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Ben Powers
Ben Powers as Keith
Ben Powers as Keith Anderson
Personal Information
Gender: Male
Birth name: Alton Adelbert Powers
Born: (1950-07-05)July 5, 1950
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died April 6, 2015(2015-04-06) (aged 64)
Deathplace: New Bedford, MA, U.S.
Career/Family Information
Occupation/
Career:
Actor
Years active: 1975–1985
Character information
Appeared on: Good Times
Character played: Keith Anderson
Episode
appearances:
24 episodes in Season 6
Good-Times-1


Alton Adelbert Powers, known professionally as Ben Powers, was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Thelma Evans' husband, Keith Anderson, during the sixth and final season of the 1970s TV Show Good Times (1978–1979). He also did a season of the revival of the NBC-TV comedy/variety series Laugh-In in the late 1970s. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Providence, Rhode Island.

Biography[]

Ben got his first Hollywood acting break in the 1970s with Adrian Hall, director at Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence, Rhode Island. In addition to stage acting, Powers did stand-up comedy, amazing impressions, and sang standards as well as original music he wrote. He was discovered by a Hollywood agent in Providence, and signed on to do movies, and entertained at the Playboy club in Las Vegas. In an interview conducted with his former co-star, Bern Nadette Stanis, Powers was residing in Providence, Rhode Island.

Good Times, other TV show roles[]

After Good Times, Powers guest starred on a number of popular TV dramas and sitcom shows of the 1980s, including Gimme a Break, Flamingo Road, The Greatest American Hero, The New Odd Couple with former Sanford and Son star Demond Wilson and Ron Glass, and Laverne & Shirley.

Ben was also a regular on the CBS-TV hit detective drama show Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer in 1984-1985, until the star, Stacy Keach, was arrested in London for cocaine smuggling and the show was canceled while Keach did jail time in England. Powers had left the Hollywood scene at the end of 1985, before the detective series was picked up again.

Film roles[]

In the early 1980s, Powers appeared in a handful of big-screen films which included Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Things Are Tough All Over and The Man Who Loved Women as well as a number of made-for-TV movies, mostly in smaller supporting roles.

Powers died on April 6, 2015 at the age of 64.[1][2][3]

References[]

  1. Sad News: "Good Times actor Ben Powers passes away at 64"
  2. Ben Powers Dies: ‘Good Times’ Actor Was 64. Deadline.com (April 18, 2015). Retrieved on April 18, 2015.
  3. "'Good Times' actor Ben Powers dies at 64", April 19, 2015. Retrieved on April 20, 2015. 

External links[]

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