Robby Benson A Lifetime In The Spotlight And Still Going Strong After 60 Years

Former teen heartthrob Robby Benson has been in the public eye since he was 8 years old — and six decades later he’s still enjoying a long and successful career.

Nowadays, he’s got a juicy role on the TV drama “Severance,” and he’s grateful to have escaped the teen idol curse.

Starting on stage at an early age led Robby to star in the 1978 love story “Ice Castles,” which turned him into a teen idol and coverboy on magazines like Tiger Beat, a fact that always surprised him.

“I never really saw myself as a teen idol, but I did have a really funny experience,” reveals Robby, now 69. “One night, I turn on the TV, and all of these young girls were going, ‘Oh my God, I saw him. I almost touched him.’ I thought, ‘Gee, I wonder who is in town.’ Then the TV cut to me. I was like, ‘What? Me?’ But I always took my fans seriously, as individuals, not just masses.”

Robby has also been lucky in love, in part, thanks to acting.

“I’ve really had a wonderful career,” he explains. “I went to Broadway to do ‘The Pirates of Penzance.’ That’s where I met my wife, Karla DeVito. We got married after I begged her for a year. And now we’ve been married for 43 years.”

The couple has two grown children — daughter Lyric Benson, 42, and 33-year-old son Zephyr Benson — who are also actors.

However, Robby’s health has not been smooth sailing. He’s had to endure four open-heart surgeries to repair a congenital heart valve defect.

“In my mid-20s, I needed my first open-heart surgery,” Robby recalls. “It changed the direction of everything. I had to completely reinvent myself, so I started directing and teaching.”

Robby’s directed episodes of sitcoms like “Friends,” “Ellen” and “Evening Shade,” on which he worked with the late Burt Reynolds. “I loved Burt,” Robby says. “He was a good man and became a good friend.”

He also directed the late John Ritter in “8 Simple Rules,” remembering, “I fell in love with him. He was willing to rehearse, he was willing to try. He was always willing to listen. I worked with him on his last episode that actually aired.”

Because he’s worn so many hats in show business, Benson never suffered from his teen idol reputation.

“I think a lot of it had to do with coming from the theater,” Robby says. “I’ve never had a problem being taken seriously.”