frequently left to marry G.I.s they met while touring. She once commented, "I lost seven in one year to America. Only the other week a girl slipped away from the stage. I thought she was going to the lavatory but she went off with a G.I. Nobody's seen her since." In the 1950s, she played summer seasons at Butlins holiday camps and Villa Marina on the Isle of Man. She continued to lead the band until the early 1980s, adapting to changing tastes by adding pop tunes to the band's repertoire in the 1960s. The band played for overseas-based servicemen until the 1970s. Towards the end of her career the band played mostly private functions as dance halls and variety theatres declined. The band disbanded in 1982 after a final performance at the Savoy Hotel, briefly reforming in 1983 for a performance on Russell Harty's television show to celebrate Benson's 70th birthday. Film and television appearances Benson appeared as herself with a speaking role in the feature film The Dummy Talks (1943), which starred Jack Warner. She and the band were scheduled to take part in a BBC Television broadcast in 1946, but were forced to cancel 48 hours before they were due to go on air following a dispute with the Stoll Theatres Corporation, who she was contracted to. Stoll advised her that she faced a ban from their theatres, saying that they considered that television "will be a great detriment to the theatre". Benson and the band appeared on the television series The Music Box in 1957. She was the subject of an episode of the UK tribute show This Is Your Life in 1976. Benson retired to the seaside resort of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, occasionally entertaining local holidaymakers on the electric organ. A few months before her death in 1993 she became close friends with the actor Sean Pertwee. Pertwee had sought her advice about his upcoming portrayal of a troubled trombonist and drag queen in the film Dirty Weekend. Personal life Benson married theatrical producer Caryll Stafford Clark in 1949; the couple divorced in 1951. In 1957, she married Top Sergeant Brantley Callaway of the United States Air Force, whom she met while performing in a summer season on the Isle of Man. The marriage ended after she refused to accompany him when he returned to the United States in 1963 and they were divorced in 1964.