The A-Team Actors
Dirk Benedict – Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck
Dirk Benedict
Played Faceman
 Birth
Name : Dirk Niewoehner
Date Of Birth : 1st March 1945
Place Of Birth : Helena Montana, USA
Spouses : Toni Hudson (1986-1995).
Children : Son’s – George and Roland (both by Toni Hudson).
Dirk Benedict is known to millions as Templeton Peck – Faceman from
The A-Team and Lieutenant Starbuck in BattleStar Galactica.
Dirk was brought up in Montana, White Sulphur Springs a very peaceful place
with no cinema screens or televisions extremely detached from a Hollywood lifestyle.
While growing up in the country Dirk had two passions, one playing football
and also playing music, he even had his very own Dixieland Dance Band. Dirk
got a football scholarship to attend Whitman College in Washington. This was
to be the setting for Dirk’s first appearance on stage, in the spring
musical “Showboat”. This was the start of a long love with theatre
work and carried on playing many roles in the universities theatre department.
Dirk went on to train as an actor and his long career began. Dirk’s first
main film role was shot in Sweden on a film called “Georgia, Georgia” in
1972.
Dirk returned to America to do some plays on Broadway where he was to build
a very special relationship with one Gloria Swanson. Dirk had already been
introduced to a macrobiotic diet but Ms Swanson would take him under her wing
and be able to help him even more.
After being in Sweden Dirk went to Greece for a journey he couldn’t
have even imagined. After drastically changing his diet and now leading the
macrobiotic lifestyle Dirk became very sick in Greece. This was because for
years Dirk’s body was use to more rich food and now was getting rid of
excess food stores.
This was the start of Dirk Benedict’s Kamikaze Cowboy ride and the new
Dirk Benedict was being born. Dirk later found he had cancer of the prostate,
this is as you can maybe start to imagine devastating and doctors wanted to
start traditional medical treatment straight away but Dirk saw it more as an
adventure and was to treat his cancer the macrobiotic way. Dirk did manage
to cure himself of prostate cancer while away from society in a cottage in
New Hampshire and soon was ready to return as the reborn and changed Dirk Benedict.
Dirk Benedict came back to Hollywood and from 1978-1979 he was known to millions
as the dashing Lieutenant Starbuck from BattleStar Galactica. Dirk was now
a household name even though BattleStar Galactica only lasted one season.
Dirk’s next big role was to come from 1983 – 1987 as Lieutenant
Templeton Peck or to his friends as Faceman in The A-Team. Dirk played the
conman from The A-Team and did a legendary job. This was Dirk’s best
ever role on TV and soon kids around the world would be practicing their very
own Faceman cons!
Dirk turned professional writer in 1991 when his first autobiography got published
titled, Confessions Of A Kamikaze Cowboy. This book is all about Dirk’s
journey from sleep old Montana to the bright lights of Hollywood. It also covers
how Dirk got over prostate cancer in 1975 using the macrobiotic diet. Dirk
now also has a second book published which is titled “And Then We Went
Fishing”. This is all about fatherhood to his two boys George and Roland
and losing a father. Dirk is currently working on his third book which we hope
he finish’s soon. Dirk’s books are a must for anyone who wants
to know the real Dirk Benedict.
I have meet Dirk a couple of times now and he is the most down to earth and
genuine guy you could ever wish to meet. He was not only a hero in TV land
but in real life too.
Dirk Benedict an Actor/Writer/Director/Woodchopper/Cook/Dad/Legend
Dirk Benedict's quotes
On the A-Team: "I enjoyed it immensely. By nature I'm terribly serious,
so as an actor I tend to want to be silly. It was a comedic show, almost like
a cartoon. We just had to hang on to enough reality to make it possible for
adults to watch it. The actors I worked with, especially Mr T and Dwight Schultz
were very funny people. It was pretty much four years of laughter."
On making the A-Team: "The problem is that the people who created the
show had no idea what it was. They didn't understand what the show was because
it became something other than what they intended. The network hated us; the
people in authority were like the military in the show, trying to control us.
We took control of it. We made it much funnier than it was, and we made it
much more politically incorrect than it was intended to be. All the liberals
in Hollywood hated it; they hated the cigars, the guns, the bravado and the
fact we always thought we were right."
"I'm only proud of two things in my life; one is my children, the second
is my first book."
Dirk Benedict has also in the past hosted fan cruises. For anyone
who doesn’t know what this is, basically you go on this specially organised
cruise but this is unlike any other, the cruise is hosted by the Faceman himself,
Mr Dirk Benedict. For further details please visit the organisers web page
which can be found at Cruise
Events. |
