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Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress of Spanish and English descent who reached fame during the 1940s as one of the era's leading sex symbols. She was sometimes called "The Love Goddess" or "The Great American Love Goddess," and was celebrated as an expert dancer and great beauty.

Early Career

Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino, the daughter of Eduardo Cansino (Sr.) and Volga Haworth (sic) in Brooklyn, New York. She was trained as a dancer from childhood, and was on stage by the age of six as a member of The Cansinos, a famous family of Spanish dancers working in vaudeville. At age sixteen Rita attracted the attention of film producers as part of "The Dancing Cansinos" and was signed by Fox Studios in 1935. After her option was not renewed by Fox, Rita freelanced at minor film studios before signing with Columbia Pictures in 1937.

Rita's metamorphosis began after a name change from Rita Cansino to Rita Hayworth and extensive painful electrolysis to raise her hairline. After two more years of minor roles she gave an impressive performance in Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings (1939) as part of an ensemble cast headed by Cary Grant . Her sensitive portrayal of a disillusioned wife sparked the interest of other studios. Between assignments at Columbia Pictures she was borrowed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer for George Cukor's Susan and God (1940) with Joan Crawford and Warner Brothers for Raoul Walsh's The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney.

Rita achieved stardom while on loan to Fox Studios for Rouben Mamoulian's Blood and Sand (1941) starring Tyrone Power with her sizzling performance as the amoral and seductive Doña Sol des Muire. This Technicolor film forever branded her as one of Hollywood's most beautiful redheads. Ironically, Carole Landis was the original choice for the role but refused to dye her naturally blonde hair. Fox then borrowed Rita Hayworth from Columbia and dyed her raven hair to red which became her best remembered feature. Her stardom was solidified when she made the cover of Time Magazine as Fred Astaire's new dancing partner in "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941).

Super Stardom

The "love goddess" image was cemented with Bob Landry's 1941 Life magazine photograph of her (kneeling on a bed in a silk and lace nightgown), which caused a sensation and became (at over five million copies) one of the most requested wartime pinups. During World War II she ranked with Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner as the pinup girls most popular with servicemen. Rita would also become Columbia's biggest star of the 1940s, under the watchful eye of studio chief Harry Cohn, who recognized her value. After she made Tales of Manhattan (1942) opposite Charles Boyer, Cohn would not allow Hayworth to be loaned out to other studios.

Hayworth's well-known films include the musicals that made her famous: You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) (both with Fred Astaire, who wrote in his autobiography that Rita "danced with trained perfection and individuality"), My Gal Sal (1942) with Victor Mature, and her best known musical, Cover Girl (1944) with Gene Kelly. Although her singing voice was dubbed in her movies, Rita was one of Hollywood's best dancers, imbued with power, precision, tremendous enthusiasm, and an unearthly grace. Cohn continued to effectively showcase Hayworth's talents in Technicolor films: Tonight and Every Night (1945) with Lee Bowman, and Down to Earth (1947), with Larry Parks. Her erotic appeal was most notable in Gilda (1946), a black-and-white film noir directed by Charles Vidor, which encountered some difficulty with censors. This role — in which Hayworth in black satin performed a legendary one-glove striptease — made her into a cultural icon as the ultimate femme fatale. Alluding to her bombshell status, in 1946 her likeness was placed on the first nuclear bomb to be tested after World War II at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as part of Operation Crossroads.

Hayworth performed one of her best remembered dance routines, the samba from 1945's Tonight and Every Night, while pregnant with her first child, Rebecca Welles. Hayworth was the first dancer to partner both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on film - the others being Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Vera Ellen, and Leslie Caron.

Hayworth gave one of her most acclaimed performances in Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai (1948), though it failed at the box office. The failure was in part attributed to the fact that director/co-star Welles had Hayworth's famous red locks cut off and the rest dyed blonde for her role. This was done without Harry Cohn's knowledge or approval who was furious over the change. Her next film, The Loves of Carmen (1948) with Glenn Ford, was the first film co-produced by Columbia and Rita's own production company, The Beckworth Corporation (named for her daughter Rebecca). It was Columbia's biggest moneymaker for that year. She received a percentage of the profits from this and all of her subsequent films until 1955, when Hayworth dissolved Beckworth to pay off debts she owed to Columbia.

