Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth in 1942
Born Margarita Carmen Cansino
October 17, 1918
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died May 14, 1987 (aged 68)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Cause of death
 Alzheimer's disease
Resting place
 Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress, dancer
Years active 1931–1972
Spouse(s)
Children
  • Rebecca Welles Manning (1944–2004)
  • Yasmin Aga Khan
    (b. December 28, 1949)
Parent(s) Eduardo Cansino, Sr.
Volga Hayworth
Relatives
Signature

Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress and dancer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in a total of 61 films over 37 years. She is perhaps best known for her performance in the 1946 film noir, Gilda. She is listed as one of the top 25 female motion picture stars of all time in the American Film Institute's survey, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars.

Hayworth was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1980. The following year she moved to Manhattan, New York, where her daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, could care for her. Hayworth died at her home from complications associated with Alzheimer's on May 14, 1987, at age 68.

Influenced by the death of her mother, Yasmin Aga Khan became known for raising public awareness of Alzheimer's disease and founded the Rita Hayworth Gala, an annual benefit for the Alzheimer's Association.

Youth

Margarita Cansino was dancing professionally at age 12, as her father's partner in the Dancing Cansinos (1931)[1]:14

Hayworth was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918 as Margarita Carmen Cansino, the oldest child of two dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, Sr., was from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a little town near Seville, Spain.[2] Her mother, Volga Hayworth, was an American of Irish-English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies.[3]:281 The couple married in 1917. They also had two sons: Eduardo Cansino, Jr. and Vernon Cansino.[3][4]

Margarita's father wanted her to become a professional dancer, while her mother hoped she would become an actress.[5] Her paternal grandfather, Antonio Cansino, was renowned as a Spanish classical dancer. He popularized the bolero and his dancing school in Madrid was world famous.[6] Hayworth later recalled, "From the time I was three and a half... as soon as I could stand on my own feet, I was given dance lessons."[7]:67 She noted "I didn't like it very much... but I didn't have the courage to tell my father, so I began taking the lessons. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, that was my girlhood".[8]:16

She attended dance classes every day for a few years in a Carnegie Hall complex, where she was taught by her uncle Angel Cansino. She performed publicly from the age of six.[3] In 1926 at the age of eight, she was featured in La Fiesta, a short film for Warner Bros.[3]

In 1927, her father took the family to Hollywood. He believed that dancing could be featured in the movies and that his family could be part of it. He established his own dance studio,[3] where he taught such stars as James Cagney and Jean Harlow.[9]:253 During the Great Depression, he lost all his investments as commercial interest in his dancing classes waned.

In 1931 Eduardo Cansino partnered with his 12-year-old daughter to form an act called the Dancing Cansinos.[1]:14 Since under California law Margarita was too young to work in nightclubs and bars, her father took her with him to work across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. In the early 1930s, it was a popular tourist spot for people from Los Angeles.[3] Because she was working, Cansino never graduated from high school, but she had completed ninth grade at Hamilton High in Los Angeles.

Cansino (Hayworth) took a bit part in the film Cruz Diablo (1934) at age 16, which led to another in In Caliente (1935) with the Mexican actress, Dolores del Río.[3] She danced with her father in such nightspots as the Foreign and the Caliente clubs. Winfield Sheehan, the head of the Fox Film Corporation, saw her dancing at the Caliente Club and quickly arranged for Hayworth to do a screen test a week later. Impressed by her screen persona, Sheehan signed her for a short-term six-month contract at Fox, under the name Rita Cansino, the first of two name changes for her film career.

Career

Early career

Publicity photo (1940)

During her time at Fox, Hayworth appeared in five pictures in unremarkable roles. By the end of her six-month contract, Fox had merged into 20th Century Fox, with Darryl F. Zanuck serving as the executive producer. Dismissing Sheehan's interest in Hayworth, Zanuck did not renew her contract. Feeling that she had screen potential, the salesman and promoter, Edward C. Judson, whom she would marry in 1936, got her the lead roles in several independent films and arranged a screen test with Columbia Pictures. The studio head Harry Cohn signed Hayworth to a long-term contract, and cast her in small roles in Columbia features.

Often cast as the exotic foreigner, Hayworth (Cansino) appeared in several roles in 1935: in Dante's Inferno with Spencer Tracy; and Paddy O'Day, in which she played a Russian dancer. She was an Argentinian in Under the Pampas Moon and an Egyptian beauty in Charlie Chan in Egypt. In 1936, she took her first starring role as a "Latin type" in Human Cargo.[3]

Cohn argued that Hayworth's image was too Mediterranean, which reduced her opportunities to being cast in "exotic" roles, more limited in number. With Cohn and Judson's encouragement, Hayworth changed her hair color to dark red and her name to Rita Hayworth. She had electrolysis to raise her hairline and broaden the appearance of her forehead. By using her mother's maiden name, she led people to see her British-American ancestry and became a classic "American" pin-up.[3]

Hayworth appeared in five minor Columbia pictures and three minor independent movies in 1937. The following year, she appeared in five Columbia B movies. In 1939, Cohn pressured director Howard Hawks to use Hayworth for a small but important role as a man-trap in the aviation drama Only Angels Have Wings, in which she played opposite Cary Grant and Jean Arthur.[3] With this film's box office success, fan mail for Hayworth began pouring into Columbia's publicity department. Cohn began to see Hayworth as his first and official new star. The studio never officially had stars under contract, except for Jean Arthur, who was trying to break with it.

