Her career ended due to an affliction with schizophrenia.
Studied at Swathmore College for two years and subsequently at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.
In November 1959, Benton began studying drama under Sanford Meisner, a famous Broadway drama coach who had just become director of a new drama school at 20th Century Fox Studios in Hollywood, where Benton had just been signed to a contract.