Stars & Players · Biography
Richard Benedict
1920–1984 · Actor
Biography
Richard "Pepe" Benedict (born Riccardo Benedetto, January 8, 1920 – April 29, 1984) was an Italian-American television and film actor and director. He was born in Palermo, Italy.
He appeared in dozens of television programs and movies from the 1940s to the 1960s, most notably Ace in the Hole (1951), directed by Billy Wilder. Benedict appeared with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the 1960 movie Ocean's 11 as one of the 11 men who rob five Las Vegas casinos on the same night. He also played the commander of the Mars rescue ship in the 1958 B sci-fi movie It! The Terror from Beyond Space.
Benedict's television appearances included Adventures of Superman, The Lone Ranger, Perry Mason, Zorro, Dragnet, Peter Gunn and Hawaii Five-O. His directing credits included Impasse, an adventure film starring Burt Reynolds. He died of a heart attack at Studio City, Los Angeles, on April 29, 1984, and was interred in Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery, in the Churchyard section. He was the father of three children, including actor Nick Benedict.
Notable Noir Roles
A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?
An imaginative boy who frequently makes things up witnesses a murder, but can't get his parents or the police to believe him. The only people taking him seriously are the killers - who live upstairs, …
Jenny Marsh, recently released from prison for killing a man, finds herself under the watchful eye of her parole officer, Griff Marat, who helps her secure a job caring for his ailing mother.
