Robert Benton

Born: September 29 1932
Where: Waxahachie, Texas, USA

The writer and director first attracted international attention when he won Oscars for directing and writing the divorce weepie Kramer vs Kramer.

He is also known for his writing partnership with David Newman, whom he worked with on Bonnie and Clyde and What's Up Doc?

They were both editors on Esquire magazine when they touted their Bonnie and Clyde script around more than 20 directors before Arthur Penn took it on board.

Benton made his directorial debut with the underperforming western Bad Company in 1972 which he followed with 1977's The Late Show.

Kramer vs Kramer, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep as a couple in a brutal custody battle, won five Academy Awards.

Benton went on to spend much of the '80s directing a series of well-made but small scale films such as 1982's Hitchcockian thriller Still of the Night.

In 1984, he again scored big with the autobiographical Places of the Heart, which was based on his great-grandmother's struggles in Depression-era Texas.

The film won an Oscar for lead actress Sally Field and was also nominated for best screenplay.

Billy Bathgate, about a street hustler who gets involved in organised crime, starred Hoffman and Nicole Kidman.

Benton didn't have another great critical triumph until he directed Paul Newman in the drama Nobody's Fool.

Newman and Benton again collaborated four years later on the suspense thriller Twilight, which also starred Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman.

Recent work includes a tepid adaptation of Philip Roth's The Human Stain with Anthony Hopkins and Kidman.