Background
She was born Rita Marie Hamilton in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of six children.
She was born Rita Marie Hamilton in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of six children.
She was the younger sister of producer Joe Hamilton and the sister-in-law of Carol Burnett. Hamilton made her film debut in a supporting role in the Radio-Keith-Orpheum Radio Pictures drama On Our Very Own. In March 1953, she was named "Mission Optometry" by the New York State Association of Optometrists.
In mid-1955, Hamilton signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox.
Shortly after signing with Fox, Hamilton (along with nine other up-and-coming actresses including Anita Ekberg and Lori Nelson) was named a "Deb Star of 1955". That same year, Hamilton was cast in her first major role in the drama Good Morning, Mission Dove, playing Jincey Baker.
The following year, Hamilton asked to be released from her contract with Fox. Throughout the remainder of the 1950s, Hamilton appeared in guest roles on Perry Mason, Meet McGraw, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, The Texan and 77 Sunset Strip.
In 1959, Hamilton appeared in a supporting role opposite Frank Sinatra in Never So Few.
Later that same year, she signed with Hecht Hill Lancaster (the production company partially owned by actor Burt Lancaster) and was cast in the Western The Unforgiven (1960). In addition to television work, Hamilton also had a nightclub act that she performed at Lou Black"s Living Room, a club in Montreal. She remained with the production until mid-1964.
In 1965, she returned to television with the guest starring role on the Bewitched episode "Pleasure O"Reilly" in which she played the title character.
The following year, Henry G. Saperstein cast Hamilton in what would be her final film role, a singer in the Japanese Kaiju movie, The War of the Gargantuas. Billed as a "Special Guest Star", Hamilton performs the song "The Words Get Stuck In My Throat" which was later covered by Devo.
Hamilton"s final onscreen role was in a 1967 episode of the Western The Virginian. After retiring from acting, Hamilton married Beverly Hills lawyer Donald Thorman Rosenfeld in February 1968.
They had a daughter, Dana, in October 1968.