He said, "It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous."
Benchley's classic short films turn up occasionally on Turner Classic Movies, and he can often be seen providing nuggets of wit as a supporting player in 1940s comedies. Benchley himself was played in "Mrs. Parker and the Wicked Circle" by Campbell Scott, who looks nothing like the short, plump, moustachioed writer, but pulled off Benchley's routines with great aplomb.
Our favorite Benchley story: he was leaving a nightclub slightly the worse for wear and saw a uniformed man he assumed to be the doorman. He asked him to call a cab. The heavily gold-braided gentleman turned indignantly and said, "Sir, I will have you know I am an admiral in the United States Navy." "In that case," said Benchley, "call me a battleship."
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