Daniel Benzali

{{Infobox person

| name = Daniel Benzali

| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|January 20, 1946}}

| birth_place = Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

| yearsactive = 1983–2015

| spouse = {{marriage|Lynda Medwell|1979|1984|reason=div}}

}}

Daniel Benzali (born January 20, 1946){{Cite web|title="People" by Harry Levins Of The Post-Dispatch - St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), August 11, 1996|url=https://www.questia.com/newspaper/1P2-33019716/people|access-date=2020-09-19|website=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}} is retired Brazilian-American stage, television and film actor.

Early life

Benzali was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the son of Lee, a cook, and Carlo Benzali, a salesman who had also been an actor in Brazilian theatre{{cite web|title= Suckers|website= RogerNygard.com |url= http://www.rogernygard.com/suckers/cast.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181350/http://www.rogernygard.com/suckers/cast.htm| archive-date= March 3, 2016| url-status= dead| access-date= September 5, 2016}} and Yiddish theatre.{{cite web| url= http://www.filmreference.com/film/21/Daniel-Benzali.html| title= Daniel Benzali | website= filmreference.com}} His family are Brazilian Jews. Daniel Benzali is the middle son of three. The family moved to the United States in 1953, and the boys were raised in Brooklyn, New York City.

Career

=Theatre=

Benzali began his acting career as a theatre actor, including the Royal Shakespeare Company in Great Britain. His first performance was in Holiday at The Old Vic alongside Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm McDowell.

He also played musical theater, including a portrayal of Juan Perón in the West End cast of Evita. He played faded film director Max von Mayerling, alongside Patti LuPone, in the original (1993) cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. Benzali also appeared in US national tours of Fiddler on the Roof and Annie {{citation needed|date= September 2016}} and other smaller regional productions.

In 2019, Benzali was slated to play the lead role in the London staging of Bianca Bagatourian's The Time Of Our Lies.{{Cite magazine |title=Daniel Benzali Q&A |url=https://www.theamerican.co.uk/pr/int-Daniel-Benzali-The-Time-Of-Our-Lies |access-date=2020-09-16 |magazine=The American |publisher=Blue Edge Publishing Ltd. |date=July 22, 2019}}{{Cite web |last=Kahn |first=Erin J. |date=2019-07-19 |title=London Theatre Weekly Round-up: Prince of Egypt casting, Paul McCartney musical in the works and more! |url=https://blog.fromtheboxoffice.com/2019/07/19/london-theatre-weekly-round-up-prince-of-egypt-casting-paul-mccartney-musical/ |access-date=2020-09-16 |website=From The Box Office |language=en}} He withdrew on opening night due to unforeseen circumstances.{{Cite web|date=2019-08-02|title=REVIEW: The Time Of Our Lies|url=https://dresscircleantics.co.uk/review-the-time-of-our-lies-2/|access-date=2020-09-19|website=Dress Circle Antics|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|title=The Time Of Our Lies tickets - Park Theatre {{!}} Official London Theatre guide {{!}} Closed: 10 August 2019|url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/show/time-lies-111418632/|access-date=2020-09-19|website=Official London Theatre|language=en-GB}}

=Television and feature films=

In 1985, he was cast in the James Bond film A View to a Kill as W. G. Howe,{{IMDb name| 0073137}} the Californian director of Oil and Mines, based at San Francisco City Hall. The character was shot dead in his office there by Max Zorin (played by Christopher Walken).{{cite web |url=http://www.jamesbondmm.co.uk/bond-villains/daniel-benzali |title=W.G. Howe (Daniel Benzali) |publisher=James Bond MM |access-date=19 June 2014}}

Subsequently, he began appearing in guest-starring roles on television series such as Strong Medicine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, and in recurring roles in NYPD Blue and L.A. Law. NYPD Blue and L.A. Law creator Steven Bochco was so impressed with Benzali's performances that Bochco later cast him in the lead role of his 1995 series Murder One, playing attorney Ted Hoffman. For his performance, Benzali was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. The series was not especially successful (though highly regarded later), and Benzali left after its first season. Bochco later revealed that he fired Benzali because he refused to leave his home before he completed his morning bowel movement and was perpetually late to the set.{{cite web |last=Armstrong |first=Rick |date=2019-04-01 |title=Murder One: The Sensational First Season |url=https://www.classicfilmtvcafe.com/2019/04/murder-one-tv-review.html |access-date=2021-01-15 |website=Classic Film and TV Cafe}}{{cite book |last=Bochco |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Bochco |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/957590958 |title=Truth is a total defense: my fifty years in television |date=May 10, 2016 |isbn=978-1-5348-3390-6 |location=Lexington, Kentucky |oclc=957590958}}

Benzali's stage performance in Holiday at The Old Vic so impressed director Anthony Page that Page cast him opposite Teri Garr in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie adaptation of Pack of Lies, a play by English writer Hugh Whitemore. Benzali also starred in the TV series The Agency and appeared in feature films including By Dawn's Early Light (1990), Murder at 1600 (1997), The Grey Zone (2001), and Suckers (2001). He appeared in the post-apocalyptic CBS series Jericho as the enigmatic former Department of Homeland Security director Thomas Valente. After that, he starred in the FX television series Nip/Tuck as Dr. Griffin.

