Martin Benson; Actor, Writer, Artist
Written by Barry Hyman Friday, 29 April 2005
Barry Hyman interviews Martin Benson
Martin Benson, Actor, Artist, Documentary Producer, Member of Radlett & Bushey Reform Synagogue, talks to MANNA.
Q: Was there much yiddishkeit in your upbringing?
A: On a table which traps the evening sunlight stands a cigarette box, the inscription well worn, but just legible after years of polishing: ‘Presented to Samuel Benson by Edmonton & Tottenham Hebrew Congregation.’ My father’s involvement set the tone for the family to follow. Knowing that his shop would close at Friday sunset earned respect from the local non-Jewish population.
Q: Did this have any bearing on your choice of profession?
A: I came out of the army in 1946. Uncle Issar asked what I was going to do. ‘I’m going to be an actor,’ I said. ‘So show me,’ he said. ‘Act!’ At the time I was apprenticed to Boots at ten shillings a week, knowing that if I worked hard and took exams I might become a pharmacist. The scientific environment stood me in good stead when I later established my film studio in Radlett where I made documentary and training films, while advancing my film career.
Q: The International Movie Database Website (imdb.com) shows your first role, of some eighty, in a film in 1948 when you were thirty. Before then?
A: I was well occupied between Dunkirk in 1940 and GHQ Cairo in 1946. The war over, I had a glorious opportunity of involvement in theatre. I posted myself to Alexandria, found an empty building and converted it into a theatre. Still a serving officer, I ran it as a repertory company.
Q: Perhaps your best known film role is that of Kralahome, the King’s Vizier in The King & I. What was Yul Brynner like to work with?
A: That was the role which provided me with the best opportunity to date. I did work with Brynner again in England. He tended to keep to himself; there was no off-duty socializing. When The King & I was at the Palladium I went backstage to say hello and found strong-arm men on duty at the door and the dressing room painted black. Each to his own taste.
Q: You tended to specialize in sinister roles. Ever yearn to play the hero?
A: No — villains are more interesting. What I most enjoy is playing a villain with an extra dimension which could equally have applied to the hero. This is so you are not sure which he is. The test is whether the character’s name is better remembered that the actor’s. This is what I was seeking in Ealing Studios’ Script Department and when I became Story Editor for the TV series Douglas Fairbanks Presents.
Q: You’ve done lots of TV, perhaps the oddest role as the Vogon Captain in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Are you a fan?
A: Yes, I admire its creator Douglas Adams. People have said that they wish it had been done as a feature film. I don’t agree. Much of the charm arises from the self-contained characterization which is not swamped by special effects.
(In fact a film is in production with John Malkovich and Bill Nighy. A new Radio production has just been broadcast.)
Q: You had your actors’ studio for some years. How did you get into teaching?
A: In my thirties I thought I could do anything in films. (I once had a spell as film critic for the JC.) I wrote a book on film acting when I barely know the left of the camera from the right. This prompted some fledgling actors to apply to me for training. I don’t think they suffered any harm and some went onto greater things. This experience was valuable when, from my Radlett Studio, I made documentaries which required scientists to present themselves credibly to camera.
Q: You are a talented painter. How did that begin?
A: In the Army I became friends with Gerard de Rose ARA. We remained friends when he became Head of Painting at Maidstone School of Art. While in The King & I at Drury Lane I had spells offstage and time between matinee and evening performances. With my dressing room a second home, I began to paint. I had pictures in the RA Summer Exhibitions in the 1950s, since when I have held one-man exhibitions. I specialize in theatrical portraits.
Q: I remember recognizing you on your first visit to Radlett & Bushey, where you worship regularly. When you read the Haftarah there is a rapt, awed silence at your impeccable delivery. What do you get out of a Shabbat service?
A: It’s a fifty mile round trip so I don’t show up every week, but this makes anticipation doubly acute. It’s like greeting old friends to find passages which appear in every service, but in particular I look forward to the wit and wisdom of the sermon. I have the habit of leaving after the Kaddish. It leaves something of the service as a link to the beginning of the next Shabbat service, something practical in the continuity of century with century, year with year, Shabbat with Shabbat
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