Rita Romilly Benson (September 7, 1900 – April 4, 1980) was an American stage actress, acting teacher, and an early proponent of

Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff ( – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 19 ...

's teachings in America.

Biography

Rita Romilly was born in 1900, to a successful Viennese businessman and a retired opera singer. She first lived in England before settling in New York City. Rita, trained as an actress, graduated from the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

under its founder, Charles Jehlinger. By the 1920s, she was settled in New York and performing on- and off- Broadway. She did not have a long career on the stage before becoming a teacher, but her Broadway performances included roles as the "Sweet Maiden" in George M. Cohan's "The Tavern" (1921); Hazel Williams in "A Man's Man" (1925); Christina in "Easter One Day More" (1926); Hildegarde Sandbury in "The Unchastened Woman" (1926); and Masha in Tolstoy's "

The Living Corpse ''The Living Corpse'' () is a Russian play by Leo Tolstoy. Although written around 1900, it was only published shortly after his death—Tolstoy had never considered the work finished. An immediate success, it is still performed. Arthur Hopkins ...

" (1929).

She was a long time teacher at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and later became its director. While at the academy, she taught many young actors who would later become bigger stage and film stars, including

Lauren Bacall Betty Joan Perske (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014), professionally known as Lauren Bacall ( ), was an American actress. She was named the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the America ...

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...

, and

Colleen Dewhurst Colleen Rose Dewhurst (June 3, 1924 – August 22, 1991) was a Canadian-American actress mostly known for theatre roles. She was a renowned interpreter of the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, and her career also encompassed film, early dra ...

. She also privately taught accomplished actors, including

Uta Hagen Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' by Edward Albee, who called her "a ...

and

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

. Benson was

's drama coach when he got his role in Othello. Benson, a lifelong friend of Carl Van Vechten, was, like Vechten, a white fixture and frequent host of the 1920s and 30s

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...

social scene. According to Van Vechten, Rita's personality "demanded she be popular, well-liked, and the 'hostess with the mostest'." It was in her role as social hostess that she met

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American and British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910. Early in his ...

, who briefly lived in New York in 1927–8. In his autobiography he recalls Benson's home as a place where "''artists and writers gathered, and Paul Robeson sang, and there was no formality of dress or speech."'' Epstein would later sculpt a portrait bust of Benson when she visited England in 1937. Benson was an important early student of

George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff ( – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 1 ...

from 1922 until his death in 1948. After his death, she continued to practice and spread Gurdjieff's beliefs, founding, with others, the New York

Gurdjieff Foundation G. I. Gurdjieff's teaching and practice inspired the formation of many groups organized as Foundations, Institutes, and Societies many of which are now connected by the International Association of the Gurdjieff Foundations (IAGF). After his deat ...

. In 1934, she married Martin W. Benson, another follower of Gurdjieff. Benson died in New York in 1980.

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Rita Romilly 1900 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from New York City American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni