Robert Benchley(1889-1945)
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Although by his own account Benchley was not quite a writer and not
quite an actor, he managed to become one of the best-known humorists
and comedians of his time. As a Harvard undergraduate, Benchley gave
his first comic performance, impersonating a befuddled after-dinner
speaker. The act made him a campus celebrity -- and remained in
Benchley's repertoire for the rest of his life. (Landing the position
of editor of the Harvard Lampoon was the other highlight of his college
career.) As a post-graduate journalist, between frequent firings and
other disruptions, Benchley made his mark as a theater critic and as
writer of whimsical musings on the vagaries of modern life. He served
briefly as managing editor of the magazine Vanity Fair, where his
lieutenants were Dorothy Parker and Robert E. Sherwood, but he quit to protest Parker's
firing. (Benchley, Parker and Sherwood were among the regulars at the
so-called Algonquin Round Table, a social circle of New York wits that
also included Harpo Marx and George S. Kaufman). Benchley was among the first
contributors to The New Yorker, where his work influenced other writers
-- such as E.B. White and James Thurber
