Ben Piazza

Ben Piazza (1933–1991) was a prolific American actor, playwright, and author known for his versatile character roles in film, television, and theater. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Piazza graduated from Princeton University in 1955 and joined the Actors Studio, quickly gaining acclaim for Broadway performances in Edward Albee’s The American Dream, The Zoo Story and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He achieved Hollywood fame with roles in The Hanging Tree (1959), The Blues Brothers (1980), Mask (1985), and The Bad News Bears (1976), alongside recurring TV roles in Dallas as Walt Driscoll and guest spots in The A-Team, Matlock and The Rockford Files. Piazza also wrote the novel The Exact and Very Strange Truth (1964) and several plays; he died in 1991 from AIDS-related cancer, five years after his final appearance as Dr. Rawlings on Santa Barbara.