DIRK BENEDICT

 

 

Dirk Benedict was born in Montana on March 1st, 1945. He was raised in the country, far away from anything connected with movies or acting. He gathered his first experiences in acting (on a dare) in a college production of "Showboat" where he got the main part. His father, a lawyer, died when Dirk was 18, which was hard for him to take. While working at "Georgia, Georgia" in Sweden, he made the first contact with a macrobiotic diet and changed his eating habits drastically. He was 26 at that time. A few years later, doctors found that he had cancer of the prostate. He refused to accept the usual treatment and moved away to a secluded cottage. Dirk managed to cure himself from cancer by following the rules of his macrobiotic diet. When he got his part as "Starbuck" in Battlestar Galactica in 1978, the doctors stated that he was in good health. Dirk's main successes were "Battlestar Galactica" and the TV-Series "The A-Team" in which he played "Templeton - The Face - Peck". He is married to actress Toni Hudson and has two sons (George and Roland).

 

 

It's a long way from the vastness of Montana's Big Sky country to the vastness of outer space, but Dirk Benedict is taking the transition in stride. The actor's hometown of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, was so small and remote that it lacked either a motion picture theatre or television station. Now Benedict is co-starring in MCA TV's "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" as a skirt-chasing , fun-loving combat pilot aboard an embattled spaceship in a far-off galaxy. It was at Whitman College, in Walla Walla, Washington, that Dirk became interested in acting. During his freshman year, he accepted a dare to audition for the Spring musical and won the lead role of Gaylord Ravenal in "Showboat." The next three years were filled with many more musical productions. Upon graduation, Benedict began a two-year training program under John Fernald, who had headed London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London for fifteen years. He then played repertory theatre in Seattle and in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he played such roles as Edmund in "King Lear," Tarleton in "Misalliance," Ensign Pulver in "Mister Roberts," and the lead in Neil Simon's "Star-Spangled Girl." Meanwhile, Benedict maintained an active interest in music and formed a Dixieland Jazz Band in Seattle. Prior to their debut, he visited New York to meet an agent recommended by his college professor. Benedict never made it back to Seattle. The agent sent him to an audition which resulted in a co-starring role with Diana Rigg and Keith Mitchell in "Abelard and Heloise," first on Broadway, then in Los Angeles. Two weeks after the show closed on Broadway, he was winging across the Atlantic to Sweden for his first movie, "Georgia, Georgia" in which he co-starred with the late Diana Sands. This film about draft resisters, shot entirely in Sweden, was written by the well known black writer Maya Angelou. In Sweden, Benedict lost his heart to Miss Sweden, discovered Akvavit and began a new way of eating based on whole grains and vegetables. On his return to New York, he replaced Keir Dullea in "Butterflies Are Free" on Broadway where he worked with the ever-young Gloria Swanson, as his mother. When the New York run ended, he received an offer to repeat his performance in Hawaii, opposite Barbara Rush. While there, he appeared as a guest lead on "Hawaii-Five-O." The producers of a psycho-thriller called "Sssssss" saw Benedict's performance in "Hawaii-Five-O" and promptly cast him as the lead in that move. He next played the psychotic wife-beating husband of Twiggy in her American film debut, "W." Benedict starred in the television series, "Chopper One," then retreated to his cabin in the mountains of Montana where he spent nearly a year writing. Two of the scripts he wrote during that "sabbatical" were optioned for motion picture production and he is at work on his first novel, which will be set in Montana.

 

 

Actor - filmography
(1990s) (1980s) (1970s)

  1. Waking Up Horton (1998) .... Tyler
    ... aka Adventures of Young Brave, The (1998) (USA)
  2. Steel Stomachs (1997) .... Host
  3. Zork: Grand Inquisitor (1997) (VG) .... Antharia Jack
  4. Abduction of Innocence (1996) (TV) .... Robert Steves
    ... aka Abduction of Innocence: A Moment of Truth Movie (1996) (TV)
  5. Alaska (1996) .... Jake Barnes
  6. Demon Keeper (1994) .... Alexander Harris
  7. Feminine Touch, The (1994) .... John Mackie
    ... aka November Conspiracy (1994)
  8. Official Denial (1994) .... Lt. Col. Dan Lerner
  9. Shadow Force (1993) .... Rick Kelly
  10. Blue Tornado (1991) .... Alex Long
  11. Bejewelled (1991) (TV) .... Gordon

