Rita Hayworth - the diamond of Hollywood, the princess of Pakistan and the woman no one loved

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This dazzling dancer, the daughter of a Spanish émigré, was called "the diamond of Hollywood." Men all over the world went crazy for her. The expression "sex bomb" and the name of the swimsuit "bikini" are associated with her name. The cocktail "Margarita" was named in her honor. She won the heart of filmmaker Orson Welles' impregnable bachelor, and then became the princess of Pakistan. But, having sacrificed everything, she returned to the set …

Flamenco childhood

Rita Hayworth, at the birth of Margarita Carmen Cansino, was born on October 17, 1918 in the family of a flamenco performer who emigrated from Seville to New York. Her mother Volga Hayworth, of Irish descent, was a singer in the famous Siegfeld show.

When the girl was 3 years old, her father brought her to a dance class, and already as a child, the little dancer had her first success. She was invited to the film "Fiesta", after which her father decided to make a movie star out of the girl.

The Cansino family moved to Hollywood, where Eduardo opened a dance school that was unprecedented in popularity until the Great Depression. The school was closed. Activities with children were replaced by performances in bars and nightclubs. Father and daughter performed in many entertainment venues in the States and Mexico. It was in one of them, called Tijuana, that the popular 'Margarita' cocktail was invented in honor of the young dancer.

The birth of a star

The girl grew up early. at thirteen she looked very sexy. Rita was noticed in one of the American film studios and was invited to appear in musicals. She did not get serious roles, she only had to participate in the back-up dance.

Hayworth's finest hour struck in 1937, when she became the wife of the notorious producer Judson, who had a bad reputation for his connections with the mafia. On films, he "laundered" dirty money, but this did not bother Rita at all - she wanted to make a career at any cost, even by entering into a marriage of convenience.

Eddie Judson was not used to investing money in empty ventures and began to create his own Galatea out of Rita. First, he advised his wife to change her hair color, then spent a substantial amount on a plastic surgeon who corrected the girl's forehead and nose. Finally, Eddie convinced Rita to take her mother's last name. This is how the future star Rita Hayworth appeared. Judson hooked up all the connections so that his wife could sign a contract with Columbia Pictures, and the next year a film was released with Hayworth in the title role.

Rita's participation in the film "Only Angels Have Wings" brought her first fame. Then, over the course of two years, she starred in several musicals, which were at the peak of popularity at the time. The men, holding their breath, watched as the dancing golden-haired angel gradually reveals some part of his perfect body.

“I married Eddie for love, and he married an investment,” Hayworth said. After the divorce, he sued all of her savings.

In 1941, a dramatic film with Hayward's participation "Blood and Sand" was released. Critics reacted very positively to the work of the actress, but a complete surprise for the cinematic environment was the step of the famous director Orson Welles. The master decided to marry the fatal beauty. They say that after seeing this picture, Orson, distraught with passion, interrupting filming in South America, rushed to the States and proposed to Rita.

It took enough time for Wells to prove his love to Hayworth, but he still achieved his goal. In 1943, the couple got married.

A bit of history

Dream woman

In 1944, Rita played in several more musicals, but the film "Gilda" became the peak of her career. There are shots in this film that make men in awe. The way the striptease scene began, where the heroine sexually takes off her glove, brought many to ecstasy. Since the release of the famous film, posters with photos of Hayward have adorned the abode of every bachelor. It is noteworthy that even in Stephen King's story, the prisoner who was preparing the Shawshank escape digs a passage in the cell wall, which is covered with a Rita Hayworth poster.

Soon, Orson and Rita had a daughter, Rebecca, but this event did not save the family from collapse. Perhaps a step towards divorce was the film "Lady from Shanghai", in which the director filmed his wife, forcing her to cut her hair and dye her hair blonde. The film failed miserably. Vain Rita took it with hostility and blamed her husband for everything. So Hayworth and Wells parted ways.

Runaway princess

In 1948, at the Cannes festival, Ritu was noticed by Pakistani prince Ali Khan. He was fabulously rich, held a high position at the UN and knew a lot about beautiful women. Hayworth succumbed to his advances and married a millionaire. And soon they had a daughter, Yasmin. The actress terminated all shooting contracts, but life in a golden cage failed. The princess was not allowed to leave the house without her husband's permission and to meet with friends. Ali Khan himself continued to replenish his collection of beauties. Hayworth filed for divorce, took her daughter and left behind the unfaithful prince.

In 1952, Rita returned to the film studio, got the role, but it was already impossible to revive her former glory. By that time, a new star was lit in Hollywood - Marilyn Monroe.

Hayward married again, divorced, began to drink, and soon doctors discovered Alzheimer's disease in the actress. The youngest daughter looked after her mother until the last day. And in moments of enlightenment, Rita confessed to her that she would trade her stellar years for quiet moments of family happiness.