Recently in Rita Hayworth Category

By: Sweepea Steaming with sexuality and incredibly photogenic, Rita was dazzling in Technicolor, making her gorgeous flowing tresses her most memorable feature. Born into a family of professional dancers, Margarita Carmen Cansino danced on stage beginning at the age of six. She had a movie contract by the age of 16, but she paid the price for fame: she changed her name from Cansino to Hayworth, worked two long years in B movies, and had painful electrolysis to raise her hairline. Hollywood and the public began to take notice when Rita starred with Cary Grant in Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings. Soon she was in great demand in Hollywood. The "love goddess" image was solidified in 1941 with Bob Landry's Life magazine photograph of her kneeling on a bed in silky lingerie, which became one of the most requested wartime pinups. (You may remember the image from The Shawshank Redemption.) But her most iconic role came in 1946 when she played a tawdry seductress in Gilda. Naturally shy and reclusive, Hayworth was the exact opposite of the characters she played. She once stated, "Every man I knew went to bed with Gilda and woke up with me." Those who knew her best knew she was quiet and reclusive. Unfortunately from the age of 42, Rita was practically helpless due to Alzheimer's disease. The illness limited Rita's control and restricted her career. She worried friends with her erratic behavior, and ignorant of the effects of Alzheimer's, many thought she was going insane. But her death raised awareness of the ailment; in 1987 she passed away at the age of 68, and her daughter has been hosting the annual Rita Hayworth Charity Gala for the Alzheimer's Association ever since.