Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) was one of the top pin-up girls for American GIs during World War II. But she was born Margarita “Rita” Carmen Cansino, daughter and granddaughter of well-known Spanish flamenco dancers. Rita Cansino studied dance with her father, who took her to Hollywood, and they performed as the Dancing Cansinos, starting when she was 12 years old.
She got a short film contract at Fox, playing “exotic” roles in the mold of Dolores del RÃo. That didn’t pan out, then Columbia Pictures signed her, and both the studio and her new agent / husband decided to change her name (taking her Irish-American mother’s maiden name) and dye her dark brown hair to a more “American” red. It took a few years, but by 1941, she was acting and dancing in films with Fred Astaire, who later admitted Hayworth was his favorite dance partner.
Her peak was perhaps the title role in the film noir Gilda (1946). She was married five times, including to director / actor Orson Welles and a Pakistani prince (she had a daughter with each of these men). Hayworth continued working until the early 1970s, and she died of complications related to Alzheimer’s. While she’s known for her dancing and striking looks, Rita Hayworth did a few turns in frock flicks, so let’s give her some WCW time!
Paula Castillo (as Rita Cansino) in Rebellion (1936)
Angela Gonzales (as Rita Cansino) in Old Louisiana (1937)
Rita (as Rita Cansino) in Hit the Saddle (1937)
Carmen Serano (as Rita Cansino) in Trouble in Texas (1937)
Judith Alvarez in The Renegade Ranger (1938)
Virginia Brush in The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
Sally Elliott in My Gal Sal (1942)
Carmen in The Loves of Carmen (1948)
Princess Salome in Salome (1953)
Adelaide Geary in They Came to Cordura (1959)
Lili Alfredo in Circus World (1964)
Señora De La Plata in The Wrath of God (1972)
How do you remember Rita Hayworth?
I know it’s dyed, but MAN I get some serious redhead envy whenever I look at Rita Hayworth.
She did really suit the red hair! (Or it suited her :). I always loved The Strawberry Blonde – probably my favorite historic Rita.
She was so stunning as a redhead!
Her look as a brunette is not to be sniffed at either!😉
A little electrolysis was used to re-create her hairline.
Cover Girl doesn’t count as a historical film, but there’s a few flashbacks to the 1890’s, where Rita is playing her character’s grandmother.