  12. Trenchcoat in Paradise (1989) (TV) .... Eddie Mazda
  13. Body Slam (1987) .... M. Harry Smilac
  14. Mark of the Devil (1984) (TV) .... Frank Rowlett
    ... aka Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense: Mark of the Devil (1984) (TV) (UK: series title)
  15. "A-Team, The" (1983) TV Series .... Lieutenant Templeton 'Face' Peck
  16. Family in Blue (1982) (TV) .... Matt Malone
  17. Ruckus (1982) .... Kyle Hanson
    ... aka Big Ruckus in a Small Town (????) (USA: video title)
    ... aka Loner, The (1982)
    ... aka Ruckus in Madoc Country (1982)
  18. Scruples (1981) (TV) .... Spider Elliott
  19. Underground Aces (1980) .... Pete Huffman
  20. Georgia Peaches, The (1980) (TV) .... Dusty Tyree
    ... aka Follow That Car (1980) (TV)

  21. Scavenger Hunt (1979) .... Jeff Stevens
  22. Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack (1978) (TV) .... Lieutenant Starbuck
  23. "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) TV Series .... Lieutenant Starbuck
  24. Battlestar Galactica (1978) (TV) .... Lieutenant Starbuck
    ... aka Curse of the Cylons (1978) (TV) (USA: recut version)
  25. Cruise Into Terror (1978) (TV) .... Simon
  26. Journey from Darkness (1975) (TV) .... Bill
  27. W (1974) .... William Caulder
    ... aka I Want Her Dead (1974)
  28. "Chopper One" (1974) TV Series .... Officer Gil Foley
  29. SSSSSSS (1973) .... David Blake
    ... aka SSSSnake (1973) (UK)
  30. Georgia, Georgia (1972) .... Michael Winters
 

Director - filmography
(2000s) (1990s)

  1. Cahoots (2000)
  2. Christina's Dream (1994)

 

Writer - filmography

  1. Cahoots (2000)

 

Notable TV guest appearances

  1. "Murder, She Wrote" (1984) playing "Gary Harling" in episode: "Frozen Stiff" (episode # 12.10) 11/30/1995
  2. "Walker, Texas Ranger" (1993) playing "Blair" in episode: "Case Closed" (episode # 3.19) 4/29/1995
  3. "Commish, The" (1991) playing "Gil Higgins" in episode: "All That Glitters" (episode # 3.9) 11/27/1993
  4. "Baywatch" (1989) playing "Aaron Brody" in episode: "Rookie of the Year" (episode # 3.4) 10/5/1992
  5. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1985) playing "Dr. Rush" in episode: "In the Name of Science" (episode # 4.13) 3/11/1989
  6. "Murder, She Wrote" (1984) playing "Dr. David Latimer" in episode: "Smooth Operators" (episode # 5.12) 2/12/1989
  7. "Hotel" (1983) in episode: "Prized Possessions" (episode # 5.10) 12/12/1987
  8. "Amazing Stories" (1985) in episode: "Remote Control Man" (episode # 1.10) 12/8/1985
  9. "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense" (1984) playing "Frank Rowlett" in episode: "Mark of the Devil" 1984
  10. "Love Boat, The" (1977) in episode: "Putting on The Dog/Going to The Dogs/Women's Best Friend/Whose Dog Is It Anyway?" 3/26/1983
  11. "Love Boat, The" (1977) in episode: "Captain's Bird, The/That's My Dad/Captive Audience" (episode # 4.91) 12/20/1980
  12. "Galactica 1980" (1980) playing "Starbuck" in episode: "Return Of Starbuck, The" (episode # 1.10) 5/4/1980
  13. "Charlie's Angels" (1976) playing "Denny Railsback" in episode: "Jade Trap, The" (episode # 2.24) 3/1/1978
  14. "Charlie's Angels" (1976) playing "Barton" in episode: "Blue Angels, The" (episode # 1.22) 5/4/1977
  15. "Charlie's Angels" (1976) in episode: "Angels on Wheels" (episode # 1.12) 12/22/1976
  16. "Donny and Marie" (1976)
  17. "Hawaii Five-O" (1968) playing "Walter Clyman" in episode: "Chain of Events" (episode # 5.7) 10/24/1972

 

 

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http://www.kamikazecowboy.com/

 

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