Ben Piazza Biography

Leading man Ben Piazza spent most of his Hollywood career just a step or so short of stardom. He was brought to Tinseltown on the strength of his performance in the Canada-filmed A Dangerous Age (1958), subsequently appearing in support of Gary Cooper in the A-western The Hanging Tree. His leading-man period peaked in the early '60s, though he was constantly in demand for supporting and character roles, often playing an uptight suburbanite. Possibly Piazza's best showing in the latter stages of his career was as the father of schizophrenic Kathleen Quinlan in 1971's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. On television, Piazza had regular roles as Jonas Falk on the daytime drama Love of Life and as teacher George Benton in the 1978 sitcom The Waverly Wonders. Ben Piazza died at the age of 57, shortly after appearing in Guilty By Suspicion (1990). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi