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Gilda DVD coverRita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress of Spanish and English descent who reached fame during the 1940s as the era's leading sex symbol. She was sometimes called "The Love Goddess" or "The Great American Love Goddess," and was celebrated as an expert dancer and great beauty.

She was born Margarita Carmen Cansino, the daughter of Eduardo Cansino (Sr.) and Volga Haworth in Brooklyn, New York. The Cansinos were a famous family of Spanish dancers working in vaudeville. Their family ancestry were of the Roma people (Gypsies) native to Spain. Hayworth was trained as a dancer from childhood, and was on stage by the age of twelve.

First attracting the attention of film producers as part of the dance team "The Dancing Cansinos," Hayworth was signed first by Fox Studios in 1935, then free-lanced for several years before signing with Columbia Pictures. After a name change from Rita Cansino to Rita Hayworth, and painful electrolysis to raise her hairline, Rita made a splash as part of the ensemble cast in Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings (1939). The Strawberry Blonde with James Cagney followed in 1941. Finally her sizzling "other woman" part in Rouben Mamoulian's Blood and Sand (1941) with Tyrone Power solidified her new-found stardom.

Hayworth's fame as a beautiful redhead arose from this Technicolor film. The "love goddess" image was cemented with Bob Landry's Life Magazine photograph of her (kneeling on a bed in a nightgown), which caused a sensation and became one of the most requested wartime pinups. During World War II she ranked with Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner as the most popular of pinup girls with servicemen. Rita became Columbia's biggest star of the 1940s, under the watchful eye of studio chief Harry Cohn.

Hayworth's well-known films include the musicals that made her famous: You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) (both with Fred Astaire), My Gal Sal (1942) with Victor Mature, and her best known musical, Cover Girl (1944) with Gene Kelly. Although her singing voice was dubbed in her movies, Rita was one of Hollywood's best dancers, dancing with power, precision, and unearthly grace. Cohn continued to effectively showcase Hayworth's talents in Technicolor films: Tonight and Every Night (1945) with Lee Bowman, and Down to Earth (1947), with Larry Parks. Her erotic appeal was most notable in Gilda (1946), a film noir directed by Charles Vidor, which encountered some difficulty with censors. This role — in which Hayworth performed a legendary one-glove striptease — made her into a cultural icon as the ultimate femme fatale. Other films include The Lady from Shanghai (1948) with husband Orson Welles, The Loves of Carmen (1948) with Gilda costar Glenn Ford, Salome (1953) with Stewart Granger, and the 1953 remake of Miss Sadie Thompson. Rita left her film career in 1948 to marry Prince Aly Khan, but after the marriage collapsed she returned with great fanfare in 1951 to film Affair in Trinidad (1952) with favorite costar Glenn Ford. In 1957, after making Fire Down Below with Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon, and Pal Joey with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak, Rita finally left Columbia. She continued working throughout the 1960s, and made her last film in 1972.

Personal life
Naturally shy and reclusive, Hayworth was the antithesis of the characters she played. She once complained that all the men she knew fell in love with Gilda, but woke up with Rita. She was close to her frequent co-star and next-door neighbour Glenn Ford.

Hayworth was married five times: first to Edward C. Judson (1937-1943), followed by actor-director Orson Welles (1943-1948, one daughter Rebecca Welles), to Prince Aly Khan (1949-1953, one daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan), then to actor-singer Dick Haymes (1953-1955), and finally to director James Hill (1958-1961). She also had a nephew named Richard Hayworth.

Final years
After about 1960, Hayworth suffered from extremely early onset of Alzheimer's disease, which was not diagnosed until 1980; she continued to act in films until the early 1970s and made a well-publicized appearance on The Carol Burnett Show near the end of her career. Lynda Carter starred in a 1983 biopic of her life. She lived in an apartment at the San Remo in New York City.

Following her death from Alzheimer's in 1987 at age 68, she was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Trivia
Hayworth's natural hair color was black.
A poster of Rita Hayworth was used as a plot device in Stephen King's short story, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and later in the movie based on the story which starred Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, The Shawshank Redemption.
Rita Hayworth placed 19th on the American Film Institute's list of the 25 greatest female movie stars of all time in 1999.
In 2005, the White Stripes wrote a song titled "Take, Take, Take" on their album "Get Behind Me Satan" which humourously describes a man meeting Hayworth in a bar and pestering her for an autograph and a picture. She is also briefly mentioned in the song "White Moon" from the same album.
Famously mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue", in which she is described as giving "good face".
In Salvador Plascencia's The People of Paper, Rita Hayworth is a sad, disenfranchised character. In the novel, she was made infamous for having sex with a lettuce picker.
Quote by actor Joseph Cotten: "No matter how bad the film, when Rita danced it was like watching one of nature's wonders in motion."
Rita was the first dancer to partner with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on film - others being Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Vera Ellen, and Leslie Caron.
Fred Astaire in his autobiography says Rita "danced with trained perfection and individuality." She was one of his favorite partners.
Although now considered one of her best performances, 1948's The Lady from Shanghai failed at the box office in part because writer-director-costar-husband Orson Welles had Hayworth cut off her signature red locks and dye the rest blonde for the role.
Rita performed one of her best remembered dance routines, the samba from 1945's Tonight and Every Night while pregnant with her first child Rebecca Welles.
Rita's favorite leading man was Glenn Ford. Her favorite films, however, were the ones she made with Astaire and Kelly.
Famous films Rita missed out on making: Laura (1944), Dead Reckoning (1947), with Humphrey Bogart, Samson and Delilah (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), and From Here to Eternity (1953).
Alluding to Rita's bombshell status, in 1946 her likeness was placed on the first nuclear bomb to be tested in the Marshall Islands, part of Operation Crossroads.
Rita had her own production company, The Beckworth Corporation (named in part for her daughter Rebecca) from 1948 to 1955. Each of her films during this period were co-produced by Beckworth and Columbia. Hayworth received a percentage of the profits from these films. Eventually Hayworth dissolved Beckworth to pay off debts she owed to Columbia.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, in writing and directing 1954's The Barefoot Contessa , was said to haved based his title character Maria Vargas (played on film by Ava Gardner) on Rita's life and her marriage to Prince Aly Khan.

