Rita Hayworth

Yes! Finally a thread about her. Been waiting for this for some time.

So was she Gilda or not?

....

What was she like as a person?!! I rarely read anything about her other than suffering from Alzheimer.

Mexican loquita

Phoney and dull as dishwater.

When did she get on to the booze? 1955?

Is James Hill important?

Did ANYONE take her film 'Salome' seriously?

How many times did she change her hair colour?

Was she REALLY Mexican?

Beautiful woman and like so many beautiful women she had poor taste in men. My favorite of her movies? Miss Sadie Thompson.

Gary Merrill - Bette's ex - and Frank Langella both wrote about dating her in their biographies. Neither had a single bad thing to say about her, they seemed to feel kind of sorry for her.

From Franks book, Dropped Names -

Rita and I drift toward each other like two boats on an unfamiliar sea, torn free of their moorings. We could just as easily have floated in opposite directions, but real life is now reel life, and on movie locations personal relationships are less often chosen than grasped at. Rita grasped at me and I chose to take her on. The 20-year difference in our ages suited the unreality of time and place. Each of us wanted something from the other, and neither of us much contemplated motive or consequence.

A ritual began. Dinner most nights in her rooms. She buys dozens of candles, lights them all, and puts them on every surface, including the floor. I start a fire and pour the wine. And we sit by the open window, our elbows resting on the low wooden sill. Three stories below is the main street of the town, brightly lit, dusty, dirty, and noisy. She wants to make another deal.

We will count trucks. All trucks passing by her window going left to right are mine. All going right to left are hers. Whoever has the most trucks by dinnertime gets treated. I stay with the wine, but she graduates to bourbon. Dinner is served on the floor, and we eat to the cacophony of noise from the street. Her hair is washed free of the day’s set and spray, her face polished clean of makeup, her dress a plain white caftan thrown over her naked body. She crosses her legs, barely touches the food, and talks and talks. Mostly about men. Shards of these ramblings stay with me.

I read online that she was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. I don't really (want to) believe that but it's well documented that she didn't get much of a childhood due to the fact that she worked as a dancer to support her family during the depression. She seems to have been exploited for most of her life.

Also from OP's photo, you can see that even though she was naturally pretty that she had extensive plastic surgery.

All I know about her is she gave good face.

Wasn't her dance partner father her abuser, R9? She started dancing with him professionally when she was 12. Wiki states that since she was too young to work in nightclubs in California, they danced in Tijuana. Unsavory sounding enough on the surface.

Marguerite didn't talk with an Mexican accent.

She was not Mexican. "Hayworth was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918 as Margarita Carmen Cansino, the oldest child of two dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, was from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a little town near Seville, Spain. Her mother, Volga Hayworth, was an American of Irish-English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies."

Thank you, R13. That's answered one of the questions posed by R6.

I wonder what the other answers are. Because I know DL's trusty elder queens are more knowledgeable than Google.

R6 well it seems James Hill started a production company with Burt Lancaster and married Rita in 58 after her career was going downhill because she was 1. middle-aged, 2. turning to drink and 3. developing dementia.

They purchased Margaret Leighton's role in Terence Rattigan's 'Separate Tables' so Rita could play a fragile drunk on film in 1958.

Margarita Carmen Cansino grew up with a sickening, isolating secret: her father was sexually abusing her. Her mother - probably the only other person who knew about it - slept in a bed with the child in a vain attempt at protection. According to Ms. Leaming, her father's abusive treatment was the key to her emotional development and led to a lifetime of disastrous relationships. In 1927, Eduardo Cansino, a Spanish-born flamenco dancer whose work in vaudeville was admired by Fred Astaire, moved his young family from Brooklyn to California. A failure in films because of his poor English, Cansino began taking his daughter, Margarita - or Carmen, as he called her - out of school to dance as his partner on casino stages in Tijuana. Telling people she was his wife, he dyed the child's hair black, put scarlet lipstick on her mouth and dressed her in garish, sexy clothes. The 'roly-poly' 12-year-old obediently flashed her eyes and tantalized. The sexual abuse continued in private. Cansino further exploited her by introducing her to movie producers such as Joe Schenck, who gave her a screen test that led to work as an ethnic extra in films being shot in Mexico.

In 1937, a 41-year-old lounge lizard and sometime car dealer named Eddie Judson married 18-year-old Margarita. Like her father, Judson saw the girl as, in her own words, 'an investment.' He even demanded that Cansino turn previously earned money over to him. Judson promoted his wife's film career by dying her hair auburn and raising her hairline with electrolysis. He also rented gowns for her, took her to nightclubs, paid press photographers to take her picture, fabricated awards for her and answered all remarks addressed to her. Hayworth silently welcomed his 'protection,' probably believing she was unable to take care of herself. Her husband repeatedly threatened her with physical abuse and disfigurement. He also offered her body to any man he thought would advance her career.

When he saw the famous Life pinup photograph, Orson Welles decided to marry her, and he did so in 1943. The frayed 'boy genius' later directed the 'love goddess' in the acclaimed film 'The Lady From Shanghai.' However, the real Hayworth's emotional needs made Welles uncomfortable, and he cheated on her regularly with prostitutes and with other actresses, including Judy Garland.

The dissolute Prince Aly Khan fell in love with Hayworth's image, too. The international playboy of the 1940's, he was famous for his wealth, his racehorses and his love life. The prince was still married, and his internationally publicized courtship of, marriage to and subsequent divorce from Hayworth were among the factors that ultimately led his father, the Aga Khan - the spiritual leader of 15 million Muslims - to reject his son as his heir and ultimately designate his grandson to succeed him.

After her divorce from Aly Khan in 1951, Hayworth's life went downhill fast. Custody battles over her daughters by Welles and the prince were bitter and public. Exploitative men were routine. She married the singer Dick Haymes, widely known in Hollywood as Mr. Evil, who took financial advantage of her. She began drinking heavily; irrational outbursts became common. By 1962, it was increasingly hard for her to remember dialogue. She seemed to blank out; once she even failed to recognize her former husband Orson Welles when he kissed her hello. In 1980, at the age of 62, she was finally diagnosed as a victim of advanced Alzheimer's disease, a less understood condition then than it is today. Her favorite daughter, Princess Yasmin Khan, became her legal guardian and lovingly cared for Hayworth until her death in May 1987.

Poor Rita.

She married Orson, an ageing 'enfant-terrible'.

And then —from the frying pan into the fire!— she married a Muhammudan.

There are rumors that Rita lost her virginity to her father.

I believe the abuse story. Such a tragic life. I read a story about when David Nivens wife died falling down some steps at a party in the 1940s Rita offered him sex as the only way she know of comforting a man. This reminds me of Monroe. ..the same damaged view of sex as a result of earlier abuse.

She was very beautiful but her looks began to fade early. By her mid 30s she looked a bit haggard. The result of stress and alcahol no doubt.

She also put weight on by the time of Miss Sadie Thompson. She was at the height of her beauty in Tonight and every Night (1945) imo

I heard that Harry Cohn, the boss of Columbia, pursued her relentlessly. Don't know if he succeeded though

TCM Star of the Month, and her 60s performances are featured. She looked completely "not there" and frayed around the edges as early as her 40s.

I forever remember a quote in the LA Times decades ago. It was made by a phone operator from William Morris. She said "The others are debatable - but Rita Haworth, darling... there was a star."

I'm sorry she had such an awful life. She was so gorgeous and a definite all cap MOVIE STAR.

Bump

Anyone agree that her alcoholism probably contributed to her dementia? She was drinking hard throughout the 50s and by the mid 60s was showing signs of mental problems

Her daughter Yazmin is a wonderful person.

So overrated. She is that shot up above, the "Gilda" strip tease (where she just took off her gloves) and the pin-up of her in a negligee kneeling on a bed. She has a nice figure but with her it was all about the hair.

Although I did see a tango she did with some guy early in her movie career - don't think the hairline was completely done - and it was hot.

She is just terrible in Separate Tables opposite Burt Lancaster. Whole thing is stolen by Deborah Kerr and David Niven. Deborah Kerr really lays the shy, inhibited, nervous, hysterical thirty something mannerisms on thick - overly thick - but it's supported by a genuine emotional life.

R26 if there's any connection I'd say vice versa. I know of two people with dementia and neither was a heavy drinker.

Hayworth started showing symptoms of Alzheimer's when she was only in her 40s.

Separate Tables was a bad play and worse movie. Strange it was so successful. Rattigan's earlier work is much more interesting.

Heavy drinking can cause dementia. It is different from Alzheimer’s dementia. Typically accompanied by a staggering gait as alcohol attacks the cerebellum of the brain.

sexually abused for years as a child and teenager by her father. Had to dance professionally at an early age, didnt want to be in show biz...........several boyfriends described her as perpetually sad.

R31 I would say Separate Tables is a fragmentary play rather than 'a bad play'.

It was primarily written as two one-act plays to showcase the fabulous Margaret Leighton's ability to be both fragile and glamorous at the same time.

Someone, Binkie Beaumont I suppose, suggested they be combined; Margaret playing both women with support from (homosexual) Eric Portman.

A brash American go-getter named James Hill came along and realised the resemblance between glamorous Margaret and his drunkard wife Rita and he got Deborah Kerr to play the other female.

I agree, R28, the film was patchy and it was very much spoiled by the presence of the epicene, sexless weed named David Niven who was supposedly playing a homosexual. You should see the truer version on Youtube starring Alan Bates, Claire Bloom and Julie Christie.

As I say, Margaret Leighton was a fabulous performer whose best stage roles were stolen by others for the movie versions.

GILDA is even more interesting for the louche and insinuating "gay" by-play between Glenn Ford and George Macready.

James Hill was gay, he was a partner in Burt Lancaster's production company HHL. He gave her the job in Separate Tables and wanted to revive her career as a serious actress, which didn't work out because Rita wasn't really a serious actress.

Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller and David Niven stole scene after scene after scene from Rita and Burt in Separate Tables, which is a great movie.

Hill was a violent asshole though.

Frank Sinatra intended to fuck Rita Hayworth at one time, but he backed off when he found out that Rita was so out of it.

R34 Leighton was great in the first movie version of Rattigan's That Winslow Boy (a role she didn't play on stage), such an interesting and intelligent performance in a good part. That's the best Rattigan play I know, miles above Separate Tables. Sorry, I've veered off from Hayworth... .

When she danced her arms were so gorgeously graceful.

I have to tell you, R38, that your post has given me goosebumps reminding me of the brilliance of 'The Winslow Boy'.

Homosexual Rattigan and Homosexual Asquith are at their utter best. Rattigan's scripting and plotting is the perfect masterclass in making a well-made play. Donat is uncustomarily good as the 'cold fish' and young Margaret Leighton is delicious and delightful as she allows herself to flirt with him. All the supporting actors are perfect (except for that crying Winslow boy)

It was Margaret Leighton's first landmark roles in movies; the other was the elegant drunk in 'Advice and Consent' in '64. I wish that so many of her other stage successes hadn't been stolen by Deborah Kerr.

It's hard to find anything written about her or a word said about her that is negative. She was, by all accounts, a nice person who had, with all her talent and beauty and fame, some awfully shitty things happen to her. As with Gene Tierney, another legendary old Hollywood beauty, I do not think she had a happy life, overall.

R41 Are you taking about Margaret or Rita?

She moved with such abandon!

She was a beautiful, talented woman. I think she was abused by her father; I don't remember if it was sexually. Kept having awful marriages. Died after declining for many years with Alzheimer's disease, but had a daughter who was devoted to her care. There was a biography of her entitled "If This Was Happiness.' The title was derived from someone telling Orson Welles (he was one of her husbands) that she said her marriage to him (their marriage was a dismal failure) was the only true happiness she had in her life, to which he replied "if this was happiness, can you imagine what the rest of her life was like!"

Welles was adulterous but not abusive. I guess that was the best she encountered in a relationship. Sad.

She was truly a lovely dancer. Photogenic as all get out. I think that sadness came across onscreen as a vulnerability and helped create her famed allure.

Mulholland Drive's two Ritas.

A goddess who walked the earth at one time.

Orson Wells said he was terrified of her father. I guess he was a monster.

Daddy Daughter Sex

" There was a biography of her entitled "If This Was Happiness.' The title was derived from someone telling Orson Welles (he was one of her husbands) that she said her marriage to him (their marriage was a dismal failure) was the only true happiness she had in her life, to which he replied "if this was happiness, can you imagine what the rest of her life was like!" "

I was going to post this! I mean, Welles was a self-absorbed asshole but he wasn't abusive, he didn't rape her or beat her up or whore her out... and that was as good as relationships with men ever got for her. Welles did realize what she'd been through but he didn't want to deal with it, because as I said he was a self-absorbed asshole.

At least she had her daughter to love her, and her audiences. She really was a wonderful movie star, not a great actress, but a genuine star! She was beautiful, and sexy, and extremely likeable and charming, and a very good dancer. Like Sophia Loren after her, she came across as someone you could love in a lot of different ways, she seemed like someone who'd be a hot fuck if you liked women, or a devoted wife, or a friend who'd help you out of a jam, or someone you could just trust to babysit your kid or look after your dog. She was appealing on all levels, except maybe that of a great thespian.

I just watched her in Cats, a 1968 film when she was 50. It didn’t appear that she had plastic surgery. She was still pretty but quite matronly.

You got it, R43. For gods sake, do you know how many Hollywood stars of the golden age and even now are victims of sexual abuse? I would say most of them. She turned whatever horror she endured into floss and she is immortal because of it.

We can’t fix it. All we can do is it admire what she made of it.

So where the hell did people say she was Mexican come from???

I also read that book by Barbara Leaming. I remember her source for Rita Hayworth's abuse was Orson Welles. He was her source for a chunk of the book, as she had written a biography about him previously. She was clearly charmed by him. Whilst I could believe she was abused, Orson Welles was known for making up fantastical lies. It made me pause for sure.

R54 Possibly because she and her father used to dance in Mexico when she was a teenager, and she started out in a Dolores Del Rio when she started out. Who knows?

I thought she was spanish and not Mexican? She was pretty but that tiny forehead was not attractive.

I saw a 60 minutes episode about her maybe 40 years ago. Her daughter talked about how people thought Rita was drunk. Rita knew she hadn't been drinking and was hurt and confused by people's reactions to her.

I had never really known about Rita Hayworth until then. I remember being glad her daughter loved her and took care of her. Her life sounded so sad.

A little known fact was that Rita was one of the first actors to have her own production company in the 1940s.

But did Rita do anything with that production company?

The Beckworth Corporation produced The Loves Of Carmen, Affair in Trinidad, Salome, and Miss Sadie Thompson.

Well, the Beckworth Corporation provided an excellent supporting cast for her in 'Salome'.

There's Charles Laughton, Cedric, Judith and Stewart but it's all a bit sad with middle-aged Rita attempting to play a Jewish teenager in a deathly production.

Her first husband got everything upon their divorce. He also got a percentage of her future film. It was the only he way he would agree to the divorce.

She had a hot, young, gay grandson who did amateur porn videos, and died in 2011 at age 25 of possible suicide or autoerotic asphyxiation.

R64 not hot but links to those videos?

R62 - Yes, director William Dieterle even interrupts her Dance of the Seven Veils with a cutaway!

Poor Rita. The dementia and Alzheimer's hit her early and apparently hard: she had trouble remembering her lines during the filming of Pal Joey with Sinatra and Kim Novak in 1956 according to Hermes Pan, the choreographer. She was only 38 at the time. Later she threw a drink at Adele Astaire and pulled a knife on Ann Miller. Her daughter, Princess Yasmin Ali Khan, gave her later years some dignity by caring for her until she died in 1987.

She's not forgotten, though: Princess Yasmin raises funds for Alzheimer's research and care at an annual Rita Hayworth Gala for the Alzheimer’s Association. The 35th edition was held this past week at Cipriani in NYC. The 2007 version at the Waldorf, as seen here on the pages of the New York Social Diary features DL faves Ivana Trump, Somers Farkas, Joan Collins, Carolina Herrera, Nikki Haskell and Muffie Potter Aston looking [bold]exactly[/bold] like they do today.

So many actresses from Golden Age Hollywood ended up with abusive men, or if they weren't abusive they were just all-around shits who were horrible lovers/husbands. The list is quite long.

Gary Merrill was married to Bette Davis for 10 years and then had a lengthy affair with Rita. He was a mean, abusive alcoholic who was possibly mentally ill. I've read the various Davis bios, and in today's world his behavior would've put him in prison. Horrible asshole.

And a lot of the men would financially exploit their successful wives, whilst treating them like garbage.

Rita was at her best in musicals, but made nothing after the forgettable DOWN TO EARTH (1947), until the even more forgettable PAL JOEY (1957). What's especially annoying is that Cohn wanted to follow COVER GIRL with PAL JOEY and hoped to borrow Kelly (who originated the role on Broadway) from MGM again. But MGM refused to lend Kelly unless Columbia lent Rita to MGM, which Cohn refused to do.

