Robert Benchley Filmography

Blue Skies

Actors: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Joan Caulfield, Billy De Wolfe, Olga San Juan

Synopsis: Jed Potter (Fred Astaire) is a popular radio personality who was once a famous dancer. He also used to be friends with Johnny Adams (Bing Crosby) until they became rivals for the affections of Mary O'Hara (Joan Caulfield). Jed lost out when Johnny and Mary got married, but life hasn't been too Read More

Road to Utopia

Actors: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Robert Benchley, Hillary Brooke, Douglas Dumbrille

Synopsis: The first "Road" picture in three years (the last was The Road to Morocco), Road to Utopia is set during the Alaskan gold rush. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby play a pair of third-rate San Francisco entertainers, Chester Hooton and Duke Johnson, who are obliged to skip town in a hurry. They book passage Read More

Janie Gets Married

Actors: Joan Leslie, Robert Hutton, Barbara Brown, Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Robert Benchley, William Frambes

Synopsis: In this sequel to the 1944 teenage comedy Janie, Joan Leslie replaces Joyce Reynolds in the title role, playing the virtuous but amorous daughter of Edward Arnold and Ann Harding. Janie marries the soldier (Robert Hutton) she'd met in the earlier film, hoping to help him set the course of a Read More

Pan-Americana

Actors: Phillip Terry, Audrey Long, Robert Benchley, Eve Arden, Ernest Truex

Synopsis: A journalist for a popular travel magazine goes looking for interesting stories in Latin America and finds love instead in this colorful musical. The love angle comes from her fiance who lives there, and from the dashing photographer who accompanies her. Included are many South American acts Read More

Weekend at the Waldorf

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: Weekend at the Waldorf is an unabashed remake of MGM's 1932 Oscar-winner Grand Hotel: in fact, at several points in the story, the cast makes pointed references to the earlier film. The posh Waldorf Hotel in the heart of New York is the setting for several plots and subplots. Ginger Rogers plays Read More

Kiss and Tell

Actors: Shirley Temple, Jerome Courtland, Walter Abel, Katherine Alexander, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: If there were any doubts that little Shirley Temple was all grown up by 1945, those doubts were disippated by her appearance in Columbia's Kiss and Tell. Based on the mildly risque stage comedy by F. Hugh Herbert, the film casts Temple as impulsive teenager Corliss Archer, who is the only person Read More

Duffy's Tavern

Actors: Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, Paulette Goddard, Alan Ladd, Dorothy Lamour

Synopsis: Several of Paramount Pictures brightest stars make cameo appearances in this comedy set in "Duffy's Tavern," a favorite watering hole from old time radio shows. The trouble begins when the neighborhood bar is in danger of closing. The trouble begins when the proprietor, Archie, discovers that one Read More

Snafu

Actors: Conrad Janis, Robert Benchley, Vera Vague, Nanette Parks, Janis Wilson

Synopsis: There were some theatres in 1946 that refused to display the anagramatic title of this film on their marquees: it was, after all, no secret that the letters S.N.A.F.U. did not precisely stand for "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up" as the studio insisted. Based on a stage play by Louis Solomon and Read More

The Stork Club

Actors: Betty Hutton, Barry Fitzgerald, Don DeFore, Andy Russell, Iris Adrian, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: The Stork Club, the famed New York nightspot immortalized by columnist Walter Winchell (in return for special favors from its owners), is the setting for this typically brash Betty Hutton musical. Hutton plays a young hat check girl who rescues an elderly tramp (Barry Fitzgerald) from drowning. Read More

It's in the Bag

Actors: Fred Allen, Jack Benny, William Bendix, Binnie Barnes, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: Based on the popular Russian novel The Twelve Chairs, this stars Fred Allen as flea-circus impresario Fred Floogle. Learning that he's inherited $12 million from his uncle, Fred also discovers that the money has been stuffed in one of thirteen chairs that he's sold at auction. The rest of the film Read More

I'm a Civilian Here Myself!

Janie

Actors: Robert Hutton, Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Robert Benchley, Alan Hale

Synopsis: Janie, adapted from the Broadway play by Josephine Bentham and Herschel Williams, was one of a 1940s cycle of stage-to-film comedies about teenagers. Joyce Reynolds stars as Janie, a typical teen whose life is turned topsy turvy by the installation of a military base near her home town. Edward Arnold Read More

Her Primitive Man

Actors: Louise Allbritton, Robert Paige, Robert Benchley, Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick

Synopsis: In this crazy comedy, a casino worker writes a book about headhunters and finds himself the target of the leader of an anthropological society who is determined to prove that the book is phony. The writer tricks the woman into going on a head-hunting expedition to prove his claims. He dresses up Read More

Practically Yours

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Gil Lamb, Cecil Kellaway, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: The popular screen team of Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray stars in this wartime farce. MacMurray is an army pilot who develops engine trouble during a vital mission. Thinking he's about to die, MacMurray radios back his undying affection for his dog "Piggy." But the radio reception is fuzzy Read More

National Barn Dance

Actors: Jean Heather, Charles Quigley, Robert Benchley, Mabel Paige, Charles Dingle

