Acting
Lovely, shapely, and captivating brunette Rita Bennett was born on January 26, 1941 in Glen Cove, New York. An only child, Rita grew up in a dysfunctional household in Long Island. Unhappy with her turbulent home life, Bennett focused primarily on her burgeoning comely looks as a teenager. Rita left home at age sixteen and moved into a room in a Manhattan apartment with five girls who she barely knew. Bennett soon started modeling and was featured in ads in both newspapers and magazines as well as on billboards (she even was the face of an ad campaign for a Manhattan department store). Rita appeared in her first soft-core film in 1961. Among the notable East Coast soft-core cinema directors that Bennett appeared in films for are Joseph W. Sarno, Barry Mahon, William Rose, and John Amero and Lem Amero. Outside of acting, Rita also worked as a stripper in the tri-state area on the East Coast and managed to land the occasional small role in a major mainstream movie in which she was cast to type as a stripper. Bennett quit acting and stripping in the mid-1980's and went on to focus on fashion and animal welfare instead. Alas, Rita had serious problems with alcoholism throughout her life. Bennett died in 2017. Her body was unclaimed and ultimately wound up buried in a potter's field.
movieRaging Bull
1980
Emma - Miss 48's
movieAll That Jazz
1979
Stripper
movieHigh Rise
1973
Stripper
Is There Sex After Death?
1971
Bambi Ferguson (uncredited)
movieThe Projectionist
1970
Harem Girl (uncredited)
movieShame, Shame, Everybody Knows Her Name
1969
Go-Go Dancer
movieConfessions of a Psycho Cat
1968
Sex Inserts
movieCome Play with Me
1968
Clarice
movieVibrations
1968
Georgia (uncredited)
movieDiary of a Swinger
1967
Jeannie (as Joanna Cunningham)
movieThe Sex Killer
1967
Sunbather
movieLusting Hours
1967
Call Girl (uncredited)
movieProstitutes Protective Society
1966
Prostitute
movieThe Love Cult
1966
Cultist
movieCrazy Wild and Crazy
1964
Girl Running in Slow Motion (uncredited)
movieNude in Charcoal
1961
Backstage Model