by Hal Erickson
biography
Apple-cheeked comic actor Benny Baker was a moderately popular Broadway musical comedy performer when he headed to Hollywood in 1934. After his first film, Annapolis Farewell, Baker brightened several Paramount musicals, usually in milquetoastish support of such performers as Martha Raye. After his first brush with moviemaking, Baker returned to Broadway, co-starring in such major productions as DuBarry Was a Lady and Let's Face It. He returned to Tinseltown as a character actor, often in whoops-you-missed-him unbilled roles. Shortly before his retirement in the early 1970s, Benny Baker was featured along with a host of other venerable performers in the SRO Broadway revival of No, No Nanette.
