Ben Piazza

American actor

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Actor
playwright
author

Years active1951–1991Known forThe Very Strange and Exact Truth (1964 novel)^[2]Notable workThe Hanging TreeSpouse

Dolores Dorn

(m. 1967; div. 1979)

PartnerWayne Tripp (1973–1991)

Ben Piazza (July 30, 1933 – September 7, 1991) was an American actor.

Life and career

Piazza made his film debut in Sidney J. Furie's Canadian film A Dangerous Age (1959) followed by his Hollywood debut in The Hanging Tree (1959). Though he signed contracts with Warner Bros. and Gary Cooper's production companies for five years, he did not make another film until No Exit (1962).^[3]

A prolific television and film character actor, Piazza is perhaps most widely recognized as the wealthy restaurant patron in John Landis' 1980 comedy hit The Blues Brothers from whom Jake (John Belushi) offers to purchase his wife and daughter. Prior to that, he also played the violent boyfriend who scars Liza Minnelli's character's face in Otto Preminger's Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970). Piazza's other film appearances include The Candy Snatchers (1973); Piazza played a dramatic role in an episode of Barnaby Jones, titled “Bond of Fear” (04/15/1975),The Bad News Bears (1976), I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), Nightwing (1979), Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (1985), Clean and Sober (1988), and Guilty by Suspicion (1991), in which he portrayed Hollywood film director/mogul Darryl F. Zanuck. In 1986, Piazza had a three-month stint on the daytime soap opera Santa Barbara as Dr. A.L. Rawlings.^[4] Piazza also played the role of Walt Driscoll in the sixth season of Dallas (1978 TV series), between 1982 and 1983.^[5]

Piazza also wrote plays and a novel, The Exact and Very Strange Truth (1964), a coming-of-age story about an Italian-American boy in Little Rock, Arkansas, which was Piazza's hometown.^[2]^[6] However, Ben wrote in the book's introduction that any resemblance between the characters and real people was “irrelevant”, although the parallels to his own life were unmistakable. Piazza dedicated the book to openly gay playwright Edward Albee, who was a close friend.

Personal life and death

Piazza was married to actress Dolores Dorn from 1967 until 1979.^[7] Piazza was in a committed relationship with Wayne Tripp, from 1973 until Piazza died of AIDS-related cancer in 1991.^[8]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	A Dangerous Age	David
1959	The Hanging Tree	Rune
1962	No Exit	Camarero
1970	Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon	Jesse
1972	The Outside Man	Desk Clerk
1973	The Candy Snatchers	Avery
1975	Gunsmoke	Fifer	"Hard Labor"
1976	The Bad News Bears	Bob Whitewood
1977	I Never Promised You a Rose Garden	Jay Blake
1979	Nightwing	Roger Piggott
1979	The Concorde ... Airport '79	Associate	TV version, Uncredited
1980	The Blues Brothers	Father
1982	Waltz Across Texas	Bill Wrather
1982–1983	Dallas	Walt Driscoll	TV series, Season 6 (11 episodes)
1985	Mask	Mr. Simms
1988	Clean and Sober	Kramer
1990	Rocky V	Doctor	Uncredited
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	Darryl Zanuck	(Final Film Role)

References

^ "Little Rock Look Back: Ben Piazza". Little Rock Culture Vulture. July 30, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
^ ^a ^b "The Very Exact and Strange Truth". The Neglected Books Page. May 23, 2010.
^ "Ben Piazza Gets Contract". Montreal Gazette. July 29, 1958. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
^ "Dr. A.L. Rawlings".
^ "Ben Piazza". IMDb.
^ Piazza, Ben (1964). The Exact and Very Strange Truth (First ed.). Farrar, Straus. ISBN 978-0014105380.
^ Hendricks, Nancy (May 24, 2017). "Ben Piazza". Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
^ "Ben Piazza; Broadway, Screen Actor". Los Angeles Times. September 14, 1991. Retrieved February 9, 2016.