Marriage to Prince Aly Khan, and later career

Rita left her film career in 1948 to marry Prince Aly Khan, the heir to the Aga Khan, leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims. The couple moved to Europe, causing a media frenzy. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, in writing and directing 1954's The Barefoot Contessa, was said to have based his title character, Maria Vargas (played on film by Ava Gardner), on Hayworth's life and her marriage to Prince Aly Khan.

After the marriage collapsed in 1951, Hayworth returned to America with great fanfare to film a string of hit films: Affair in Trinidad (1952) with favorite costar Glenn Ford, Salome (1953) with Charles Laughton and Stewart Granger, and Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) with Jose Ferrer and Aldo Ray, for which her performance won critical acclaim. Then she was off the big screen for another four years, due mainly to a tumultuous marriage to singer Dick Haymes. In 1957, after making Fire Down Below with Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon, and her last musical Pal Joey with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak, Rita finally left Columbia. She got good reviews for her acting in such films as Separate Tables (1958) with Burt Lancaster and The Story on Page One (1960) with Anthony Franciosa, and continued working throughout the 1960s. Hayworth made her last film, The Wrath of God , in 1972.

Personal life

Naturally shy and reclusive, Hayworth was the antithesis of the characters she played. She once complained "Men go to bed with Gilda, but they wake up with me". She was close to her frequent co-star and next-door neighbour Glenn Ford.

According to Barbara Leaming's biography on Hayworth, If This Was Happiness, her relationships with men were often difficult due to the physical, sexual and emotional abuse she endured from her father at a young age. These revelations were made during interviews with Orson Welles in later years. She confided in him about the incest in particular, as well as several beatings. At one point in the biography Welles recalls that when Cansino tried to visit he would always have to throw him out. "He was a terrible man," Welles recalls. "And she really hated him. She couldn't deal with him at all."

Hayworth was married five times: first to Edward C. Judson (1937-1943), followed by actor-director Orson Welles (1943-1948, one daughter Rebecca Welles), to Prince Aly Khan (1949-1953, one daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan), then to actor-singer Dick Haymes (1953-1955), and finally to director James Hill (1958-1961). She also had a nephew named Richard Cansino.

Final years

After about 1960, Hayworth suffered from extremely early onset of Alzheimer's disease, which was not diagnosed until 1980. She continued to act in films until the early 1970s and made a well-publicized appearance on The Carol Burnett Show near the end of her career. In 1977, Hayworth was the recipient of the National Screen Heritage Award (see above photo). Lynda Carter starred in a 1983 biopic of her life. She lived in an apartment at the San Remo in New York City.

Following her death from Alzheimer's in 1987 at age 68, she was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

One of the major fundraisers for the Alzheimer's Association is the annual Rita Hayworth Gala, which are held in New York City and Chicago. Hayworth’s daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, has been the hostess for these events, which since 1985 have raised more than $42 million for the Association.

Continued Recognition

• In the world famous comic book/strip The Phantom, the mother of the 21st Phantom, Maude Thorne McPatrick, is drawn to resemble Rita Hayworth. In one story, she even worked as Hayworth's stunt double in a movie.
• A poster of Hayworth was used as a plot device in Stephen King's short story, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption from the Stephen King anthology Different Seasons (ISBN 0-751-50433-1).
• A clip from Gilda (1946) was used in the film version of The Shawshank Redemption (1994) which starred Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins.
• Rita Hayworth was placed 19th on the American Film Institute's list of the 25 greatest female movie stars of all time in 1999.
• Referenced in the 2001 film Mulholland Dr. when Laura Harring's character takes the name "Rita" after seeing a Gilda movie poster.
• In 2005, the White Stripes wrote a song titled "Take, Take, Take" on their album Get Behind Me Satan which humorously describes a man meeting Hayworth in a bar and pestering her for an autograph and a picture. She is also briefly mentioned in the song "White Moon" from the same album.
• Hayworth is one of the famous personalities mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue" as follows: "Rita Hayworth gave good face".
• In Salvador Plascencia's The People of Paper (ISBN 0-156-03211-2). Rita Hayworth is a sad, disenfranchised character. In the novel, she was made infamous for having sex with a lettuce picker.