In December 2010, Benzali joined ABC's General Hospital.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Daniel-Benzali-1024208.aspx|title=Exclusive: Daniel Benzali Joins General Hospital|publisher=TVGuide.com|access-date=October 11, 2010}} Benzali played a character named Theodore Hoffman, a reference to his role on the mid-1990s television series Murder One.

Personal life

Benzali married Worcestershire potter Lynda Medwell in 1979 while acting in Great Britain. They were married six years.{{Cite web |title=Overview for Daniel Benzali |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/14218%7C0/Daniel-Benzali/ |access-date=2020-09-16 |website=Turner Classic Movies}}{{Cite news |last1=Perthen |first1=Amanda |last2=O'Sullivan |first2=Kevin |title=BALD EAGLE'S SECRET WIFE LIVES IN HIPPY COMMUNE; And her parents didn't even know! |newspaper=The People |via=Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/BALD+EAGLE%27S+SECRET+WIFE+LIVES+IN+HIPPY+COMMUNE;+And+her+parents...-a061176937 |access-date=2020-09-16 |date=May 12, 1996}}

Benzali and fiancée Kim Cattrall had a three year relationship. Benzali (then 51) and Cattrall broke up in 1997, just prior to her role in Sex and the City (1998–2004).{{Cite magazine |first=Peter |last=Castro |title=Smooth Operator |url=https://people.com/archive/smooth-operator-vol-47-no-17/ |access-date=2020-09-16 |magazine=People |language=EN |date=May 5, 1997}}{{Cite news |date=2002-01-08 |title=Kim Cattrall: Sex and the married woman |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/kim-cattrall-sex-and-the-married-woman-9182971.html |access-date=2020-09-16 |newspaper=The Independent |language=en}}

Benzali has been living in London and divides his time between England and the United States.{{Cite web|date=2010-12-20|title=Major General Hospital Reveal: Daniel Benzali is The Balkan! {{!}} | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151011000355/https://www.tvguide.com/news/general-hospital-reveal-1026952/ |last=Logan | first= Michael | archive-date=2015-10-11 |url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/general-hospital-reveal-1026952/|access-date=2020-09-19|website=TVGuide.com|language=en}}

Filmography

=Film=

Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
1983	Home Free All	Therapist
1985	Insignificance	First Theatrical Agent
1985	A View to a Kill	W.G. Howe
1985	White Nights	Dr. Asher
1986	Whoops Apocalypse	William Kubert (US Defense Secretary)
1988	Messenger of Death	Chief Barney Doyle
1989	Vietnam War Story: The Last Days	Adams	(segment "Dirty Work")
1991	En dag i oktober	Solomon Kublitz
1992	The Distinguished Gentleman	'Skeeter' Warburton
1997	Murder at 1600	Secret Service Agent Nick Spikings
1997	The End of Violence	Brice Phelps
1998	Heist	'Big Fats'
1998	All the Little Animals	Bernard 'The Fat' De Winter
1999	Suckers	Reggie
1999	Her Married Lover	Detective Joe Lansing
2000	Screwed	Detective Tom Dewey
2001	Vegas, City of Dreams	Dr. Sigmund Stein
2001	The Grey Zone	Simon Schlermer
2002	Dead Heat	Frank Finnegan
2007	If I Had Known I Was a Genius	Walter

=Television=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
1987 \|Star Cops \|Commander Griffin \|1 Episode
1988 \|The Murder of Mary Phagen \| Coroner \|Television Film
1988 \|Crossbow \|Mad Monk \|1 Episode
1988-1993 \|L.A. Law \|Donald T. Phillips \|7 Episodes
1989 \|Beauty and the Beast \|Edward \|1 Episode
1989 \|Star Trek: The Next Generation \|Surgeon \|1 Episode
1990 \|One Life to Live \|Judge \|1 Episode
1990-2006 \|Law & Order \|Various Roles \|2 Episodes
1991 \|Matlock \|Henry Mayfield \|1 Episode
1992 \|The Last of His Tribe \|Mr. Whitney \|Television Film
1992 \|Afterburn \|John Patterson \|Television Film
1992 \|Citizen Cohn \|Francis Joseph Spellman \|Television Film
1993-2003 \|NYPD Blue \|James Sinclair Esq. \|13 Episodes
1994 \|One West Waikiki \|Delacourt \|1 Episode
1995 \|The X-Files \|Colonel Wharton \|1 Episode
1995-1996 \|Murder One \|Ted Hoffman \|Lead Role; 23 Episodes
1997 \|The Outer Limits \|Graham Highfield \|1 Episode
2001 \|Boss of Bosses \|Bruce Mouw \|Television Film
2001-2003 \|The Agency \|Robert Quinn \|36 Episodes
2002 \|The District \|Robert Quinn \|1 Episode
2007-2008 \|Jericho \|Thomas Valente \|6 Episodes
2009 \|Eli Stone \|Emmet Bortz \|1 Episode
2009 \|Lie To Me \|Joseph Hollin \|1 Episode
2010 \|Nip/Tuck \|Dr. Griffin \|1 Episode
2010-2011 \|General Hospital \|Theo Hoffman \|54 Episodes
2012 \|Californication \|Larry \|1 episode
2015 \|Agent X \|David Williams \|2 episodes

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1987

|Star Cops

|Commander Griffin

|1 Episode

1988

|The Murder of Mary Phagen

| Coroner