Dirk Benedict

Dirk Benedict
Dirk Benedict at the 2011 Lucca Comics & Games
Born	Dirk Niewoehner (1945-03-01) March 1, 1945 (age 79) Helena, Montana, U.S.
Alma mater	Whitman College
Occupations	Actor author
Years active	1972–present
Known for	The A-Team Battlestar Galactica
Spouse	Toni Hudson ​ ​ (m. 1986; div. 1995)​
Children	3
Website	dirkbenedictcentral.com
Signature

Dirk Benedict (born Dirk Niewoehner; March 1, 1945) is an American film, television and stage actor, and author. He is best known for playing the characters Lieutenant Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica film and television series and Templeton "Faceman" Peck in The A-Team television series. He is the author of Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy and And Then We Went Fishing.

Benedict was born Dirk Niewoehner in Helena, Montana,^[1] the son of George Edward Niewoehner, a lawyer, and his wife Priscilla Mella (née Metzger), an accountant.^[2] He grew up in White Sulphur Springs, Montana. He graduated from Whitman College in 1967.^[3] Benedict allegedly chose his stage name from a serving of Eggs Benedict he had prior to his acting career. He is of German extraction.^[4]

Benedict's film debut was in the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia. When the New York run for Butterflies Are Free 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 horror film called Sssssss (1973) saw Benedict's performance in Hawaii Five-O and promptly cast him as the lead in that movie. He next played the psychotic wife-beating husband of Twiggy in her American film debut, W (1974). Benedict starred in the television series Chopper One, which aired for one season in 1974. He made two appearances in Charlie's Angels. He also appeared on the Donny & Marie variety show.

Benedict's career break came in 1978 when he appeared as Lieutenant Starbuck in the movie and television series Battlestar Galactica. The same year, Benedict starred in the TV film, Cruise into Terror, and appeared in the ensemble movie, Scavenger Hunt the following year.

In 1980, Benedict starred alongside Linda Blair in an action-comedy movie called Ruckus. In 1983, Dirk gained further popularity as con man Templeton "Faceman" Peck in 1980s action television series The A-Team. He played "Face" from 1982 (1982) to 1986 (1986), although the series didn't air until January 1983, and the final episode wasn't shown until 1987 rebroadcasts. The second season episode "Steel" includes a scene at Universal Studios where Face is seen looking bemused as a Cylon walks by him as an in-joke to his previous role in Battlestar Galactica. The clip is incorporated into the series' opening credit sequence from season 3 onward.

In 1986, Benedict starred as low-life band manager Harry Smilac in the movie Body Slam along with Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, and cameo appearances by Freddie Blassie, Ric Flair, and Bruno Sammartino. His character Smilac ends up managing the pro-wrestler "Quick Rick" Roberts (Piper) and faces opposition by Captain Lou Murano (Albano) and his wrestling tag-team "the Cannibals".

In 1987, Benedict took the title role of Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Abbey Theatre in Manhattan. Both his performance and the entire production were lambasted by critics.^[5] Benedict starred in the 1989 TV film Trenchcoat in Paradise.

In 1991, Benedict starred in Blue Tornado, playing Alex, call sign Fireball, an Italian Air Force fighter pilot. Benedict published an autobiography, Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy: A True Story of Discovery, Acting, Health, Illness, Recovery, and Life (Avery Publishing ISBN 0895294796). In 1993, Benedict starred in Shadow Force.

Benedict also appeared as Jake Barnes in the 1996 action-adventure film Alaska.

In 2000, Benedict wrote and directed his first screenplay, Cahoots.^[6] Benedict appeared in the 2006 German film Goldene Zeiten ("Golden Times") in a dual role, playing an American former TV star as well as a German lookalike who impersonates him.

In 2006, he wrote an online essay criticizing the then-airing Battlestar Galactica re-imagined series and, especially, its casting of a woman as his character, Starbuck, writing that "the war against masculinity has been won" and that "a television show based on hope, spiritual faith, and family is unimagined and regurgitated as a show of despair, sexual violence and family dysfunction".^[7]

He appeared as a contestant on the 2007 UK series of Celebrity Big Brother 5, in which he placed third. He arrived on launch night in a replica of the A-Team van, smoking a cigar and accompanied by the A-Team theme tune.

In 2010, Benedict starred in a stage production of Prescription: Murder playing Lieutenant Columbo for the Middle Ground Theatre Company in the UK. Benedict also made a cameo appearance in the 2010 film adaptation of The A-Team as Pensacola Prisoner Milt.^[8]

In 2019, Benedict took on the role of Jack Strange in the B movie Space Ninjas, written and directed by Scott McQuaid. Dirk plays an eccentric TV host of a show called Stranger Than Fiction, which is like a hybrid of The Twilight Zone and The X-Files. The movie is a sci-fi comedy horror that follows a bunch of high school students trying to survive the night of a Space Ninja invasion.

In the 1970s, Benedict survived a prostate tumor, which he refused to have tested for malignancy. Having rejected conventional medical treatment, he credited his survival to the adoption of a macrobiotic diet recommended to him by actress Gloria Swanson.^[9]

In 1986, he married Toni Hudson, an actress with whom he has two sons, George and Roland. Hudson had previously appeared as Dana in the fourth season A-Team episode titled "Blood, Sweat and Cheers". They divorced in 1995.^[10][11][12]

In 1998, Benedict learned that he also has another son from an earlier relationship, who was placed for adoption.^[13]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dirk Benedict.

• Official website
• Dirk Benedict at IMDb
• Dirk Benedict at Rotten Tomatoes