With Fred Astaire in You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

Cohn began to build up Hayworth in 1940 in features such as Music in My Heart, The Lady in Question, and Angels Over Broadway. That year, she was first featured in a Life magazine cover story.[10] Cohn loaned Hayworth to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to appear in Susan and God opposite Joan Crawford. While on loan to Warner Bros., Hayworth appeared as the second female lead in The Strawberry Blonde (1941), opposite James Cagney.[3] Because the film was a big box office success, Hayworth's popularity rose and she immediately became one of Hollywood's hottest properties. So impressed was Warner Bros., they tried to buy Hayworth's contract from Columbia, but Cohn refused to release her.

Her success led to a supporting role in Blood and Sand (1941) opposite Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell with Fox, the studio that had dropped her six years before. In one of her most notable screen roles, Hayworth played Doña Sol des Muire, the first of many screen sirens.

She returned in triumph to Columbia Pictures and was cast in the musical You'll Never Get Rich (1941) opposite Fred Astaire in one of the highest-budgeted films Columbia had ever made.[3] The picture was so successful, the studio produced and released the following year another Astaire-Hayworth picture, You Were Never Lovelier.[3] Hayworth also appeared in two other 1942 releases, Tales of Manhattan and My Gal Sal.

In August 1941, Hayworth was featured in an iconic Life magazine photo in which she posed in a negligee with a black lace bodice.[11][12] The photo made Hayworth one of the top two pin-up girls of the World War II years; the other was the blonde Betty Grable. In 2002, the satin nightgown Hayworth wore for the photo sold for $26,888.[13]

In March 1942, Hayworth visited Brazil as a cultural ambassador for the Roosevelt administration's Good Neighbor policy, under the auspices of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.[14]

Peak years at Columbia

Hayworth as Gilda (1946)
Able, atomic bomb nicknamed "Gilda", detonated July 1, 1946

In 1944, Hayworth made one of her best-known films, the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944) with Gene Kelly.[3] The film established her as Columbia's top star of the 1940s, and gave her the distinction of being the first of only six women to dance on screen with both Kelly and Fred Astaire.[15] "I guess the only jewels of my life," Hayworth said in 1970, "were the pictures I made with Fred Astaire. … And Cover Girl, too."[16]

For three consecutive years, starting in 1944, Hayworth was named one of the top movie box office attractions in the world. She was adept in ballet, tap, ballroom, and Spanish routines.

Cohn continued to showcase Hayworth's dance talents. Columbia featured her in the Technicolor films: Tonight and Every Night (1945) with Lee Bowman; and Down to Earth (1947) with Larry Parks.

Her sexy, glamorous appeal, was most noted in Charles Vidor's film noir Gilda (1946) with Glenn Ford, which caused censors some consternation. The role, in which Hayworth wore black satin and performed a legendary one-glove striptease, "Put The Blame On Mame", made her into a cultural icon as a femme fatale.[3]

While Gilda was in release, it was widely reported that an atomic bomb to be tested at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean's Marshall Islands would bear an image of Hayworth, a reference to her bombshell status. Although the gesture was undoubtedly meant as a compliment,[17] Hayworth was deeply offended. Orson Welles, then married to Hayworth, recalled her anger in an interview with biographer Barbara Leaming: "Rita used to fly into terrible rages all the time but the angriest was when she found out that they'd put her on the atom bomb. Rita almost went insane, she was so angry. … She wanted to go to Washington to hold a press conference, but Harry Cohn wouldn't let her because it would be unpatriotic." Welles tried to persuade Hayworth that the whole business was not a publicity stunt on Cohn's part, that it was simply homage to her from the flight crew.[1]:129–130

On the June 30, 1946, broadcast of Orson Welles Commentaries, Welles said of the imminent test, "I want my daughter to be able to tell her daughter that grandmother's picture was on the last atom bomb ever to explode."[18]

The fourth atomic bomb ever to be detonated was decorated with a photograph of Hayworth cut from the June 1946 issue of Esquire magazine. Above it was stenciled the device's nickname, "Gilda", in two-inch black letters.[19]

Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Hayworth's performance in Welles's 1947 film, The Lady from Shanghai, was critically acclaimed.[3] The film's failure at the box office was attributed in part to Hayworth's famous red hair being cut short and bleached platinum blonde for the role. Cohn had not been consulted and was furious that Hayworth's image was changed.

Also in 1947, Hayworth was featured in a Life cover story by Winthrop Sargeant, which led to her nickname as "The Love Goddess".[20] This term was adopted and used later as the title of a biopic and of a biography about her. In a 1980s interview Hayworth said, "Everybody else does nude scenes, but I don't. I never made nude movies. I didn't have to do that. I danced. I was provocative, I guess, in some things. But I was not completely exposed."[8]:234

Her next film, The Loves of Carmen (1948) with Glenn Ford, was the first film co-produced by Columbia and Hayworth's production company, The Beckworth Corporation (named for Rebecca, her daughter with Welles). It was Columbia's biggest moneymaker that year. She received a percentage of the profits from this and all her subsequent films until 1954, when she dissolved Beckworth to pay off debts.[21]:130

The Hollywood princess

In 1948, at the height of her fame, Hayworth traveled to Cannes and was introduced to Prince Aly Khan. They began a year-long courtship, and were married on May 27, 1949. Hayworth left Hollywood and sailed for France, breaking her contract with Columbia.

