Back home

Rita Bennett

Date of birth: 1941-01-26

Place of birth: Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, USA

Known for: Acting

Also known as: Joanna Cunningham, Rita A. Bennett, Sarah Davenport, Elizabeth Sunburst

Rita Bennett

Biography

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.

Movie Credits

Some of My Best Friends Are...
2.1

Some of My Best Friends Are...

1971-10-27

Regulars gather at The Blue Jay, a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, to celebrate Christmas

All That Jazz
3.8

All That Jazz

1979-12-16

Joe Gideon is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in mus

Prostitutes Protective Society
2.5

Prostitutes Protective Society

1966-01-01

Madame Sue runs a successful Prostitute operation in the heart of NYC, and as it should happen, The

Decameron '69
1.3

Decameron '69

1969-01-01

Inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century collection of novellas known as The Decameron, this in

The Diary of Knockers McCalla
0.5

The Diary of Knockers McCalla

1968-05-01

Obscure sexploitation feature charting a young girl's descent from virginal bride to total slut.

Come Play with Me
0.5

Come Play with Me

1968-01-01

Jan Cousins, brutally raped by her date, returns to boarding school, and there she is confronted by

Going Down for the 3rd Time
0

Going Down for the 3rd Time

1969-03-05

Three female spies are assigned to break up an international spy ring and liberate three of their co

Teresa... Darling
0

Teresa... Darling

1969-10-22

Married woman is thrown for a loop when her husband tells her that, before their recent marriage, hi

The Secret Dream Models of Oliver Nibble
1

The Secret Dream Models of Oliver Nibble

1967-01-01

The film starts out B&W and shows Oliver Nibble being berated by his wife. They go to a cinema and O

The Love Cult
1.8

The Love Cult

1966-01-01

A magician/hypnotist gets the idea that he can make more money (and have a better time) by starting

Raging Bull
4

Raging Bull

1980-11-14

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destro

The Sex Killer
1.6

The Sex Killer

1967-07-05

A loner who works in a mannequin factory stalks and strangles women in Times Square.

Professor Lust
1

Professor Lust

1967-11-30

A sex-crazed Jekyll & Hyde riff wherein an elderly professor uses a maysterious chemical to turn him

Crazy Wild and Crazy
1.4

Crazy Wild and Crazy

1964-12-01

A photographer tries to show us in the audience how to make a nudie-cutie, only for everything to go

The Projectionist
2.8

The Projectionist

1970-10-17

A projectionist bored with his everyday life begins fantasizing about his being one of the superhero

Shame, Shame, Everybody Knows Her Name
0

Shame, Shame, Everybody Knows Her Name

1969-10-07

A pretty young girl arrives in New York City to make it in "the Big Apple", but winds up getting inv

Vibrations
2.5

Vibrations

1968-01-01

Barbara, a frustrated writer who is also sexually frustrated, seeks to recharge her life by moving i

Too Much Too Often!
2.5

Too Much Too Often!

1968-06-26

A male escort spirals into chaos as he navigates the dark underbelly of his hedonistic world, battli

Lusting Hours
1.8

Lusting Hours

1967-01-01

Presented as an inquiry into the ways of lust, this film is staged as a documentary. It moves from r

Is There Sex After Death?
1.9

Is There Sex After Death?

1971-10-24

Driving through New York City in his Sexmobile, Dr. Harrison Rogers of the Bureau of Sexological Inv

Confessions of a Psycho Cat
2.5

Confessions of a Psycho Cat

1968-02-01

A deranged, wealthy woman offers $100,000 to three men if they can stay alive for 24 hours in Manhat

Diary of a Swinger
0.5

Diary of a Swinger

1967-09-15

Jeannie relates her life story to her shrink.

Sin in the City
0.5

Sin in the City

1966-07-06

Three girls head from boarding school to NYC, arriving by bus at Port Authority and vowing to "get i

File X for Sex: The Story of the Perverted
1

File X for Sex: The Story of the Perverted

1967-01-01

Sex film about a series of case study sketches collected by a man studying abnormal sexual behavior.

High Rise
3.5

High Rise

1973-02-02

A young woman in New York City goes out looking for an apartment and finds herself getting caught up

Flying Acquaintances
1.4

Flying Acquaintances

1973-01-01

Meet New York's most sexually charged circle of friends. There's the stewardess who can't wait to tr

Nude in Charcoal
2.4

Nude in Charcoal

1961-03-01

June, a beautiful, yet naive, young art student is lured into a relationship of unbridled lust by a

The Bed and How to Make It!
2.5

The Bed and How to Make It!

1966-12-04

The motel had 70 beds and she knew them all.