Tragic. You can see the depression - and/or alcohol - wearing out her face and energy over the years. She looked so sad underneath it all starting in the 1950s. Doubt she ever had a chance at real happiness.

R64 about her grandson is tragic too. Probably some mental illness in the genes.

Dorothy Dandridge also had bad taste in men. She was sexually abused by her mother's lesbian lover. There is a pattern here.

I would love the story of her life to be given the silver screen biopic treatment.

[quote]I would love the story of her life to be given the silver screen biopic treatment.

That’s a great idea. Who would play her?

In her later years I would say Julianne Moore but casting her for her earlier years I am struggling to decide [R75]

Wasn't she quoted as saying "men go to bed with Gilda but wake up with me" very telling. Like she knew how to please a man sexually but emotionally she was a mess.

She was Fred Astaire's favorite dance partner.

Orson welles wasn't an arsehole he just wasn't right for her. Let's face it no one in Hollywood is spouse material. ...too many egos etc. She would have been happier as a housewife in the Midwest married to some nobody.

Yasmin Khan Talks About Rita Hayworth

R69. Yes you're right. Merrill was an arsehole but Bette is as much to blame like so many women who stay with these abusive men. He threatened to hurt BD I read. Bette should have left him then but she was too self absorbed to think about her families safety and was probably scared if being alone. This is a common thing with many straight women.

Rita Hayworth Documentary

Interesting

R74,75 & 76 -

Seem to remember a biopic - but TV movie rather than silver screen - with the role of Rita played by Lynda Carter. Much was made publicity-wise of Lynda’s Rita makeover - the shaving of her hairline and the dye job - which outta memory looked too orange - more Lucy than Rita - but then we mainly saw Rita’s films in Black & White and hard to know if her colour wasn’t actually that color - at least at times!

Dunno if the Carter biopic shows up anywhere that we can still see it?

I actually like Down to Earth. I think it's one of her best musicals. The numbers are fun and she is radiant.

"Well hello jack what's new outside ? I just got back from a cherry ride. I heard I've been elected to...tell you what we muses do"

Lynda.....

There's an interesting documentary (Prodigal Sons) about her other grandson (Marc McKerrow, who was given up for adoption by Rebecca Welles). Another sad story.

BUMP

r85: OK,yoi got me there. That IS a fun number with Kay Starr dubbing for Adele Jergens. And it does have Jack Cole choreography.

I actually prefer TONIGHT AND EVERY NIGHT better in some ways than COVER GIRL, whose Gay 90s numbers stop the film cold - even the lovely "Sure Thing".

R89. I think you're right there. I love the song from TAEN "Anywhere " they use it as background in Gilda as well.

[R26]

Yeah, I agree with you that, IMO, alcohol either created or contributed to her Dementia. She had a long term drinking problem which is probably why a lot of her peers thought she was drunk when she may having a Dementia episode.

I remember reading a book James Hill wrote about his life with her. Her life was tragic. She drank a lot to deal with a lot. And like Cary Grant with his persona, she couldn't live up to being the fantasy image that was "Rita Hayworth".

[R75] I would love the story of her life to be given the silver screen biopic treatment.

That’s a great idea. Who would play her?

—Anonymous

I was born to play Rita Hayworth! I'm beautiful and my life is tragic!

"Basically, I am a good, gentle person, but I am attracted to mean personalities."

-Rita Hayworth

As much as I love Lynda, her Rita Hayworth was klutzy and limited. Her own voice was used for the MAME number, so at least she sounded good. Rita was lithe and slender, Lynda full-bodied and voluptuous...and those chipmunk cheeks?

Rita Hayworth on Orson Welles :

During the entire period of our marriage, he showed no interest in establishing a home. When I suggested purchasing a home, he told me he didn't want the responsibility. Mr. Welles told me he never should have married in the first place; that it interfered with his freedom in his way of life.

r88=Moron

So sad.

We don’t have movie stars as beautiful and glamorous/charismatic as Rita Hayworth today.

Whatever one thinks of her acting ability, she was a true star.

Can anyone think of any contemporary actresses who compare or are similar to Rita?

Rita, Orson, and Marlene having some coffee.

Just your typical morning....

