Robert Benton, writer and director of the highly acclaimed “Kramer vs. Kramer,” has died, the New York Times reported Tuesday. He was 92.
Benton, who also worked on the screenplay for “Bonnie and Clyde,” died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan, the Times reported, citing longtime assistant and manager Marisa Forzano.
“Kramer vs. Kramer,” a raw look at the realities of a modern divorce, was one of the most decorated films of its time. Nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1980, it took home five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Benton).
Benton also won an Oscar for “Places in the Heart,” which he wrote and directed. He got his break while working at Esquire magazine, where a colleague, David Newman, was working on a screenplay about infamous bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
Their script, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the titular characters, “Bonnie and Clyde” was a smash hit in 1967, and Benton was an obscure magazine writer no more. The iconoclastic caper was nominated for 10 Oscars, including for Newman and Benton’s screenplay.
“Kramer vs. Kramer,” came more than a decade later in 1979, and became the highest-grossing film of that year.
Benton returned to his hometown of Waxahachie, Texas, to shoot “Places in the Heart,” the story of a Depression-era widow struggling to survive. Sally Field’s performance won her the Oscar for Best Actress, inspiring her famous “You like me, you really like me” speech.
He is survived by his son, John. His late wife Sallie, died in 2023 at the age of 88.