As Hayworth was already one of the most well-known celebrities in the world, the courtship and the wedding received enormous press coverage around the world. Because she was still legally married to second husband Orson Welles, Hayworth also received some negative backlash for her courtship with the prince, causing some American fans to boycott her pictures. The wedding marked the first time a Hollywood actress became a princess. On December 28, 1949, Hayworth gave birth to the couple's only daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan.

Though Hayworth was anxious to start a new life abroad, away from Hollywood, Aly Khan's flamboyant lifestyle and duties proved too difficult for Hayworth. She struggled to fit in with his friends, and found it difficult to learn French. Aly Khan was also known in circles as a playboy, and it was suspected that he had been unfaithful to Hayworth during the marriage.

In 1951, Hayworth set sail with her two daughters for New York. Although the couple did reconcile for a short time, they officially divorced by 1953.

Returning to Columbia

After the collapse of her marriage to Khan, Rita Hayworth was forced to return to Hollywood to star in her "comeback" picture, Affair in Trinidad (1952) which again paired her with Glenn Ford. Director Vincent Sherman recalled that Hayworth seemed "rather frightened at the approach of doing another picture". She continued to clash with Columbia boss Harry Cohn, and was placed on suspension during filming. Nevertheless, the picture was highly publicized. The picture ended up grossing $1 million more than her previous blockbuster, Gilda (1946).

She continued to star in a string of successful pictures. In 1953, she had two films released: Salome with Charles Laughton and Stewart Granger; and Miss Sadie Thompson with José Ferrer and Aldo Ray. Her performance in the latter film won critical acclaim.

She was off the big screen for another four years, mainly because of a tumultuous marriage to the singer Dick Haymes. During her marriage to Haymes, she was involved in much negative publicity, which significantly lessened her appeal. By the time she returned to the screen for Fire Down Below (1957) with Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak had become Columbia's top female star. Her last musical was Pal Joey (1957) with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak. After this film, Hayworth left Columbia for good.

She received good reviews for her performance in Separate Tables (1958), with Burt Lancaster and David Niven, and The Story on Page One (1960) with Anthony Franciosa. She continued working throughout the 1960s. In 1962, her planned Broadway debut in Step on a Crack was cancelled for undisclosed health reasons.[22] The Money Trap (1964) paired her, for the last time, with good friend Glenn Ford. She continued to act in films until the early 1970s. She made a well-publicized 1971 television appearance on The Carol Burnett Show. Her last film was The Wrath of God (1972).

Struggles with Columbia Pictures

Hayworth had a strained relationship with Columbia Pictures for many years. In 1943, she was suspended without pay for nine weeks because she refused to appear in Once Upon a Time.[23] During this period in Hollywood, contract players could not choose their films; they were on salary rather than receiving a fixed amount per picture.

Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford in Gilda (1946)

In 1947, Hayworth's new contract with Columbia provided a salary of $250,000 plus 50 percent of film profits.[24] In 1951 Columbia alleged it had $800,000 invested in properties for her, including the film she walked out on that year. Hayworth left Hollywood to marry Prince Aly Khan and was suspended for failing to report to work on the film, Affair in Trinidad.

In 1952 Hayworth refused to report for work due to objections to the script.[25] In 1955, she sued to be released from her contract, but asked for her $150,000 salary, alleging filming failed to start when agreed.[26] She said, "I was in Switzerland when they sent me the script for Affair in Trinidad and I threw it across the room. But I did the picture, and Pal Joey too. I came back to Columbia because I wanted to work and first, see, I had to finish that goddam contract, which is how Harry Cohn owned me!"[16]

"Harry Cohn thought of me as one of the people he could exploit, and make a lot of money," Hayworth said in 1972. "And I did make a lot of money for him, but not much for me."[27]

Years after her film career had ended and Cohn was dead, Hayworth still resented her treatment by him and Columbia.

"I used to have to punch a time clock at Columbia," Hayworth said in a 1968 interview. "Every day of my life. That's what it was like. I was under exclusive contract, like they owned me … I think he had my dressing room bugged … He was very possessive of me as a person, he didn't want me to go out with anybody, have any friends. No one can live that way. So I fought him … You want to know what I think of Harry Cohn? He was a monster."[28]

Hayworth resented that the studio failed to train her to sing or to encourage her to learn how to sing.[29]:103 Although she appeared to sing in many of her films, she was usually dubbed. As the public did not know the secret, she was embarrassed to be asked to sing by troops at USO shows.[29]:124

"I wanted to study singing," Hayworth complained, "but Harry Cohn kept saying, 'Who needs it?' and the studio wouldn't pay for it. They had me so intimidated that I couldn't have done it anyway. They always said, 'Oh, no, we can't let you do it. There's no time for that; it has to be done right now!' I was under contract, and that was it."[29]:104

Hayworth did sing the acoustic guitar version of "Put the Blame on Mame" in Gilda. The other songs in the picture were dubbed by Anita Ellis.[30]

Cohn had a reputation as a taskmaster, but he had his own criticisms of Hayworth. He had invested heavily in her before she began a reckless affair with the married Aly Khan, and it could have caused a backlash against her career and Columbia's success. For instance, an article in the British periodical The People called for a boycott of Hayworth's films: "Hollywood must be told its already tarnished reputation will sink to rock bottom if it restores this reckless woman to a place among its stars."[31]