Synopsis: This film gives a fictionalized version of how the popular real-life radio program of the title began. A promoter has an idea for a show devoted to various country musicians, and an ad agency owner is interested. The promoter goes down South, finds some talented acts, and brings them back to Read More

See Here, Private Hargrove

Actors: Robert Walker, Donna Reed, Keenan Wynn, Robert Benchley, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Newspaper reporter Marion Hargrove's best-selling novel was adapted to the screen by MGM as a vehicle for Robert Walker. The story is basically a series of humorous anecdotes about Hargrove's tenure at boot camp in the early days of World War II. Keenan Wynn is terrific as Hargrove's topkick, and Robert Benchley Read More

Song of Russia

Actors: Robert Taylor, Susan Peters, John Hodiak, Robert Benchley, Felix Bressart

Synopsis: One can only imagine the reaction of arch-conservative MGM head Louis B. Mayer when Song of Russia first tumbled over the spools in the studio projection room. It must be remembered, however, that back in 1944 it was politically expedient for Hollywood to offer hosannas to America's Russian Read More

Show Business at War

Flesh and Fantasy

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer, Barbara Stanwyck, Betty Field, Robert Cummings

Synopsis: In the tradition of his earlier Carnival in Flanders and Tales of Manhattan, director Julien Duvivier's Flesh and Fantasy is a "pormanteau" film, consisting of several short stories. Linking the three tales unfolded herein are clubmen Doakes (Robert Benchley) and Davis (David Hoffman), who carry Read More

The Sky's the Limit

Actors: Fred Astaire, Joan Leslie, Robert Benchley, Robert Ryan, Elizabeth Patterson

Synopsis: After a four-year absence, Fred Astaire returns to RKO Radio for the Ginger Rogers-less The Sky's the Limit. Astaire plays a war hero who wants to spend a quiet furlough in New York. Since the city is poised to give Astaire a ticker-tape welcome, he sneaks into town incognito. He meets Read More

The Major and the Minor

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Diana Lynn, Robert Benchley, Rita Johnson

Synopsis: A woman's attempt to disguise herself as an underage girl mushrooms into a series of humorous deceptions in this romantic comedy. Ginger Rogers stars as Susan Applegate, a young woman living in New York who, nearly broke and sick of the city, decides to head home to Iowa. Lacking the money for a Read More

Young and Willing

Actors: William Holden, Eddie Bracken, Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward, Martha O'Driscoll

Synopsis: Out of the Frying Pan, Francis Swann's perennial community-theatre favorite, came to the screen under the title Young and Willing. It's the unrealistic but funny account of young, aspiring actors combining their resources in hopes of keeping the wolf from the door. The girls and three boys move Read More

I Married a Witch

Actors: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward, Cecil Kellaway

Synopsis: As she burns at the stake, a 17th century witch, Jennifer (Veronica Lake), places a curse on her accuser (Fredric March), so that from this day forward, all of his descendants (each played by him) will be unhappy in marriage. After several hilarious through-the-years examples (the Civil War-era Fredric March Read More

Take a Letter, Darling

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Constance Moore, MacDonald Carey, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: Take a Letter, Darling is from the "boss lady" school of 1940s comedies. Fred MacMurray is Darling (that's his last name), an unsuccessful artist who advertises for a position as male secretary. He is hired by female advertising executive Rosalind Russell, who is all business--during business Read More

Nice Girl?

Actors: Deanna Durbin, Franchot Tone, Walter Brennan, Robert Stack, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: Nice Girl? answers its own question by casting the relentlessy nice Deanna Durbin in the title role. In her first truly adult role, Durbin plays Jane Dana, the blossoming daughter of high school principal Oliver Dana (Robert Benchley). Jane is being ardently courted by longtime boyfriend Don Webb Read More

The Reluctant Dragon

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Robert Benchley, Frances Gifford, Buddy Pepper, Nana Bryant, Claud Allister, Barnett Parker

Synopsis: The very first Disney feature to include live-action footage, this behind-the-scenes documentary about the studio's animation process includes the cartoon short of the title, which in later years was often exhibited separately from this film. Robert Benchley stars as himself, a visitor to the Read More

Three Girls About Town

Actors: Joan Blondell, Binnie Barnes, Janet Blair, John Howard, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: Faith, Hope and Charity motivate the wacky storyline of Columbia's Three Girls About Town--or to be more exact, gorgeous sisters Faith, Hope and Charity Banner, played respectively by Binnie Barnes, Joan Blondell and Janet Blair. Faith and Hope are gainfully employed as New York hotel hostesses Read More

Bedtime Story

Actors: Fredric March, Loretta Young, Robert Benchley, Allyn Joslyn, Eve Arden

Synopsis: Despite its alluring title, Bedtime Story is an innocent little domestic comedy about a bickering married couple. Fredric March is a successful playwright specializing in vehicles for his beautiful actress wife Loretta Young. Young wants to retire from the stage and set up housekeeping on a little Read More

You'll Never Get Rich

Actors: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley, John Hubbard, Osa Massen

