Rita Hayworth: the goddess of love
Absolute fantasy, consecrated by Gilda, Rita Hayworth was and is still considered one of the most beautiful American women of her time. However, behind a displayed sensuality, hid a great fragility. Portrait.
Margarita Carmen Cansino was born on October 17, 1918 In New York, parents of Spanish, English and Irish origin. From her earliest years, she performed in the family dance troupe, called βDansing Cansinosβ. The actress will later say that βshe learned to dance before she even walked.β At 12, she is already a seasoned dancer, star of the family show. A recognition that it owes to the determination of the latter, who has only one word in his mouth: work. Rita is indeed deprived of childhood, while her freer brothers go out with their friends.
The girl doesnβt go to school, her whole life is dance-oriented. βTo work, to work, is the only word I heard during my childhood,β complained Rita. I was never a little girl β¦ β. Many years later, when married to Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth confessed to having suffered an incestuous affair with her father, the latterβs alcoholism helping.
A complicated start to an acting career
In 1933, Warner Bros. Pictures gave him a try, but Ritaβs overly Mediterranean physique did not suit them. The girl is indeed too brown, too round for the criteria of the time.
It was in Tijuana, at the age of fifteen, that she was spotted by Winfield Sheehan, vice-president of Fox. Seduced by the young dancer, he made her sign a contract after more than conclusive tests, but imposed some changes on her: she had to change her name, and therefore opted for the diminutive Rita, had to lose weight and take lessons in maintenance and of diction. The young woman begins to turn in some productions, but the Fox knows some difficulties and the contract of Rita is broken. Stifling under the family yoke, Rita manages to break free from her parents βgrip thanks to Edward C. Hudson, a businessman. 20 years older, he marries the young woman, then 19 years old and undertakes to transform her.
To meet Hollywood beauty standards, Rita must lose weight, have her molars pulled to refine her face, and undergo painful electrolysis sessions to scorch her hair. The implantation of the young womanβs hairline is also offset. In addition, she must take maintenance courses again. She completes her transformation by adopting the name of her mother Hayworth, more distinguished and less typified. The transition to icon has started. She is then presented to the boss of Colombia Pictures and signs a 7-year contract with them, with a salary of up to $ 250 per week.
The actress takes off with the movie Only the Angels Have Wings. Uncomfortable and sickly shy, she is reassured by her partner, Cary Grant, who assures her that the film will be a success. It is, and Rita quickly appears in other productions. She explodes in Strawberry Blonde, in which she perfectly embodies the perfect seductress. However, the young woman is still very insecure, a thousand miles from the image of sex symbol that she conveys in society.Her image as a femme fatale is further enhanced by her performance in Bloody Arenas, where she is chosen from 30 actresses.Β
She takes up musical comedy alongside Fred Astaire where she can once again use her dancing skills.
Consecration with "Gildaβ
On the love side, she divorced in May 1942 from Judson, who had become violent and possessive. It connects the connections, but ends up succumbing to the charms of Orson Welles, who wanted more than anything to conquer the most beautiful woman in the United States. They finally got married on September 7, 1943. Rita Hayworth had successes, but was increasingly neglected by Welles, who became involved in politics. Together, they will have a daughter, Rebecca, in December 1944. She returns to the studios and shoots βGildaβ, which will forever remain the reference film of Rita Hayworth. With the latter, it forever becomes a sexual symbol. The famous scene where the actress mimics a striptease while singing βPut the blame on mameβ will forever be remembered. The success was such that the first atomic bomb launched in 1946 on Bikini Atoll was named Gilda and was illustrated with the physique of the actress. Deeply shocked by the event, lost in her personal life (she divorces Oron Welles on December 1, 1948), the actress decides to take refuge in Europe, in order to get away from the star system for a while.
A hectic personal life
She meets Prince Ali Khan at a party in Cannes. Rita became princess a year later, on May 27, 1949, after a year of over-mediated affair. She gave birth to her second child, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan on December 28 of the same year. But the life of a princess is not that simple, the constraints being numerous, as are the princeβs connections. The couple divorces in 1953.Β
She returns to the United States, finds success thanks to Salome, whose famous dance scene of the seven veils. Despite everything, the first years after her return to the United States remain difficult for Rita who disputes the custody of her daughter with her ex-husband.
Always so emotionally unstable, she married her fourth husband Dick Haymes on September 24, 1954. The marriage was a total failure, as was the next with James Hill. Inconsistent in love, Rita will confide βthe men fall asleep with Gilda and wake up with meβ.
The decline of an icon
The decline began in the 1970s, when, unable to remember her lyrics, in a changing mood and with a penchant for the bottle, Rita was shunned by film studios. Knowing that she had no resources, actor Robert Mitchum offered her the film βHell of the Tropicsβ. She painfully finishes what will be her last film, she who has Alzheimerβs disease, can no longer remember a single line of text. His daughter, Princess Yasmin Khan then obtained his guardianship, subsequently becoming a personality very committed to the fight against the disease. The goddess of love, as she was known, died on May 14, 1987 in New York.
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