Robert Benchley (1889-1945) was one of the most popular and influential humorists of 20th century America. He took his gentle, self-deprecating wit to celebrity in literature, the theater, and the movies.

The offspring of a prominent local family and the grandson of a lieutenant governor of the state, Robert C. Benchley was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 15, 1889. When he was nine, his beloved older brother Edmund was killed in the Spanish-American War, prompting the outburst from his mother, "Why couldn't it have been Robert""--a cry that became known around the community.

Early Career

Even in high school Benchley was active in theater, getting work as an extra with touring road companies when they appeared in Worcester. Sent to Phillips Exeter Academy with financial aid from his brother's fiancee, Lillian Duryea, he joined the drama club and did illustrations for the literary magazine. At Harvard, where his...