Edward Benton

Edward Benton is a sailor in the Royal Navy in Rankin/Bass' 2nd Christmas special, Cricket on the Hearth.

He is voiced by Ed Ames.

Biography
Edward is first seen hugging his weeping fiancée since he must leave for a voyage lasting several years. They share a tearful farewell and Bertha promises to always be faithful to him.

Two days before Christmas when Edward disguises as an old man, Caleb Plummer bumps into him and invites him to come home with him and Bertha. Inside the house, he sits down looking at Bertha's blind eyes. Suddenly, she gets surprised when he mentions her name. Caleb then declares that they are all one family, and that Christmas is a time for mankind to come together. On Christmas Eve, when he was about to tell Bertha the truth about him, she happily tells him that she has decided to marry Tackleton which made him leave in heartbreak.

At midnight, after when the toys took Cricket Crocket to Edward, who was sleeping, they remove his disguise, and after when their time was up, he wakes up and Cricket demands to know why he never told Bertha and Caleb who he was. He tells him that he came directly to Bertha once he returned home, but blamed himself for her sudden blindness. He felt guilty stepping back into her life after what he feels he did to her, so he adopted the disguise so he could still Bertha with her without anyone knowing. He finally gathered up the courage to tell her the truth, only to see how happy she was when Tackleton proposed to her and decided not to take that happiness away from her. He came back tonight to have one last look at Bertha before she is married. After when Cricket wakes her up, she was thrilled to find Edward again and the two get married right away.

The next morning, a jealous Tackleton arrives to see that Bertha has already been wed to Edward. He starts to cry over how nobody loves him, but Bertha tells him that there will always be a place in her heart for him.