Cohn expressed his frustration in an interview with Time magazine: "Hayworth might be worth ten million dollars today easily! She owned 25% of the profits with her own company and had hit after hit and she had to get married and had to get out of the business and took a suspension because she fell in love again! In five years, at two pictures a year, at 25%! Think of what she could have made! But she didn't make pictures! She took two or three suspensions! She got mixed up with different characters! Unpredictable!"[29]:163

Personal life

Marriages and family

In 1941, Hayworth said she was the antithesis of the characters she played. "I naturally am very shy ... and I suffer from an inferiority complex."[32] Her provocative role in Gilda, in particular, was responsible for people expecting her to be what she was not. Hayworth once said, with some bitterness, "Men go to bed with Gilda, but wake up with me."[1]:122

Hayworth's two younger brothers, Vernon and Eduardo Cansino, Jr., both served in World War II. Vernon left the United States Army in 1946 with several medals, including the Purple Heart, and later married Susan Vail, a dancer. Eduardo Cansino, Jr. followed Hayworth into acting; he was also under contract with Columbia Pictures. In 1950, he made his screen debut in Magic Carpet.

Hayworth was married and divorced five times. She said, "Basically, I am a good, gentle person, but I am attracted to mean personalities."[33]

Edward Charles Judson

In 1937, when Hayworth was 18, she married Edward Judson, an oilman turned promoter who was more than twice her age. They married in Las Vegas. He had played a major role in launching her acting career. A shrewd businessman, he was domineering and became her manager for months before he proposed. "He helped me with my career," Hayworth conceded after they divorced, "and helped himself to my money." She alleged Judson compelled her to transfer considerable property to him and promise to pay him $12,000 under threats that he would do her "great bodily harm."[34] She filed for divorce from him on February 24, 1942, with the complaint of cruelty. She noted to the press his work took him to Oklahoma and Texas while she lived and worked in Hollywood. Judson was as old as her father, who was enraged by the marriage, which caused a rift between Hayworth and her parents until the divorce. Judson had failed to tell Hayworth before they married he had previously been married twice.[29]:62 When she left him, she literally had no money; she asked her friend Hermes Pan if she could eat at his home.

Orson Welles

Wedding of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, with best man Joseph Cotten (September 7, 1943)

Hayworth married Orson Welles on September 7, 1943, during the run of The Mercury Wonder Show.[35] None of her colleagues knew about the planned wedding (before a judge) until she announced it the day before. For the civil ceremony, she wore a beige suit, ruffled white blouse, and a veil. A few hours after they got married, they returned to work at the studio. They had a daughter, Rebecca, who was born on December 17, 1944, and died at the age of 59 on October 17, 2004. They struggled in their marriage. Hayworth said that Welles did not want to be tied down:

During the entire period of our marriage, he showed no interest in establishing a home. When I suggested purchasing a home, he told me he didn't want the responsibility. Mr. Welles told me he never should have married in the first place; that it interfered with his freedom in his way of life.[36]

Hayworth called Welles the great love of her life. On November 10, 1947, she was granted a divorce that became final the following year.[1]:142

Prince Aly Khan

In 1948, Hayworth left her film career to marry Prince Aly Khan, a son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III, the leader of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. They were married on May 27, 1949. Her bridal trousseau had been influenced by Dior's "New Look", launched in 1947.

Aly Khan and his family were heavily involved in horse racing, owning and racing horses. Hayworth had no interest in the sport, but became a member of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club anyway. Her filly, Double Rose, won several races in France and finished second in the 1949 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.[37]

In 1951, while still married to Hayworth, Khan was spotted dancing with the actress Joan Fontaine in the nightclub where he and his wife had met. Hayworth threatened to divorce him in Reno, Nevada. In early May, Hayworth moved to Nevada to establish legal residence to qualify for a divorce. She stayed at Lake Tahoe with their daughter, saying there was a threat the child would be kidnapped. Hayworth filed for divorce from Khan on September 2, 1951, on the grounds of "extreme cruelty, entirely mental in nature."[38]

Hayworth once said she might convert to Islam, but did not. During the custody fight over their daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, born December 28, 1949, the Prince said he wanted her raised as a Muslim; Hayworth (who had been raised a Roman Catholic) wanted the child to be a Christian.[39]

Hayworth rejected his offer of $1,000,000 if she would rear Yasmin as a Muslim from age seven and allow her to go to Europe to visit with him for two or three months each year, stating:

Nothing will make me give up Yasmin's chance to live here in America among our precious freedoms and habits. While I respect the Muslim faith, and all other faiths, it is my earnest wish that my daughter be raised as a normal, healthy American girl in the Christian faith. There isn't any amount of money in the entire world for which it is worth sacrificing this child's privilege of living as a normal Christian girl here in the United States. There just isn't anything else in the world that can compare with her sacred chance to do that. And I'm going to give it to Yasmin regardless of what it costs.[40]

Dick Haymes

When Hayworth and Dick Haymes first met, he was still married and his singing career was waning. When she showed up at the clubs, he got a larger audience. Haymes was desperate for money, as two of his former wives were taking legal action against him for unpaid child support. His financial problems were so bad, he could not return to California without being arrested.[41] On July 7, 1954, his ex-wife Nora Haymes got a bench warrant for his arrest, because he owed her $3,800 in alimony. Less than a week prior, his other ex-wife, Joanne Dru, also got a bench warrant because she said he owed $4,800 in support payments for their three children.[42] Hayworth ended up paying most of Haymes's debts.