Rita: “I’m a movie star...what the fuck am I supposed to do with this bread?”

In the Rita documentary Juanita Moore, who appeared in Affair in Trinidad with her, tells an interesting story. Apparently Rita had dark skin, like Juanita, and she reported other actors had refused to stand next to her in scenes because of it.

R87 - apparently Rebecca Welles didn't care for her mother as much as Princess Yasmin.

The Story on Page One is a pretty remarkable acting job. But knowing what we now know, you can see th e ravages of disease in her performance.

Can you imagine, r99? Hayworth...Welles...Dietrich...a Bauer creamer!

I'm sure Marlene would've loved to get up in Rita's schnappen.

Bacall was going to join them, but Rita never served High Point.

R99 Tasteful friends, what is that wall behind Marlene?

And is that a paper table cloth?

Burt Lancaster and his father James share a laugh with Rita Hayworth, 1958.

She had such a lovely smile!

Orson was a serial cheater his entire life.

Orson cheated on his own ideals. He squandered his undisciplined talent on booze, indecision and obesity.

He self-sabotaged too. His films often involved him stepping back, and crying victim when the film did not work out in the way he said it would have been had he been at the helm.

He also loved excess, and was voracious with sex, food.

Sorry but Rita is miscast in The Story of Page One. No one could believe the elegant Rita as a slobby housefrau.

Lovely Rita.

She was naturally very pretty and a good dancer, but damn. Raising her hairline and dying her hair changed her from pretty to beautiful.

Orson was a genius, though. So he can be forgiven his excesses...

R114 I'll have to see some Before and After pictures to appreciate Rita's raised hairline.

R115 Orson may have been a genius in the years 1936 to 1942. But he went slowly, crazily, idiotically, embarrassingly downhill over the next thirty years.

R111 He also loved excess, and was voracious with sex, food.

Like Marlon Brando

^ Is that questioner Eli Wallach?

R118 Elia Kazan is the interviewer as well, it was a french TV program in the 1980s, in which the guest played the role of interviewer as well but with a little disguise.

Welles said of Hayworth, 'Her whole life was suffering...'

I think Rita is the definition of the term, 'lovely', she may be pretty or gorgeous or beautiful or sexy, as well but whenever I see her in her prime (especially when she's dancing), the first word that comes to mind is lovely. She's just so lovely. MARY, I KNOW!

Rita Hayworth was one of the most beautiful and photogenic actresses to ever step in front of a camera. In her prime she was more beautiful than Marilyn Monroe, imho.

She might be more celebrated today if more of the films from her prime were better. Gilda seems to be the only film most people know and that's mainly because of Put the Blame on Mame.

Columbia rarely secured great properties for Rita's films. Compared to her contemporaries Ava Gardner and Lana Turner, MGM was far more astute in building their careers with the top talent of the time.

I always wondered what the dynamic was between her two daughters. Rebecca had a face like a potato and Yasmin looked like Rita. Yasmin's father died when she was 10 and probably left her a lot of money, but Rebecca struggled financially most of her life.

I can't imagine what it would be like to have a younger, much prettier sister who was an actual princess.

Definitely a yin/yang dynamic there, r123.

R123 I don't think there was much of a relationship between Rebecca and Yasmine...

Rebecca struggled but she had a decent relationship with a half sister from her father's side.

R122: Columbia made very few A-pictures before the 1950s and never had a large stable of contract players. they had few properties for Hayworth and Cohn would have been rather careful about loaning her out to other studios. The usual arrangement was for other studios to loan out players to Columbia as punishment. MGM had far greater resources, but she also would have found herself competing with actresses like Turner. The MGM model was to always have a near clone waiting so you wouldn't complain too much. It also encouraged ambitious mediocrities like that noted adult diaper saleswoman, June Allyson, to succeed.

In 1971 Rita appeared on the Carol Burnett show.

Harry Cohn purchased the film rights to the stage hit Born Yesterday for Rita. She had gone on vacation but then married Aly Khan. Rita could be funny it's hard to see her doing Billie Dawn.

I can see Ann Miller doing Billie Dawn, and she was a Columbia contract player for a while.

