Robert Benfield (died July 1649) was a seventeenth-century actor,
noted for his longtime membership in the King's Men in the years and
decades after William Shakespeare's retirement and death.Nothing is
known of Benfield's early life. He was most likely with the Lady
Elizabeth's Men in 1613, and acted in their productions of Fletcher's
The Coxcomb and the Fletcher/Massinger play The Honest Man's Fortune
in that year. Benfield soon joined the King's Men, possibly 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 c.
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, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke,
for the right to buy shares from fellow King's Man John Shank and from
Cuthbert Burbage.Benfield was one of the ten King's Men who signed the
dedication of the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. In the 25
cast lists added to the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679,
Benfield is mentioned 18 times:
noted for his longtime membership in the King's Men in the years and
decades after William Shakespeare's retirement and death.Nothing is
known of Benfield's early life. He was most likely with the Lady
Elizabeth's Men in 1613, and acted in their productions of Fletcher's
The Coxcomb and the Fletcher/Massinger play The Honest Man's Fortune
in that year. Benfield soon joined the King's Men, possibly 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 c.
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, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke,
for the right to buy shares from fellow King's Man John Shank and from
Cuthbert Burbage.Benfield was one of the ten King's Men who signed the
dedication of the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. In the 25
cast lists added to the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679,
Benfield is mentioned 18 times:
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