Haymes was born in Argentina, and did not have solid proof of American citizenship. Not long after he met Hayworth, U.S. officials initiated proceedings to have him deported to Argentina for being an illegal alien. He hoped Hayworth could influence the government and keep him in the United States. When she assumed responsibility for his citizenship, a bond was formed that led to marriage. The two were married on September 24, 1953 at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, and their wedding procession went through the casino.

From the start of their marriage, Haymes was deeply indebted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). When Hayworth took time off from attending his comeback performances in Philadelphia, the audiences sharply declined. Haymes's $5000 weekly salary was attached by the IRS to pay a $100,000 bill, and he was unable to pay his pianist. Haymes' ex-wives demanded money while Hayworth publicly bemoaned her own lack of alimony from Aly Khan. At one point, the couple was effectively imprisoned in a hotel room for 24 hours in Manhattan at the Hotel Madison as sheriff's deputies waited outside threatening to arrest Haymes for outstanding debts. At the same time, Hayworth was fighting a severe custody battle with Khan, during which she reported death threats against their children. While living in New York, Hayworth sent the children to live with their nanny in Westchester County. They were found and photographed by a reporter from Confidential magazine.

After a tumultuous two years together, Haymes struck Hayworth in the face in 1955 in public at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles. Hayworth packed her bags, walked out, and never returned. The assault and crisis shook her, and her doctor ordered her to remain in bed for several days.[43]

Hayworth was short of money after her marriage to Haymes. She had failed to gain child support from Aly Khan. She sued Orson Welles] for back payment of child support which she claimed had never been paid. This effort was unsuccessful and added to her stress.

James Hill

Hayworth began a relationship with film producer James Hill, whom she went on to marry on February 2, 1958. He put her in one of her last major films, Separate Tables. On September 1, 1961, Hayworth filed for divorce, alleging extreme mental cruelty. He later wrote Rita Hayworth: A Memoir, in which he suggested their marriage collapsed because he wanted Hayworth to continue making movies, while she wanted them both to retire from Hollywood.

In his autobiography, Charlton Heston writes about Hayworth's brief marriage to Hill. One night Heston and his wife Lydia joined the couple for dinner at a restaurant in Spain with the director George Marshall and the actor Rex Harrison, Hayworth's co-star in The Happy Thieves. Heston wrote the occasion "turned into the single most embarrassing evening of my life," describing how Hill heaped "obscene abuse" on Hayworth until she was "reduced to a helpless flood of tears, her face buried in her hands." Heston writes how the others sat stunned, witnesses to a "marital massacre" and, though he was "strongly tempted to slug him" (Hill), he left with his wife Lydia after she stood up, almost in tears. Heston wrote, "I'm ashamed of walking away from Miss Hayworth's humiliation. I never saw her again."[44]

Beauty

Hayworth was a top glamour girl in the 1940s, a pin-up girl for military servicemen and a beauty icon for women. At 5'6" (168 cm) and 120 lb (55 kg),[45] she was tall enough to be a concern for dancing partners such as Fred Astaire. She reportedly changed her hair color eight times in eight movies.[46]

In 1949, Hayworth's lips were voted best in the world by the Artists League of America.[47] She had a modeling contract with Max Factor to promote its Tru-Color lipsticks and Pan-Stik make-up.

Biographer Barbara Leaming wrote that Hayworth aged prematurely because of her addiction to alcohol and the stresses of her life. "Despite the artfully applied make-up and shoulder-length red hair, there was no concealing the ravages of drink and stress," she wrote of Hayworth's arrival in New York in May 1956 to begin work on Fire Down Below, her first film in three years. "Deep lines had crept around her eyes and mouth, and she appeared worn, exhausted — older than her thirty-eight years."[1]:322

Health problems

Orson Welles noted Hayworth's problem with alcohol during their marriage, but never believed her problem was alcoholism. "It certainly imitated alcoholism in every superficial way," he recalled in 1983. "She'd fly into these rages, never at me, never once, always at Harry Cohn or her father or her mother or her brother. She would break all the furniture and she'd get in a car and I'd have to get in the car and try to control her. She'd drive up in the hills suicidally. Terrible, terrible nights. And I just saw this lovely girl destroying herself. I admire Yasmin so much."[48]:129–130

Yasmin Aga Khan spoke of her mother's long struggle with alcohol:

I remember as a child that she had a drinking problem. She had difficulty coping with the ups and downs of the business … As a child, I thought, 'She has a drinking problem and she's an alcoholic.' That was very clear and I thought, 'Well, there's not much I can do. I can just, sort of, stand by and watch.' It's very difficult, seeing your mother, going through her emotional problems and drinking and then behaving in that manner ... Her condition became quite bad. It worsened and she did have an alcoholic breakdown and landed in the hospital.[49]

In 1972, the 54-year-old Hayworth wanted to retire from acting, but she needed money. At the suggestion of Robert Mitchum, she agreed to film The Wrath of God. The experience exposed her poor health and worsening mental state. As she could not remember lines, her scenes were shot one line at a time.[1]:337–338 In November she agreed to do one more movie, the British Tales That Witness Madness,[1]:343 but because of her worsening health she left the set and returned to the United States. She never returned to acting.[50]

