Dirk Benedict
Actor Dirk Benedict played the womanizing, cigar-smoking, card playing and incredibly skilled Colonial Warrior known as Lieutenant Starbuck in the Original Battlestar Galactica series.
Born in Montana in 1945, Benedict (his last name a stage name given to himself after enjoying a serving of Eggs Benedict) was an excellent high school athlete and aspiring musician.
His acting career began with an odd bet with his college football team members, which landed him in a leading role in a show at Whitman College in the state of Washington, and starring in many other productions. Graduating from college with a degree in Music, Benedict decided to pursue acting as a career, under the tutelage of John Fernald. Benedict played many roles in summer stock, performing many roles in classic plays by Shakespeare and Ipsen.
Benedict moved to New York and found supporting roles in several Broadway shows, including the leading role in the play, "Butterflies Are Free" with the late Gloria Swanson, who portrayed his mother.
Benedict found himself in small but interesting roles in some TV series, including work in "Hawaii Five-O" and the lead in a one-season show by TV show mogul Aaron Spelling called "Chopper One." Benedict left acting for a few years in a lifelong desire to visit every state in the U.S.
Benedict's casting as "Starbuck" in "Battlestar Galactica" made him nationally famous. He made an appearance on the final episode of "Galactica 1980", entitled "The Return of Starbuck." This episode is considered by fans of the Original Series as the only significant contribution from "Galactica 1980," a show otherwise considered noncanonical by many.
After these series, Benedict found popularity again as the character of Templeton "Faceman" Peck on the long-running early-1980s TV series, "The A-Team," produced by "Galactica"'s owner, Universal. In the show's opening credits in later seasons, a Centurion is shown walking by Benedict's character, who gives an peculiarly humorous look of recognition of the robot as an in-joke to the actor's past role as Starbuck.
Benedict returned to the stage after "Galactica" as well, gaining fame in many popular roles there, and played guest and starring roles in a handful of TV movies and series.
As casting for the Singer/DeSanto Continuation Project of a new "Battlestar Galactica" series in 2001 began, Benedict was slated to play an older Starbuck in the new series. However, the project folded due to Bryan Singer's movie directing comittments and delays on the TV industry caused by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Benedict (with fellow Original Series actor Richard Hatch) loaned his voice talents as the Original Series Starbuck to the Battlestar Galactica video game that appeared in 2003. The characters of Starbuck and Apollo are available as wingmen pilots for the game player, using a game cheat.
Benedict has yet to be cast in the Re-imagined Series. He was considered for the role of the Armistice Officer, but passed on the project. In another instance, he was considered to play a cigar-smoking God of the Cylons in a dream sequence with Gaius Baltar in a Season 1 episode, but the idea was later dismissed. The original "good mood" towards the new series resulted in a meeting with Katee Sackhoff at a Starbucks coffee shop as seen in the mini-series Lowdown. Benedict passes a cigar to Sackhoff in a kind of "passing the torch" ceremony.
However, in an article from Dreamwatch magazine entitled "Starbuck: Lost in Castration" [1], Benedict (writing in May, 2004) expresses his true opinion on the dark negativity and weaker characterization of the male characters in the Re-imagined Series, as well as the overall commercialization of the series. Benedict also criticizes the changes made to Starbuck as a character archetype into Kara Thrace (which Benedict derisively calls "Stardoe" throughout his commentary). One passage reads:
- "One thing is certain. In the new un-imagined, re-imagined world of Battlestar Galactica everything is female driven. The male characters, from Adama on down, are confused, weak, and wracked with indecision while the female characters are decisive, bold, angry as hell, puffing cigars (gasp) and not about to take it any more."
The final passage reads:
- "And if you don't enjoy the show [. . .], it's not the fault of those re-imaginative technocrats that brought them to you. It is your fault. You and your individual instincts, tastes, judgement. Your refusal to let go of the memory of the show that once was. You just don't know what is good for you. But stay tuned. After another 13 episodes (and millions of dollar of marketing), you will see the light. You, your instincts, your judgement, are wrong. McDonald's is the best hamburger on the planet, Coca-Cola the best drink. Stardoe is the best Viper Pilot in the Galaxy. And Battlestar Galactica, contrary to what your memory tells you, never existed before the Re-imagination of 2003.
- "I disagree. But perhaps, you had to be there."
Benedict lives in Montana with his sons, George and Roland.