Robert Douglas Benton (September 29, 1932 – May 11, 2025) was an American film director and screenwriter. He, along with his co-writer David Newman, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. In 1979, he wrote and directed the film Kramer vs. Kramer, winning the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He won another Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the 1984 film Places in the Heart.

Benton was born in Dallas, Texas, to Dorothy (née Spaulding) and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee. He grew up in Waxahachie, Texas, and attended the University of Texas, graduating in 1953 with a bachelor of fine arts. Benton served two years in the army and then moved to New York City to pursue a master's degree in art history at Columbia University. However, he dropped out after a semester and joined the staff at Esquire magazine.

In 1959, he co-wrote the book The IN and OUT Book with Harvey Schmidt, published by Viking Press. He was the art director at Esquire in the early 1960s.

Benton won the Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Best Original Screenplay for Places in the Heart (1984).

Benton garnered three additional Oscar nominations: two for Best Original Screenplay for Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Late Show (1977), and one for Best Adapted Screenplay for Nobody's Fool (1994).

He also directed Twilight (1998) and Feast of Love (2007), and co-wrote the screenplays for Superman (1978) and The Ice Harvest (2005).

In 2006, he appeared in the documentary film Wanderlust.

Benton was married to artist Sallie Rendig, with whom he had a son, from 1964 until her death in 2023.