Rita Romilly Benson

Rita Romilly Benson (September 7, 1900 – April 4, 1980) was an American stage actress, acting teacher, and an early proponent of Gurdjieff'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 under its founder, Charles Jehlinger. By the 1920s, she was settled in New York and performing on- and off- Broadway. She also privately taught accomplished actors, including Uta Hagen and Paul Robeson. was, like Vechten, a white fixture and frequent host of the 1920s and 30s Harlem Renaissance social scene. According to Van Vechten, Rita's personality "demanded she be popular, well-liked, and the 'hostess with the mostest'." Epstein would later sculpt a portrait bust of Benson when she visited England in 1937.

Benson was an important early student of George Gurdjieff 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.