Trivia

Proposed the following epitaph for his tombstone although it was not ultimately used: "This is all above my head.".

Grandfather of Nat Benchley and Peter Benchley, author of "Jaws.".

The town of Benchley, Texas, is named after his grandfather, who founded it.

Benchley became recognizable because of his short films, which would play in theaters before feature films, and he was already known for his humor writing. Once he became well-known, therefore, people would often approach him at parties and at other social gatherings and greet him with, "Say something funny, Mr. Benchley.".

Father of Nathaniel Benchley, who wrote the novel "The Off-Islanders", which became the film Les Russes arrivent, les Russes arrivent (1966).

One day Benchley was chatting with fellow writer and alcoholic F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was drying out at the time. Fitzgerald said, "Listen, Bob. Don't you know that drinking is slow death?" Benchley smiled and replied, "So who's in a hurry?" A corrupt version of this exchange has been misattributed entirely to Benchley, reworded to appear as one of his quotable self-musings.

Was a teetotaler until age 31, after which he became a serious alcoholic. In his mid-50s Benchley suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and high blood pressure, and died from complications of both.

Interred at Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 40-41. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387