''Benjy'' is a 1951 American
short
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documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
directed by
Fred Zinnemann
Alfred ''Fred'' Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) was an Austrian Empire-born American film director. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thrillers, westerns, film noir and play ...
. It won an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
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* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
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in
1952 for
Documentary Short Subject.
Production
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics.
Born and rai ...
narrates this short film about a boy who was handicapped from birth. An orthopedic pediatrician wants to provide a therapeutic regimen that could cure the child, a scoliosis patient, but first he needs to convince the boy's parents, who have rejected the child because of his disabilities.
[ “Fred Zinnemann”](_blank)
Zinnemann and the film's production crew worked gratis on this project, which was originally designed to be used as a fundraiser for the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital.
In his 1992 book ''An Autobiography'', Zinneman noted that
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
arranged for the crew on this production, and that the union members connected to the production turned their salaries back to the hospital. Henry Fonda also volunteered his services for the film.
Although the film extensively used dramatized sequences to tell its story, it was successfully entered in the Academy Award category for Best Documentary Short Subject.
Oscar’s Docs”
Cast
* Lee Aaker
Lee William Aaker (September 25, 1943 – April 1, 2021)Goldrup, Tom & Goldrup, Jim (2002) Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Classic Film and Television', McFarland & Co Inc, , pp. 5–12 was an American child actor ...
as Benjy
* Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics.
Born and rai ...
as Narrator (voice)
References
External links
*
1951 films
1951 documentary films
1951 short films
American black-and-white films
American short documentary films
Films directed by Fred Zinnemann
Best Documentary Short Subject Academy Award winners
1950s short documentary films
Sponsored films
Documentary films about children with disability
1950s English-language films
1950s American films
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