In March 1974, both her brothers died within a week of each other, which caused her great sadness and led to heavy drinking. In 1976 at London's Heathrow Airport, Hayworth was removed from a TWA flight after having an angry outburst while traveling with her agent. The event attracted much negative publicity; a disturbing photograph was published in newspapers.[51]

Hayworth's alcoholism hid symptoms of what was eventually understood to be Alzheimer's disease.[52]

"It was the outbursts," said Yasmin Aga Khan. "She'd fly into a rage. I can't tell you. I thought it was alcoholism — alcoholic dementia. We all thought that. The papers picked that up, of course. You can't imagine the relief just in getting a diagnosis. We had a name at last, Alzheimer's! Of course, that didn't really come until the last seven or eight years. She wasn't diagnosed as having Alzheimer's until 1980. There were two decades of hell before that."[53]

In July 1981, Hayworth's health had deteriorated to the point where a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that she should be placed under the care of her daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan of New York City.[54] Hayworth lived in an apartment at The San Remo on Central Park West adjoining that of her daughter, who arranged for her mother's care through her final years.[1]:359

In 1983 Rebecca Welles arranged to see her mother for the first time in seven years. Speaking to his lifelong friend Roger Hill, Orson Welles expressed his concern about the visit's effect on his daughter. "Rita barely knows me now," Welles said. He recalled seeing Hayworth three years before at an event the Reagans held for Frank Sinatra. "When it was over, I came over to her table and I saw that she was very beautiful, very reposed looking, and didn't know me at first. After about four minutes of speaking, I could see that she realized who I was, and she began to cry quietly."[48]:129

In an interview the evening before his death in 1985, Welles called Hayworth "one of the dearest and sweetest women that ever lived."[55]

Death

Hayworth's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

Rita Hayworth lapsed into a semicoma in February 1987. She died at age 68 from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease a few months later on May 14, 1987, at her home in Manhattan.[17] President Ronald Reagan, who had been one of Hayworth's contemporaries in Hollywood, issued a statement:

Rita Hayworth was one of our country's most beloved stars. Glamorous and talented, she gave us many wonderful moments on stage and screen and delighted audiences from the time she was a young girl. In her later years, Rita became known for her struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Her courage and candor, and that of her family, were a great public service in bringing worldwide attention to a disease which we all hope will soon be cured. Nancy and I are saddened by Rita's death. She was a friend who we will miss. We extend our deep sympathy to her family.[56]

A funeral service was held May 19, 1987, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.[17] Pallbearers included actors Ricardo Montalbán, Glenn Ford, Don Ameche, agent Budd Burton Moss, and the choreographer Hermes Pan. She was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.[57] Her headstone includes Yasmin's sentiment: "To yesterday's companionship and tomorrow's reunion."

Accolades

Hayworth receives the National Screen Heritage Award of the National Film Society (1978)

Hayworth received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Circus World (1964).

In 1978 at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., Hayworth was presented with the inaugural National Screen Heritage Award of the National Film Society,[58]:xvi a group that published American Classic Screen magazine (1976–84).[58]:xv, xxi

In 1999, Hayworth was acknowledged as one of the top 25 female motion picture stars of all time in the American Film Institute's survey, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars.[59]

Legacy

The Rita Hayworth Gala, a benefit for the Alzheimer's Association, is held annually in Chicago and New York City. The program was founded by Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, in honor of her mother. She is the hostess for the events and a major sponsor of Alzheimer's disease charities and awareness programs. As of March 2015, a total of more than $65 million had been raised through the events.[60][61]

