Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Cansino on October 17, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York, the oldest child of two dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, Sr., was from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a little town near Seville, Spain. Her mother, Volga Hayworth, was an American of Irish-English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies.

In 1927, Eduardo Cansino, Sr. took the family to Hollywood, where he established his own dance studio,. He taught dance there such stars as James Cagney and Jean Harlow.

In 1931, the 12-year-old Margarita Cansino partnered with her father for an act called the Dancing Cansinos.

Photograph of Margarita Cansino age 12 The American Magazine

The satin nightgown with lace bodice which Rita Hayworth wore in 1941 on the cover of Life magazine, made her a forces favourite. It was sold in 2002 for $27,000.

Fred Astaire, who starred with Hayworth in You’ll Never Get Rich, said she was his favorite dance partner

Iconic photograph of Rita Hayworth for Life (August 11, 1941)

Rita Hayworth flew into a rage when she learned that a photo of her had been glued onto the atomic bomb that was dropped on Bikini Atoll doing a test in 1946.

Hayworth packed a real punch: she knocked out two of co-star Glenn Ford's teeth during a fight scene in the film noir Gilda.

Hayworth married Orson Welles on September 7, 1943, during the run of The Mercury Wonder Show. They struggled in their marriage. Hayworth said that Welles did not want to be tied down and on November 10, 1947, she was granted a divorce that became final the following year.

In 1948, Rita Hayworth left her movie career to marry Prince Aly Khan. Prince Aly Khan was the son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III, the leader of the Ismaili Muslims. Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan got married on May 27, 1949, in Cannes, France. 

Their wedding was an extravagant affair, with the swimming pool at the chateau where they were staying perfumed with eau de Cologne and decorated with flowers. The event garnered significant media attention due to the high-profile status of both Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan. However, their marriage ultimately ended in divorce in 1953.

Rita Hayworth's song and dance performance in Gilda helped demonstrate the stability of the newly invented strapless dress.

Her famous red hair was not her natural color (which was black). When Rita Hayworth was signed, studio heads decided that her hairline was too low on her forehead, and she underwent years of painful electrolysis to make it higher.

Original publicity portrait of Rita Hayworth from the film Down to Earth (1947)

The popular tequila-based cocktail called the Margarita was named after Hayworth. (The film star's real name was Margarita Carmen Cansino.)

Rita Hayworth began showing signs of Alzheimer's during her 40s. Even as it worsened, people blamed her behaviour on her heavy drinking. She never got a proper diagnosis until 1979 and upon her death in 1987 at just 68, she would become a major public face for Alzheimer's Awareness.

Rita Hayworth died at her home from complications associated with Alzheimer's on May 14, 1987, at the age of 68.