ROBERT BENSON
Real Name: Robert Benson
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Horror movie director
Group Membership: Various actors, producers and movie production personnel
Affiliations: Hollywood elite, Teddy Lingard, Paragon Studios
Enemies: Alison Blaire (Dazzler), Roman Nekoboh
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Bob Benson
Base of Operations: Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
First Appearance: Dazzler I#33 (November, 1984)
Powers/Abilities: Robert Benson had normal human abilities, although he was an accomplished movie director and actor.
History:
(Dazzler I#33 - BTS) - Robert Benson was a successful director of Hollywood horror movies. During the making of the film Bloody Mary, his movie set was sabotaged and an unspecified accident happened to someone/something. He was labelled a jinx but nonetheless still made the picture to the producers’ and fans’ satisfaction.
(Dazzler I#33) – Robert Benson attended a big Hollywood party and met Alison Blaire. He offered her to audition in his latest project, a music video for the pop music star, Teddy Lingard. As he was leaving the party, his car burst into flames and he was found semi-conscious in the nearby shrubbery by Alison Blaire.
The next day, Alison Blaire auditioned and Robert Benson hired her. The following day, he met with Teddy Lingard and told him that he was honored to be working with one of the greats of the music biz. Later, he anonymously phoned the TV station KPTP to report that something terrible had happened on the set, but was overheard by Alison Blaire who became suspicious of the unusual conversation because nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
(Dazzler I#33/X-Men Unlimited I#32/1) - Later that day, he directed the dancers to be buried in the ground and to wait for their cue to crawl out as zombies, but Alison Blaire was unable to do so. Acting concerned, he rushed over to the spot where she was buried and pretended to be upset, lamenting that she had no air hose for breathing like the other dancers had. However, Alison Blaire used her light-based laser blasts to break through the ground and grabbed him by the leg. Fearing for his life that she was dead and now a real zombie, he ran outside but Alison chased after him. When Alison caught up to him, under fear and duress, he confessed to sabotaging his last movie and his own car in order to get publicity and gain box office appeal. When he realized that Alison had tricked him, he tried running away but was tripped by Teddy Lingard and then arrested by the police.
(X-Men Unlimited I#32) - The producers of VMI's "Beyond the Music" attempted to gain an interview with Benson from his cell for an episode they were assembling on the Dazzler's career. Benson appeared only briefly, suggesting that he should not be held accountable for what happened to her, just because he tried to kill her and stood to gain by it. He then ended the interview, saying that the crew of "Hollywood Sin and Scandal" were coming over for an interview-- and they were paying him money.
Comments: Created by Mike Carlin (writer), Mark Bright (pencils) & Vinnie Colletta (inks).
Of course Paragon Studios is homage to Paramount Pictures, but I just can’t seem to place who or what real life director Robert Benson was supposed to represent. Teddy Lingard is the Marvel equivalent to Michael Jackson, so maybe Robert Benson could possibly be compared to John Landis, who directed the Thriller video. They both have beards and look kind of similar. The problem is though, at the end of the story, Teddy Lingard thought to himself that he needed a new director and wondered if the director of An American Werewolf in London was free. After all he did direct that in real life. Maybe in the Marvel Universe, someone else directed the movie. Also of note is that John Landis directed Twilight Zone: the Movie; during the filming of Twilight Zone, actor Vic Morrow was decapitated and two child extras, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-yi Chen were killed by a helicopter, so they sort of both shared some similarities in regards to having accidents happen on set while they were filmed.
Profile by AvatarWarlord72.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Robert Benson has no known connections to:
Teddy Lingard has no known connections to:
Teddy was a successful pop music performer who hired Robert Benson to direct his latest video of Chiller. He later tripped the fleeing Robert Benson as he tried to run away when he realized that he had admitted on a TV news camera to having sabotaged his last movie and his own car . After Robert Benson was arrested, he needed to find a new director, possibly the one who did An American Werewolf in London.
Years later, acclaimed as the "Prince of Pop," he appeared on VMI's "Beyond the Music" for a special on the Dazzler. He said that even back then, he could tell that Dazzler had talent, and insisted that he had no involvement in what Benson had done. He then claimed that the interview was too stressful, and asked his midget friend to bring him some pink pills.
Dazzler#33 (X-Men Unlimited I#32
images: (without ads)
Dazzler#33, p22 panel 2 (Bob Benson)
Appearances:
Dazzler I#33 (November, 1984) - Mike Carlin (writer), Mark Bright
(pencils), Vinnie Colletta (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
X-Men Unlimited I#32 (September, 2001) - Will Pfeifer (writer), Jill
Thompson (pencils & inks), Lysa Hawkins (editor)
Last updated: 05/10/11
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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