Synopsis: You'll Never Get Rich was the first of two films made by Fred Astaire at Columbia, and also the first in which he was paired with his favorite female dancing partner--not Ginger Rogers or Cyd Charisse, but Rita Hayworth. Fred and Rita play a team of Broadway dancers whose partnership is abruptly Read More

The Trouble With Husbands

Crew: Screenwriter

Foreign Correspondent

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders, Albert Basserman

Synopsis: Fourteen scriptwriters spent five years toiling over a movie adaptation of war correspondent Vincent Sheehan's Personal History before producer Walter Wanger brought the property to the screen as Foreign Correspondent. What emerged was approximately 2 parts Sheehan and 8 parts director Alfred Hitchcock Read More

Hired Wife

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley, John Carroll

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne go through their customary farcical paces in the formula romantic comedy Hired Wife. Russell plays Kendal Browning, the superefficient secretary of business executive Stephen Dexter (Brian Aherne). When Dexter is legally obliged to put his business and its assets Read More

Broadway Melody of 1938

Actors: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Binnie Barnes, Judy Garland, Buddy Ebsen

Synopsis: This third entry in MGM's "Broadway Melody" series may not have been the biggest or best, but thanks to a masterpiece of casting it is one of the most memorable of the batch. Signed by MGM in 1935, 15-year-old Judy Garland made her first feature-film appearance under the aegis of Leo the Lion Read More

Night at the Movies

Live, Love and Learn

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Robert Benchley, Helen Vinson, Mickey Rooney

Synopsis: Starving artist Robert Montgomery could care less if his paintings sell, so long as he's happy. Montgomery falls in love with Rosalind Russell, an heiress who's gone "slumming" in Greenwich Village. Russell becomes Montgomery's patroness as well as his wife, urging him to make his paintings more Read More

Piccadilly Jim

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Madge Evans, Eric Blore, Billie Burke

Synopsis: British humorist P. G. Wodehouse wrote the story upon which Piccadilly Jim was based. Frank Morgan and Robert Montgomery play a well-to-do father and son, who find themselves rivals in love. The object of their affection is Madge Evans, who likes them both but favors the son. Everything could have Read More

Murder on a Honeymoon

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Lola Lane, Chick Chandler, George Meeker

Synopsis: Though it wasn't RKO Radio's final "Hildegarde Withers" mystery, Murder on a Honeymoon represented the final appearance of Edna May Oliver as Stuart Palmer's spinsterish schoolmarm sleuth. This entry was wittily adapted by Seton I. Miller and Robert Benchley from Palmer's Puzzle of the Pepper Read More

China Seas

Actors: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Rosalind Russell, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: China Seas proved that the recently imposed Hollywood production code had little if any effect on the popularity of MGM sex symbols Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. Gable plays the captain of a tramp steamer chugging between Singapore and Hong Kong. Harlow is Gable's ex-main squeeze, a "woman of the Read More

The Social Register

Actors: Colleen Moore, Charles Winninger, Pauline Frederick, Alexander Kirkland, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: Though she certainly didn't need the money, silent film favorite Colleen Moore made a comeback bid during the 1933-34 film season, appearing prominently in four productions. The least prepossessing of these was Columbia's Social Register, in which Moore is cast as good-natured chorus girl Patsy Read More

Dancing Lady

Actors: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, May Robson, Winnie Lightner, Fred Astaire

Synopsis: Virtually everybody except President Roosevelt was in the lavish MGM backstage musical Dancing Lady. Joan Crawford stars as Janie Barlow, an impoverished dancer reduced to working in a seedy Manhattan burlesque house. While on a slumming party with his society friend, wealthy young Tod Newton (Franchot Tone Read More

Headline Shooter

Actors: William Gargan, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy, Jack LaRue, Gregory Ratoff

Synopsis: Headline Shooter is a brisk comedy/melodrama about a newsreel photographer (William Gargan). He prefers to risk his neck to get "swell" pictures, while his reporter girl friend (Frances Dee), though no less fearless, would prefer that he give up his dangerous profession. Ralph Bellamy (as always!) Read More

Rafter Romance

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster, George Sidney, Robert Benchley, Laura Hope Crewes

Synopsis: Set in New York's Greenwich Village (specifically, on Bleecker Street), William Seiter's Rafter Romance is a cute romantic comedy, the plot of which contains echoes (or, more accurately, foreshadowings) of Shop Around The Corner. Ginger Rogers plays Mary Carroll, a young woman from upstate who Read More

Sky Devils

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Spencer Tracy, William "Stage" Boyd, George Cooper, Ann Dvorak, Billy Bevan

Synopsis: Hoping to match the success of his boisterous (and Oscar-winning) silent comedy Two Arabian Knights, and at the same time indulging in his fascination for aviation, erstwhile Hollywood producer Howard Hughes came up with the relentlessly silly Sky Devils. Spencer Tracy and George Cooper star as Read More

The Sport Parade

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joel McCrea, William Gargan, Marian Marsh, Walter Catlett

Synopsis: Running just under an hour, Sport Parade stars Joel McCrea as a sportwriter who accidently becomes a champion wrestler. In this capacity, he becomes involved with crooked promoters (just as though pro wrestling was a legitimate sport!). Since the main crook is played by comic actor Walter Catlett Read More