Film and television credits

Year Title Role Notes
1926 La Fiesta Short subject
Credited as Rita Cansino[3]
1934 Cruz Diablo Extra Uncredited[3]
1935 In Caliente Credited as Rita Cansino[3]
1935 Under the Pampas Moon Carmen Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1935 Charlie Chan in Egypt Nayda Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1935 Dante's Inferno Dancer Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1935 Piernas de seda Ballerina Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1935 Hi, Gaucho! Dolores Uncredited
1936 Paddy O'Day Tamara Petrovitch Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1936 Professional Soldier Gypsy Dancer Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1936 Human Cargo Carmen Zoro Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1936 Dancing Pirate Specialty Dancer Uncredited
1936 Meet Nero Wolfe Maria Maringola Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1936 Rebellion Paula Castillo Alternative title: Lady from Frisco
Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1937 Old Louisiana Angela Gonzales Alternative title: Louisiana Gal
Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1937 Hit the Saddle Rita Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1937 Trouble in Texas Carmen Serano Credited as Rita Cansino[62]
1937 Criminals of the Air Rita Owens [62]
1937 Girls Can Play Sue Collins [62]
1937 The Game That Kills Betty Holland [62]
1937 Life Begins with Love Dinner Guest's Girl Friend Uncredited
1937 Paid to Dance Betty Morgan Alternative title: Hard to Hold[62]
1937 The Shadow Mary Gillespie [62]
1938 Who Killed Gail Preston? Gail Preston [62]
1938 Special Inspector Patricia Lane Alternative title: Across the Border[62]
1938 There's Always a Woman Mary – Ketterling's Secretary Uncredited[62]
1938 Convicted Jerry Wheeler [62]
1938 Juvenile Court Marcia Adams [62]
1938 The Renegade Ranger Judith Alvarez [62]
1939 Homicide Bureau J.G. Bliss [62]
1939 The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt Karen [62]
1939 Only Angels Have Wings Judy MacPherson [62]
1940 Music in My Heart Patricia O'Malley [62]
1940 Blondie on a Budget Joan Forrester [62]
1940 Susan and God Leonora Stubbs [62]
1940 The Lady in Question Natalie Roguin [62]
1940 Angels Over Broadway Nina Barona [62]
1941 The Strawberry Blonde Virginia Brush [62]
1941 Affectionately Yours Irene Malcolm [62]
1941 Blood and Sand Dona Sol [62]
1941 You'll Never Get Rich Sheila Winthrop [62]
1942 My Gal Sal Sally Elliott [62]
1942 Tales of Manhattan Ethel Halloway [62]
1942 You Were Never Lovelier Maria Acuña [62]
1944 Cover Girl Rusty Parker/Maribelle Hicks [62]
1945 Tonight and Every Night Rosalind Bruce [62]
1946 Gilda Gilda Mundson Farrell [62]
1947 Down to Earth Terpsichore/Kitty Pendleton [62]
1947 The Lady from Shanghai Elsa Bannister [62]
1948 The Loves of Carmen Carmen [62]
Producer (uncredited)
1952 Affair in Trinidad Chris Emery [62]
Producer (uncredited)
1953 Salome Princess Salome Alternative title: Salome: The Dance of the Seven Veils[62]
Producer (uncredited)
1953 Miss Sadie Thompson Sadie Thompson [62]
1957 Fire Down Below Irena [62]
1957 Pal Joey Vera Prentice-Simpson [62]
1958 Separate Tables Ann Shankland [62]
1959 They Came to Cordura Adelaide Geary [62]
1959 The Story on Page One Josephine Brown/Jo Morris [62]
1961 The Happy Thieves Eve Lewis Producer (uncredited)[62]
1964 Circus World Lili Alfredo [62]
1965 The Money Trap Rosalie Kenny
1966 The Poppy Is Also a Flower (TV) Monique Marko [62]
1967 The Rover Aunt Caterina Alternative title: L'avventuriero
1968 The Bastard Martha Alternative title: I bastardi
1970 Road to Salina Mara Alternative title: La route de Salina
1971 The Naked Zoo Mrs. Golden[62]
1971 The Carol Burnett Show (TV series) Herself Episode #4.20
1971 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (TV series) Herself Episode #5.3
1972 The Wrath of God Señora De La Plata [62]

