina Jolie , Susan Sarandon , Harrison Ford , Michael Douglas , Anthony Hopkins and Barbra Streisand represents.

Filmography (selection)

• 1983: The Big Chill (The Big Chill)
• 1989: Second Hand Family (Immediate Family)
• 1990: Crazy Times (Men don't leave)
• 1995: Sabrina

Awards

• 1984: Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for The Great Frustration
• 1984: Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Screenplay for The Great Frustration
• 1985: BAFTA Film Award nomination in the category Best Original Screenplay The Great Frustration
• 1984: WGA Award in the category Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen for Der große Frust

Web links

• Barbara Benedek in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Barbara Benedek in the All Movie Guide (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Jill Nelmes & Jule Selbo: Women Screenwriters: An International Guide , Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p. 760.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Barbara Benedek. In: Turner Classic Movies . Accessed November 4, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Patrick Goldstein: Volcanic Convergence: Quakes, Floods, Fires. . . Lava? LA's Toasted in 'Volcano' , latimes.com , August 19, 1996, accessed February 6, 2016