Martin Benson Biography

Tall, grim-faced British actor Martin Benson worked concurrently on stage and in films throughout the late 1940s. Benson's piercing eyes and steely voice were essential equipment in costume dramas and adventure films well into the 1980s. He is most familiar to American audiences for his portrayal of the dour Kralahome in The King and I (1956) and his interpretation of Mr. Solo, the ill-tempered American gangster with a "pressing engagement," in Goldfinger (1964). For 39 weeks in 1957, Martin Benson appeared as the Duke de Medici on the weekly Renaissance-based TV adventure series Sword of Freedom. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi