Rita Bennett
Nude

Decades before home viewers watched Julie Benz play fictional character Rita Bennett on Showtime’s serial killer series Dexter (2006-2013), movie goers ogled the killer curves on the late actress Rita Bennett. After leaving home as a teen, the shapely brunette began modeling. Soon, she parlayed her camera-ready face and fab frame into acting — primarily working in skin flicks with softcore directors such as Joseph W. Sarno, Barry Mahon, and William Rose. A sunbather in The Sex Killer (165), a prostitute in Protective Society Prostitute (1966), and a call girl in Lusting Hours (1967) were among some of the starlet’s uncredited film roles. Art even imitated life when Rita (who worked as a stripper off screen) was cast as a stripper in the X-rated comedy High Rise (1973); the Oscar-nominated movie All That Jazz (1979); and the art-house film John and Mary (1969). The latter stars Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, but Ms. Bennett’s nude boobs were the true scene stealers! Still, Mr. Skin was more turned on by her titillating turn in Vibrations (1968). The flesh-filled fantasy features Maria Lease, Marianne Prevost, and Rita’s naked T&A! By the mid-1980s, Rita retired from acting and stripping to focus on animal welfare. Yet she went out with a bang. That is, unlike many mainstream actresses who’d do anything to get into an esteemed pic, Rita wound up in Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece Raging Bull (1980), heralded as the #1 sports film by the AFI. Suffice it to say, this naked knockout went out swinging!