Robert Benton, who co-wrote movies such as Bonnie & Clyde and directed films such as Kramer Vs. Kramer and Places in the Heart, died at his home in Manhattan on Sunday at age 92. His passing was confirmed to the New York Times by Marisa Forzano, his assistant and manager.

Benton was born in during the Depression in Waxahachie, Texas, and many of his films echoed that milieu. In the early ’60s, he got a job at Esquire during the magazine’s golden age when it helped pioneer the New Journalism movement. It was also the prelude to the magazine’s great, high-concept covers.

Benton’s first screenplay was Bonnie and Clyde, co-written with David Newman, who would become a frequent collaborator. After becoming fascinated with the criminal couple’s Depression-era story, Benton and Newman decamped to the heartland to interview people who knew them and get a sense of what the film might be.