Rita Romilly

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 the United States. Born in 1900 to a Viennese businessman and a retired opera singer, she spent her early years in England before relocating to New York City.

Romilly trained as an actress at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she studied under the institution's founder, Charles Jehlinger. By the 1920s she was performing on and off Broadway, with stage credits spanning from 1920 to 1929. Her Broadway roles included the Sweet Maiden in George M. Cohan's The Tavern in 1921, Hazel Williams in A Man's Man in 1925, Christina in Easter One Day More in 1926, Hildegarde Sandbury in The Unchastened Woman in 1926, and Masha in Tolstoy's The Living Corpse in 1929. Additional Broadway productions from this period include Genius and the Crowd.

Following her performing career, Romilly joined the faculty of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and eventually became its director. Among the students she taught at the institution were Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, and Colleen Dewhurst. She also worked privately with established performers, including Uta Hagen and Paul Robeson. She served as Robeson's drama coach during his preparation for the role of Othello.

A lifelong friend of Carl Van Vechten, Romilly was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance social scene of the 1920s and 1930s, frequently hosting gatherings that brought together artists and writers. The sculptor Jacob Epstein, who lived briefly in New York in 1927 and 1928, recalled her home as a place where artists and writers gathered, Paul Robeson sang, and there was no formality of dress or speech. Epstein later created a portrait bust of Romilly when she visited England in 1937.

Romilly became a student of the philosopher George Gurdjieff in 1922 and continued in that practice until his death in 1948. She subsequently helped found the New York Gurdjieff Foundation to carry on and disseminate his teachings. In 1934 she married Martin W. Benson, also a follower of Gurdjieff. She died in New York on April 4, 1980.