Do you know the theme from "Ice Castles"? Did you pick up a copy of either Teen or Tiger Beat during the mid-to-late 1970s? Then chances are you're well acquainted with Robby Benson, a handsome young actor whose blue eyes motivated many girls to compose their own odes to Billy Joe during the decade of disco.
"Ode to Billy Joe," of course, is one of the movies Benson starred in; others included "One on One" and the figure-skating weeper "Ice Castles." Then his career took a couple of different turns ... so what's up with Robby Benson today?
As some people already may know -- and as this Los Angeles Times profile describes in detail -- Benson turned his attention to filmmaking after acting roles dried up for him during the 1980s. (Benson has a weak heart valve and needs surgery every decade or so, a fact that made him "uninsurable" on a movie set.) Benson has an impressive number of TV directing credits on his resume, including several episodes of "Ellen" and "Friends." Like seemingly every former child star on the planet, he's also done some voice work, including that of the Beast in the Disney classic, "Beauty and the Beast." On top of all that, he's been a professor for more than 20 years and is currently teaching a film course at NYU.
But the main reason Benson is back in the news is this: He recently directed "Billy: The Early Years," a portrait of Billy Graham that will open in a small number of theaters on Friday. Yet, as intriguing as that is, you know what interests me most about Robby Benson? The fact that he wrote "We Are Not Alone," the song that plays during the key dancing-in-the-library scene in "The Breakfast Club." The woman who sang that track, Karla DeVito, happens to be Benson's wife. Come on, that's kinda cool.
The couple currently lives on a farm in North Carolina and has a teenage son and a grown daughter. (Yeah, I said grown. Benson is 52, people!) I'm sure we all wish him much success with his film career. And, for old time's sake, let's hope he continues to "look through the eyes of.
Rich or Rehab appears every Tuesday morning on Strollerderby
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