Trivia

• Quote by actor Joseph Cotten: "No matter how bad the film, when Rita danced it was like watching one of nature's wonders in motion."
• Somerset Maugham said of Rita's performance in Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), based on his story Rain: "I couldn't be more delighted that it was in a screen version of one of my stories that she proved just how superb an actress she really is."
• Famous films Hayworth missed out on making: Ramona (1936), Casablanca (1942), Laura (1944), Dead Reckoning (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), From Here to Eternity (1953), and The Barefoot Contessa (1954).
• While not related by blood, Hayworth and Ginger Rogers did share an aunt and uncle by marriage.

Filmography

As Rita Cansino

• Anna Case in La Fiesta (1926) (short subject) (unconfirmed)
• Cruz Diablo (1934) (The Devil's Cross) (uncredited)
• In Caliente (1935) (scenes deleted)
• Under the Pampas Moon (1935)
• Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)
• Dante's Inferno (1935)
• Piernas de Seda "(Legs of Silk)"(1935) (uncredited)
• Paddy O'Day (1935)
• Professional Soldier (1935) (uncredited)
• Human Cargo (1936)
• Dancing Pirate (1936)
• Meet Nero Wolfe (1936)
• Rebellion (1936)
• Old Louisiana (1937)
• Hit the Saddle (1937)
• Trouble in Texas (1937)

As Rita Hayworth

• Criminals of the Air (1937)
• Girls Can Play (1937)
• The Game That Kills (1937)
• Life Begins with Love (1937) (uncredited)
• Paid to Dance (1937)
• The Shadow (1937)
• Who Killed Gail Preston? (1938)
• Special Inspector (1938)
• There's Always a Woman (1938)
• Convicted (1938)
• Juvenile Court (1938)
• The Renegade Ranger (1938)
• Homicide Bureau (1939)
• The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939)
• Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
• Music in My Heart (1940)
• Blondie on a Budget (1940)
• Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 6 (1940) (short subject)
• Susan and God (1940)
• The Lady in Question (1940)
• Angels Over Broadway (1940)
• The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
• Affectionately Yours (1941)
• Blood and Sand (1941)
• You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
• My Gal Sal (1942)
• Tales of Manhattan (1942)
• You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
• Show Business at War (1943) (short subject)
• Cover Girl (1944)
• Tonight and Every Night (1945)
• Gilda (1946)
• Down to Earth (1947)
• The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
• The Loves of Carmen (1948) (also producer)
• Champagne Safari (1952) (documentary)
• Affair in Trinidad (1952) (also producer)
• Salome (1953) (also producer)
• Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) (also producer)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Grows Up (1954) (short subject)
• Fire Down Below (1957)
• Pal Joey (1957)
• Separate Tables (1958)
• They Came to Cordura (1959)
• The Story on Page One (1959)
• The Happy Thieves (1962) (also producer)
• Lykke og krone (1962) (documentary)
• Circus World (1964)
• The Money Trap (1965)
• The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
• L'Avventuriero (1967) (The Rover)
• I Bastardi (1968) (The Cats)
• The Naked Zoo (1971)
• Road to Salina (1971)
• The Wrath of God (1972)

References

• Ringgold, Gene. The Films of Rita Hayworth: The Legend and Career of a Love Goddess (1974). IBSN 0-806-504-390.
• Kobal, John. Rita Hayworth The Time, the Place, the Woman (1977). ISBN 0-393-07526-5.
• Morella, Joe and Epstein, Edward Z. Rita: The Life of Rita Hayworth (1983). ISBN 0-385-29265-1.

External links

• Obituary, New York Times, May 16, 1987 - Rita Hayworth, Movie Legend, Dies
• Rita Hayworth Biography. A very thorough text, with dozens of photos.
• Rita Hayworth Photos
• Find-A-Grave profile for Rita Hayworth
• Rita Hayworth biography/filmography
• Rita HAYWORTH : Biographie, filmographie, galerie, etc.
• NPR: Rita Hayworth, Present at the Creation NPR archive segment on the creation of Hayworth's famous Life Magazine photograph.
• The All-American Love Goddess Rita Hayworth: 1918-1987 Time Magazine 1987 obituary.
• California Carmen Hayworth's November 10 1941 Time Magazine cover story article.
• Rita Hayworth - Dress Me!!

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