Cultural references

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Leaming, Barbara (1989). If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-81978-6.
  2. ↑ Márquez Reviriego, Víctor (March 24, 1984). "Del firmamento al limbo". ABC. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 Ware, Susan; Braukman, Stacy, eds. (2005). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. Volume 5: Completing the Twentieth Century). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press. p. 281. ISBN 9780674014886.
  4. ↑ "Princess Born to Rita After Pre-dawn Dash to Clinic", Associated Press, December 28, 1949. Accessed June 13, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Delights Papa and Mama Cansino." Ellensburg Daily Record, July 13, 1944. Accessed June 7, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Actress Rita Hayworth's Grandfather Dies at 89." Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1954
  7. ↑ Agan, Patrick (1979). The Decline and Fall of the Love Goddesses. Los Angeles: Pinnacle Books. ISBN 9780523406237.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Morella, Joe; Epstein, Edward Z. (1983). Rita: The Life of Rita Hayworth. New York: Delacourte Press. ISBN 0-385-29265-1.
  9. ↑ Burroughs Hannasberry, Karen (2010). Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-786-44682-X.
  10. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Goes on a Bicycle Picnic". Life 9 (3): 58. July 15, 1940. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  11. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Rises from Bit Parts Into a Triple-Threat Song & Dance Star". Life 11 (6): 33. August 11, 1941. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  12. ↑ "Life with Rita Hayworth: Hollywood Legend, Pinup Icon". Life. Time Inc. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  13. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Nightgown From Her Famous World War II Publicity Photos". Sotheby's. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  14. ↑ Benamou, Catherine L. (2007). It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 244–245. ISBN 978-0-520-24247-0.
  15. ↑ Faris, Gerald (May 18, 1987). "A Screen Goddess and Hollywood Rebel Loses The Battle Against Disease". The Age. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Hallowell, John (October 25, 1970). "Rita Hayworth: Don't Put the Blame on Me, Boys". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-07. (subscription required (help)).
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Krebs, Albin (May 16, 1987). "Rita Hayworth, Movie Legend, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  18. ↑ "1946 Orson Welles Commentaries". Internet Archive. June 30, 1946. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  19. ↑ "Atomic Goddess Revisited: Rita Hayworth's Bomb Image Found". CONELRAD Adjacent (blog). August 13, 2013. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  20. ↑ Sargeant, Winthrop. "The Cult of the Love Goddess in America", Life November 10, 1947.
  21. ↑ Dick, Bernard F. (1993). The Merchant Prince of Poverty Row: Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813118413.
  22. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Replaced in Play", AP, August 24, 1962.
  23. ↑ "Screen News Here and in Hollywood". The New York Times. March 22, 1943.
  24. ↑ Hopper, Hedda (October 22, 1947). "Looking at Hollywood". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  25. ↑ "Hayworth, Studio Agree Once Again". The New York Times. January 9, 1952.
  26. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Files Suit to End Film Contract". Los Angeles Times. April 9, 1955.
  27. ↑ Anderson, Nancy (February 11, 1972). "Rita Hayworth Still Ranks as Beauty". Copley News Service. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  28. ↑ Hallowell, John (June 23, 1968). "Rita: Hollywood Still Is Her Town But No One Knows She's There". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 Kobal, John (1982). Rita Hayworth: The Time, the Place, and the Woman. New York: Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-05634-1.
  30. ↑ "Gilda". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  31. ↑ "Call for Boycott of Rita Hayworth". The Age (Australian Associated Press). April 30, 1951. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  32. ↑ Parsons, Louella O. "Rita, Shy Off Set, Now Groomed for Vamp Role," St. Petersburg Times, May 25, 1941. Accessed June 2, 2009.
  33. ↑ "Chatter", People, July 15, 1974. Accessed June 6, 2009.
  34. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Tells of Threats by Ex-Mate", Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1943, A16
  35. ↑ Associated Press (September 8, 1943). "Actor Orson Welles Weds Rita Hayworth. Couple Married In Superior Court At Santa Monica". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-12-09. Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth were married today by Superior Court Judge Orlando Rhodes. ...
  36. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Wins Divorce From Orson Welles", Spokane Daily Chronicle, Associated Press, November 10, 1947, retrieved June 6, 2009
  37. ↑ Staff writer, "Love's Long Shot", Time October 17, 1949. Accessed May 29, 2009.
  38. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Files Divorce Action in Reno," Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1951
  39. ↑ "Prince Wants Yasmin Back", Associated Press, October 31, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009.
  40. ↑ "Rita Says No to Million", Sydney Morning Herald, September 13, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009.
  41. ↑ "Dick Haymes Faces Arrest Over Alimony", Los Angeles Times, October 5, 1956
  42. ↑ "Haymes Hears Sour Music," AP, July 7, 1954.
  43. ↑ "Marriage Falls Down and So Does Rita", UP, August 30, 1955.
  44. ↑ Heston, Charlton (1997). In the Arena: An Autobiography. New York: Boulevard Books. p. 253. ISBN 1-57297-267-X.
  45. ↑ Mason, Jerry. "Meet Rita Hayworth." The Spokesman-Review. January 3, 1942.
  46. ↑ Chapman, John. "Red Heads", Chicago Daily Tribune, May 25, 1941
  47. ↑ "Presenting: Ten Most Perfect Features in the World," AP, February 17, 1949. Accessed June 13, 2009.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Tarbox, Todd, Orson Welles and Roger Hill: A Friendship in Three Acts. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2013, ISBN 1-59393-260-X.
  49. ↑ Lindström, Pia. "Alzheimer's Fight in Her Mother's Name", New York Times, February 23, 1997. Accessed June 6, 2009.
  50. ↑ Thames, Stephanie. "The Wrath of God," TCM.com. Accessed June 14, 2009
  51. ↑ "Actress Helped from Jet", St. Petersburg Times, January 21, 1976.
  52. ↑ "'Love Goddess' Rita Hayworth is Dead at 68", AP, May 16, 1987. "For several years in the 1970s, she had been misdiagnosed as an alcoholic."
  53. ↑ Hendrickson, Paul, "Alzheimer's: A Daughter's Nightmare", Los Angeles Times, April 11, 1989
  54. ↑ "Rita Hayworth Placed in Conservatorship" AP, July 23, 1981
  55. ↑ "Orson Welles' Last Interview (excerpt)". The Merv Griffin Show, October 10, 1985. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  56. ↑ Reagan, Ronald (May 15, 1987). "Statement on the Death of Rita Hayworth". The American Presidency Project. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  57. ↑ Rita Hayworth at Find a Grave
  58. ↑ 58.0 58.1 Tibbetts, John C.; Welsh, James M (2010). American Classic Screen Interviews. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810876743.
  59. ↑ "AFI Recognizes the 50 Greatest American Screen Legends" (Press release). American Film Institute. June 16, 1999. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  60. ↑ "Chicago Rita Hayworth Gala". Alzheimer's Association. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  61. ↑ "New York Rita Hayworth Gala". Alzheimer's Association. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 62.4 62.5 62.6 62.7 62.8 62.9 62.10 62.11 62.12 62.13 62.14 62.15 62.16 62.17 62.18 62.19 62.20 62.21 62.22 62.23 62.24 62.25 62.26 62.27 62.28 62.29 62.30 62.31 62.32 62.33 62.34 62.35 62.36 62.37 62.38 62.39 62.40 62.41 62.42 62.43 62.44 62.45 62.46 62.47 62.48 62.49 62.50 62.51 62.52 62.53 62.54 62.55 62.56 "Rita Hayworth". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  63. ↑ Gitau, Rosalia (March 11, 2010). "Art Therapy for Alzheimer's". The Huffington Post.
  64. ↑ "Sorry guys, I wish I had something more". Bryan Konietzko. 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  65. ↑ "Invitation to the Blues". tomwaits.com. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  66. ↑ Fricke, David (September 8, 2005). "The Mysterious Case of the White Stripes: Jack White Comes Clean". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2015-03-07.

Further reading

External links

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