Robert Benfield
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Robert Benfield (flourished 1613 – 1647) was a Jacobean era actor, noted for his longterm membership in the King's Men in the years and decades after William Shakespeare's retirement and death.
Nothing is known of Benfield's life apart from his activity on the stage. He was most likely with the Lady Elizabeth's Men in 1613, and joined the King's Men to replace William Ostler, who died unexpectedly in December 1614. He acted in the company's production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi ca. 1621. He was a shareholder in the company by 1619, when he is listed in the renewed patent for the King's Men issued in that year.
Benfield also eventually became a sharer in both the Globe and Blackfriars theatres, but only after a conflict: in 1635 he was one of three King's Men (the others were Thomas Pollard and Eliard Swanston) who petitioned the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Pembroke, for the right to buy shares from fellow King's Man John Shank.
Finally, Benfield was one of the ten King's Men who signed the dedication of the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.
[edit] References
- Halliday, F. E. A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964. Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.
