Jay Benedict

Jay Benedict (April 11, 1951 - April 4, 2020 ) was a American actor and voice actor, best known in the UK for his role as Major John Kieffer in the TV Series Foyle's War.

Career
Benedict was born in Burbank, California, but his family left the United States for Europe when he was a child. He has lived and worked in Europe since the 1960's. His first film role, at the age of 11, was in the 1963 Tony Saytor film La Bande à Bobo. He would later stage act early in his career, with notable credits such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the Kings Road in the early 70's and Sweet Bird Youth.

In 1977 he played Deak in the Tosche Station scenes in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope which were deleted from the film before release. Subsequent film appearances include the extended, "Special Edition" version of Aliens (Russ Jorden), The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (Didier le Clair), Icon (Carey Jordan), The White Knight (Turkish Ambassador), The Russia House (Spikey), Saving Grace (the MC) and Rewind. In 2003 he was third lead in Vicente Aranda's version of Carmen, playing Don Prospero.

In addition to English, he also worked in French and Spanish, and had performed widely on the continent, appearing as Paul Matthiews in the French day-time soap opera Cap des Pins and William Wilbur in Le Grand Charles (a French mini series on Charles De Gaulle), among many other roles.

He was married to actress Phoebe Scholfield and together they run Sync or Swim, an ADR/Loop group. They have also translated and written movies together - such as The Card Player (Il Cartaio) - which they translated into English.

In what little spare time he had, Jay reviewed books for the literary website Vulpes Libris and felt he'd failed dismally if his review didn't elicit at least ONE outraged response.

TV Series

 * Star Fleet (1980-1981) - Shiro Hagen, Number One, Star Fleet Cruiser 1 Pilot (ep. 1), Communications Officer (eps. 1-2, 4 & 6) , Pluto Astrofighter Leader (ep. 1) , Pluto Base Missile Operator (ep. 1) , Moonbase PA Voice (eps. 1 & 6) , Communications Officer #2 (eps. 2, 4 & 23) , Moonbase Radio Officer (ep. 2) , Ocean Fleet Leader (ep. 2) , EDF Officer 1 (ep. 2) , EDF Data Center Voice (ep. 3) , EDF PA Voice (ep. 3) , Mars Ocean Fleet Pilot (ep. 6)

Films

 * Gamera (1965) - Atomic Energy Research Institute Staff A, Chidori Maru Navigator, Chidori Maru Radioman, Fish Seller B, Fleeing Citizen, Kenny's Schoolteacher, Plant Worker, Radio Soldier, Refinery Plant Worker, Reporter B
 * Fugitive Alien (1986) - Rocky
 * Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (1987) - Rocky
 * Mighty Jack (1987) - Jerry

OVAs & Specials

 * Time Stranger (1985) - Leonardo Medici Bundle (Manga UK Dub)
 * Crying Freeman (1988-1994) - Chen (ep. 2) (Manga UK Dub)
 * Angel Cop (1989-1994) - Asura

Anime Films

 * Space Adventure Cobra (1982) - Cassius (Manga UK Dub)
 * Project A-ko (1986) - Captain Napolipolita