Robert Benton, prolific filmmaker known for "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Kramer vs. Kramer," dies at 92

Robert Benton, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who helped reset the rules in Hollywood as the co-creator of "Bonnie and Clyde," and later received mainstream validation as the writer-director of "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Places in the Heart," has died at age 92.

Benton's son, John Benton, said that he died Sunday at his home in Manhattan of "natural causes."

During a 40-year screen career, the Texas native received six Oscar nominations and won three times: for writing and directing "Kramer vs. Kramer" and for writing "Places in the Heart." He was widely appreciated by actors as attentive and trusting, and directed Oscar-winning performances by Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Sally Field. Although severe dyslexia left him unable to read more than a few pages at a time as a child, he wrote and directed film adaptations of novels by Philip Roth, E.L. Doctorow and Richard Russo, among others.