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 United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...

, and a founding member of Orion Pictures.

Biography

Born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, Benjamin - along with his longtime friend and partner, Arthur B. Krim - took over

in 1951. The deal that they struck with then-owners Charlie Chaplin and

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

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 1979, Robert Benjamin won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award posthumously. His wife Jean accepted the award on his behalf.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Robert American film studio executives 1909 births 1979 deaths Orion Pictures Corporation 20th-century American lawyers Jewish American attorneys American entertainment lawyers Businesspeople from Los Angeles Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winners 20th-century American businesspeople American independent film production company founders 20th-century American Jews