The 1975 movie of The Sunshine Boys is about to come out on Blu-ray and you can order a copy here. While you wait for it, you can read an interview with Richard Benjamin, who played the nephew in it…and quite well. Unmentioned in the interview is that he was the second choice for the role. Harvey Keitel was originally signed but during rehearsals, Neil Simon and director Herbert Ross decided he was wrong for it so Benjamin — who was quite right and good — replaced him. It is said Mr. Keitel is still fuming.
One caveat: In the interview, Mr. Benjamin tells how he met Stan Laurel and says that Laurel was then living in a six-story building in an apartment which Jerry Lewis paid for because Stan was broke. This is not so. Mr. Laurel was not broke. He was not swimming in cash but he was not broke and Lewis did not pay his rent at the Oceana Apartments — which, by the way, was a three-story building.
But I still admire the heck out of Richard Benjamin.
And just so we get this clear because almost no one does: When it came time to do the movie of The Sunshine Boys, they did screen tests of many old Jewish comedians including Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Jan Murray and others. The role of Willie Clark was won by Red Skelton and the role of Al Lewis went to Jack Benny. Then Skelton, for reasons no one quite understood, withdrew. He said it was because he found the script vulgar, which was a silly reason because (a) it wasn't in the slightest and (b) off-screen, Mr. Skelton was a pretty vulgar comedian. He was replaced by Walter Matthau so it was going to be Matthau and Benny. Then Benny got too sick to do the film and after he passed, he was replaced by George Burns, who was just about the only old Jew comic they hadn't auditioned in the first place. Thus, all three lead roles were filled with second choices. It's still a pretty good movie.