Not even Marilyn Monroe was as sexually mistreated as Rita in Hollywood. Marilyn was a bit more in charge of her abuse. Rita's whole life was a tragedy but for a while she was nothing but dazzling. I am one who finds her alluring and talented after her youth was gone. Her light went out quick....long before 40. But she was sensual and had that voice and was very beautiful in her worn way. Ava Gardner was a bit like this too. They were better actresses than given credit and they never credited themselves as anything.

Lana, Liz and Crawford hardened into drag queen shellac, but the hurt edges and tough sexiness showed in Rita, Ava and Monroe. I don't think I've read a sadder Hollywood biography than Hayworths.

Your dewy youthfulness seemed to dissipate after the Aly Khan marriage failure. After seeing the rushes for Affair in Trinidad, her Columbia comeback film, Harry Cohn supposedly asked, 'Where's my Rita?!'

She still looked quite stunning if a bit more mature in her first two post Aly pictures, Affair in Trinidad and Salome. The next one, Miss Sadie Thompson, she deliberately gained 10 lbs to portray the character as written but still looked good. It was her 4th marriage to Dick Haymes that truly wore her out and when she finally returned to filmmaking in 1957 for Fire Down Below and then Pal Joey, her face showed the stress of years of bad marriages and personal problems. Still she was always quite elegant and the hurt edges and tough sexiness came through as R130 points out.

Ava Gardner was one actress from that generation who didn't seem to be used and abused like so many of her contemporaries were, as far as anyone knows. Ava was a tough, foul-mouthed farm girl who wasn't afraid to tell people to go fuck themselves.

She's stayin' alive

Orson and 'Becca hawking booze...

See Ava Gardner and George C. Scott. He beat her badly more than once. Although I don't think that had been her history with men before that time R133.

Interesting entry. I read it every once in a while.

There is something different about Rita. She was a ballroom dancer, so she always had beautiful lines when she danced. But she also had a body that was not like most of the women in cinema in the 1940s - long legs, slender torso, tall, elegant. She gave good neck. Yes that's a dancer's body but she was only a dancer by accident of birth and molestation. So there's a quality of abandonment in her movements - she was never fully trained but she was so much more than a hoofer. It's a great combo. Sexy but never crude...she knew how to partner a man and be the beauty. That's what she was trained to do. But she had her own style and energy. Astaire admitted somewhere eventually that she was his favorite partner.

This is my favorite Rita Hayworth musical number. From Cover Girl 1944 with Gene Kelly.

Gene Kelly had a fucking hot ass.

Mine too, r139. One Rita pops out from behind the wall, Kelly vanishes from the screen.

One of her best solo numbers.

A very similar number, from BLOOD & SAND (1941), dancing with an impossibly young Anthony Queen. Tyrone Power glowers. Laird Cregar leers.

The most unlikely voice emerges from Ritas carmine lips.

The way above clip from Tonight and Every Night reminds me of an interview I read with Jack Cole who talked about Janet Blair's envy of Rita's stardom.

Historians disagree as to whether it is Rita's singing voice in the guitar scene version of "Put the Blame on Mame" in Gilda. I like to think it is Rita.

At 4:05, you can see a huge, annoying cut where a jazzy Jack Cole dream ballet was excised.

What was so special about Dick Haymes?

[quote]Orson may have been a genius in the years 1936 to 1942. But he went slowly, crazily, idiotically, embarrassingly downhill over the next thirty years.

Nope.

r139, I wrote above how she danced with such abandon. In the title number when she comes running down that curved ramp in heels....

She was radiantly beautiful.....and she was a magical dancer, so light and graceful. "Cover Girl," "You Were Never Lovelier"--I could watch them again right this minute. "Blood and Sand" too....

My favorite dancer is Eleanor Powell, and I even feel she was superior to Fred Astaire, but after seeing Rita and Gene Kelly's dance, I do have to say Rita Hayworth projects a sex appeal that Eleanor Powell could never match. Rita and Gene danced romantically. Eleanor Powell dominates her partners.

I don't think Hayworth was hugely technically skilled as a dancer, but she did what she did with musicality, line, grace... and charisma out the wazoo!

What made her amazing to watch is her ability to project her personality while dancing, the lovely, warm, joyous, sensual, fun-loving persona that made her a star. Speaking as an old ballet fan, that's a much rarer quality than you think.

Eleanor Powell and Rita Hayworth are like apples and oranges.

Short number, but leaves no doubt Rita can more than hold her own as a dancer.

R156 She is slim there. She had a beautiful lithe body then.