  The Wrath of God (1972) .... Señora De La Plata
The Naked Zoo (1971) .... Mrs. Golden
... aka The Grove
... aka The Hallucinators
Road to Salina (1970) .... Mara
... aka Quando il sole scotta (Italy)
... aka Route de Salina, La
... aka Sur la route de Salina (France)

Bastardi, I (1968) .... Martha
... aka Bâtard, Le (France)
... aka Bastard, Der (West Germany)
... aka Sons of Satan
... aka The Cats
Avventuriero, L' (1967) .... Aunt Caterina
... aka The Rover
Poppies Are Also Flowers (1966) .... Monique Markos
... aka Danger Grows Wild (UK)
... aka Mohn ist auch eine Blume (Austria)
... aka The Opium Connection
... aka The Poppy Is Also a Flower (USA)
The Money Trap (1965) .... Rosalie Kelly
Circus World (1964) .... Lili Alfredo
... aka Samuel Bronston's Circus World
... aka The Magnificent Showman (UK)
The Happy Thieves (1962) .... Eve Lewis

The Story on Page One (1959) .... Josephine 'Jo' Brown Morris
They Came to Cordura (1959) .... Adelaide Geary
Separate Tables (1958) .... Ann Shankland
Pal Joey (1957) .... Vera Simpson
Fire Down Below (1957) .... Irena
Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) .... Sadie Thompson
Salome (1953) .... Princess Salome
... aka Salome: The Dance of the Seven Veils (USA)
Affair in Trinidad (1952) .... Chris Emery

The Loves of Carmen (1948) .... Carmen García
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) .... Elsa 'Rosalie' Bannister
Down to Earth (1947) .... Terpsichore/Kitty Pendleton
Gilda (1946) .... Gilda Mundson Farrell
Tonight and Every Night (1945) .... Rosalind Bruce
Cover Girl (1944) .... Rusty Parker/Maribelle Hicks (in flashback sequence)
You Were Never Lovelier (1942) .... Maria Acuña
Tales of Manhattan (1942) .... Ethel Halloway
My Gal Sal (1942) .... Sally Elliott
You'll Never Get Rich (1941) .... Sheila Winthrop
Blood and Sand (1941) .... Doña Sol des Muire
Affectionately Yours (1941) .... Irene Malcolm, aka Mrs. Murdock
The Strawberry Blonde (1941) .... Virginia Brush Barnstead
Angels Over Broadway (1940) .... Nina Barone
The Lady in Question (1940) .... Natalie Roguin aka Jean Renie
Susan and God (1940) .... Leonora Stubbs
... aka The Gay Mrs. Trexel (UK)
Blondie on a Budget (1940) .... Joan Forrester
Music in My Heart (1940) .... Patricia 'Patsy' O'Malley

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) .... Judith 'Judy' MacPherson
The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) .... Karen
... aka The Lone Wolf's Daughter (UK)
Homicide Bureau (1939) .... J.G. Bliss
The Renegade Ranger (1938) .... Judith Alvarez
Juvenile Court (1938) .... Marcia Adams
Convicted (1938) .... Jerry Wheeler
There's Always a Woman (1938) .... Mary
Special Inspector (1938) .... Patricia Lane
... aka Across the Border (Canada: English title)
Who Killed Gail Preston? (1938) .... Gail Preston
The Shadow (1937) .... Mary Gillespie
... aka The Circus Shadow (UK)
Paid to Dance (1937) .... Betty Morgan
... aka Hard to Hold (USA: new title)
Life Begins with Love (1937) (uncredited) .... Girl Friend
The Game That Kills (1937) .... Betty Holland
Girls Can Play (1937) .... Sue Collins
Criminals of the Air (1937) .... Rita
... aka Honeymoon Pilot (preview title)
Trouble in Texas (1937) (as Rita Cansino) .... Carmen Serano
Hit the Saddle (1937) (as Rita Cansino) .... Rita
Old Louisiana (1937) (as Rita Cansino) .... Angela Gonzales
... aka Louisiana Gal (USA: reissue title)
Rebellion (1936) (as Rita Cansino) .... Paula Castillo
... aka Lady from Frisco (USA: reissue title)
... aka Treason (UK)
Meet Nero Wolfe (1936) (as Rita Cansino) .... Maria Maringola
Dancing Pirate (1936) .... Los Polomas dancer
Human Cargo (1936) (as Rita Cansino) .... Carmen Zoro
Professional Soldier (1935) (uncredited) (as Rita Cansino) .... Gypsy Dancer
Paddy O'Day (1935) (as Rita Cansino) .... Tamara Petrovitch
Piernas de seda (1935) (uncredited) .... Ballerina
Dante's Inferno (1935) (as Rita Cansino) .... Dancer
Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935) (as Rita Cansino) .... Nayda
Under the Pampas Moon (1935) (as Rita Cansino) .... Carmen
In Caliente (1935) (scenes deleted)
... aka Viva Senorita (USA: poster title)
Cruz Diablo (1934) (uncredited) .... Extra
... aka The Devil's Cross

Anna Case in La Fiesta (1926) (unconfirmed) .... A Dancing Cansino
... aka Anna Case with the Dancing Cansinos
... aka Fiesta, La