Rita
Hayworth
Main
American actress
original name Margarita Carmen Cansino
born October 17, 1918,
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
died May 14, 1987, New York, New York
American motion-picture actress and dancer who rose to glamorous
stardom in the 1940s and ’50s.
The daughter of Spanish-born dancer Eduardo Cansino and his
partner, Volga Haworth, Hayworth as a child worked as a
professional dancer with her parents’ nightclub act. While still
a teenager, she appeared on-screen under her given name of Rita
Cansino in films such as Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935), Dante’s
Inferno (1935), and Meet Nero Wolfe (1936). On the advice of her
first husband, Edward Judson (who became her manager), she
changed her name and dyed her hair auburn, cultivating a
sophisticated glamour that first registered with her role as an
unfaithful wife who tries to seduce Cary Grant in Only Angels
Have Wings (1939).
After a few inconsequential
films, Hayworth gradually rose to the rank of star, playing
femmes fatales in quality melodramas such as The Lady in
Question (1940), Blood and Sand (1941), and The Strawberry
Blonde (1941). Her dancing skills were well-showcased opposite
Fred Astaire (who in later years cited Hayworth as his favourite
dance partner) in You’ll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were
Never Lovelier (1942) and with Gene Kelly in Cover Girl (1944),
a film that helped establish both Hayworth and Kelly among the
top stars of the day. It was also during this time that she
became a favourite pinup of American servicemen; her publicity
still, depicting the lingerie-clad Hayworth kneeling seductively
on a bed, became an indelible image of World War II.
The definitive Hayworth film is
undoubtedly Gilda (1946), in which she appeared opposite Glenn
Ford, her frequent costar. A classic of film noir, Gilda
featured Hayworth as the quintessential “noir woman,” a
duplicitous temptress and an abused victim in equal measure. A
daring, quirky film for its time, Gilda was rife with sexually
suggestive imagery and dialogue (such as Hayworth’s “If I’d have
been a ranch, they would have called me the Bar Nothing”) and
featured Hayworth’s striptease to the song Put the Blame on
Mame, perhaps the actress’s most famous film scene. Two years
later, Hayworth starred in another film noir classic, The Lady
from Shanghai (1948). Directed by Hayworth’s then-husband, Orson
Welles, it is perhaps the most labyrinthine film in the genre,
Hayworth’s portrayal of a cynical seductress is one of her most
praised performances. It was also about this time that Life
magazine dubbed Hayworth “The Love Goddess,” an appellation
that, much to the actress’s chagrin, would remain with her for
life.
Never comfortable with fame or
the trappings of a celebrity life, Hayworth was absent from
films during her marriage (1949–51) to Prince Aly Khan. Although
several of her dramatic performances in films of the 1950s are
among her most praised—in particular Affair in Trinidad (1952),
Salome (1953), Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), Pal Joey (1957),
Separate Tables (1958), and They Came to Cordura (1959)—Hayworth
grew increasingly frustrated with the acting profession. This
frustration, coupled with another failed, stressful marriage (to
singer Dick Haymes), caused her to become increasingly cynical
and to display a sense of detachment from her work. Her film
appearances became increasingly sporadic throughout the 1960s,
and she appeared in her final film, The Wrath of God, in 1972.
Rumours of Hayworth’s erratic
and drunken behaviour began to circulate during the late 1960s,
and her attempt to launch a Broadway career in the early ’70s
was stifled by her inability to remember lines. In truth,
Hayworth was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer
disease, although she would not be officially diagnosed with the
condition until 1980. The publicity surrounding Hayworth’s
battle was a catalyst for increasing national awareness of the
disease and for bringing about federal funding for Alzheimer
research.
