Q&A: Ex-Teen Idol, Actor, Author Robby Benson

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GALS OVER 30 recall Robby Benson as the blue-eyed heartthrob in flicks like "One on One" and "Ice Castles." Their younger sisters know him as the voice of the furry antihero in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." Benson has also directed sitcoms ("Ellen," "Friends"), taught film at NYU and, now, has penned a novel, "Who Stole the Funny?" ($14, Harper Entertainment), a scathing Hollywood satire.

» EXPRESS: The novel's main character, JT, is a former child star and a sitcom director. Is he you?
» BENSON: He's a truly flawed human being, so on that count, you've got me covered. But I wrote the novel because, after 15 years and directing more than 100 sitcom episodes, I'd started to find the insanities behind the camera funnier than the shows.

» EXPRESS: What was so funny?
» BENSON: Once I got in trouble with producers who I’d been with for less than five minutes. My rep said, "They hate you because you’re elevating the quality of their show."

» EXPRESS: So, if I go to Hollywood, people will be mean to me?
» BENSON: Be afraid, very afraid! Hollywood does have great people. But it also has people who don't give and take; they just take. That's why my family doesn't live in Hollywood.

» EXPRESS: That's right. You live in the North Carolina mountains?
» BENSON: You should be very jealous. I live on a mountain, on a dirt road, far away from everything. Right now, I'm looking out the window on a meadow where I do something called "tractor art." I write my wife's name [singer-actress Karla DeVito] and put a heart out in the field where we have two Jersey cows.

» EXPRESS: Do you milk them?
» BENSON: If we milked them, then we'd have to be real farmers. I'm more of a "Green Acres" kind of guy.

» EXPRESS: What's your writing space like?
» BENSON: I wrote a movie in a bathroom, so I can write anywhere. But I've got my computer next to a window. I look out and see trees that are green. It's the most pleasing thing.

» EXPRESS: You were a hunk in the "Tiger Beat" era. Was the press nicer to celebrities back then?
» BENSON: Well, I think there's a huge difference between being a celebrity and being an actor. I think you have to be a person who looks at it as a craft. I don't want press based on the fact that I'm 51 or have gray hair.

» EXPRESS: Your sister is a fashion designer, Shelli Segal of Laundry fame. Does she give you fashion pointers?
» BENSON: Yes, it's fantastic. When I was doing theater back in New York, I bought a purple crushed-velvet jumpsuit. She saw it, and from that day on, I was not allowed pick out my own clothes.

» EXPRESS: What are your clothes like now?
» BENSON: I wear overalls when I teach or direct. It's one less thing to think about. Because what you really want to think about is the show or the class. You don't want to draw attention to yourself.

» EXPRESS: That doesn';t sound so fashionable.
» BENSON: Well, I also wear jeans and T-shirts. And sometimes I'll find myself trendy by accident, like when jeans with holes in their knees were in. But then the trend ended, and I looked like a fool.

Photo by Mark Mainz/Getty Images