Crush of the Week: Rita Hayworth, The Lonely Love Goddess

When she died in 1986, there is a good chance Rita Hayworth didn't know who she was. The Love Goddess of the 1940s and 50s was a victim of Alzheimer's disease. Maybe it's just as well she didn't remember, though. Rita Hayworth's life had more than its share of heartache.

The Life magazine photo that made Orson Welles and millions of others swoon

She was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, to two dancers, Eduardo Cansino and Volga Hayworth. Young Rita, whose father wanted her to be a dancer, took dancing lessons almost from the time she could walk. In 1927, Eduardo took his family, which now also included two boys, Eduardo, Jr., and Vernon, and moved to Hollywood where he hoped his dancing talent would open the film industry's doors to him. Though his movie star aspirations were not to be, Eduardo did open up his own dance studio, which was very successful until the Great Depression forced him to close it. In 1931, Eduardo partnered with Rita as the Dancing Cansino's, but since Rita was underage, Eduardo took their act south of the border to the popular tourist town of Tijuana, Mexico. According to biographer Barbara Leaming's interview with Hayworth's second husband, Orson Welles, Eduardo also partnered with Rita behind closed doors, sexually abusing her and undoubtedly leaving her in search of a man she could trust for the rest of her life.

Natural (Marga)Rita, pre-make over

In 1934, while dancing in Tijuana at the Caliente Club, Rita caught the eye of Fox Studios chief, Winfield Sheehan, and he signed the re-christened Rita Cansino to a six-month contract. Unfortunately, Rita was a victim of studio politics when Fox merged with Twentieth Pictures and became 20th Century-Fox. When Darryl Zanuck replaced Sheehan as studio boss, he let Rita's contract to expire.

It didn't take long for the young dancer to find another studio that was interested in her talent, though. Edward Judson, a salesman and promoter, saw Rita, became her manager and agent, and got her some freelance work at several studios, eventually convincing Columbia Pictures studio chief, Harry Cohn, to sign her to a seven-year contract and try her out in small roles. Feeling that Rita's look and name were too "exotic" for audiences of the time, Cohn had her name changed from Cansino to Hayworth, colored her hair from its natural black to red, and raised her hairline with the help of electrolysis. Margarita Cansino's first film as Rita Hayworth was a 1937 programmer called Criminals of the Air. Thirteen more low budget films followed, including forgettable movies like Paid to Dance, Convicted, The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt, and The Game That Kills. 1937 was also a big year in other ways for Rita: On May 29 she married her benefactor, Ed Judson, who was more than twenty years her senior.

A breakthrough with Cary Grant: Only Angels Have Wings, 1939

Rita's big break came in 1939 when director Howard Hawks (Bringing Up Baby, Scarface, Twentieth Century) cast her as the other woman in his action picture, Only Angels Have Wings. This quintessential Hawksian adventure film about American flyers in South America gave Rita a good supporting part as the ex-flame of Cary Grant's character, Jeff, and was a big hit in that banner year. The faith Harry Cohn showed Rita began to pay off, and the next year she was loaned to MGM to co-star in George Cukor's version of Susan and God. Adapted from a stage play that starred Gertrude Lawrence, the film was a showcase for Joan Crawford, who was just beginning to flex her acting muscles after spending years as America's favorite working girl. The film was not a popular success, but it was an important stepping stone for Hayworth. Back at Columbia, 1940 proved a busy year for Rita. She was the female lead in both The Lady in Question, playing alongside Glenn Ford in the first of five movies they made together, and the critically acclaimed Angels Over Broadway.

1941 was a pivotal year for Rita. She appeared in four movies-The Strawberry Blonde, a major hit, with James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland, and the forgettable Affectionately Yours with Merle Oberon and Dennis Morgan, both for Warner Bros.-as well as the high grossing Blood and Sand, with Rita as the luscious yet heartless Dona Sol, tempting bullfighter Tyrone Power with sex. Blood and Sand finally propelled Rita to superstar status. Her lone Columbia picture that year was also one of her most popular. You'll Never Get Rich showcased her dancing with the movies premier hoofer, Fred Astaire. These movies, along with her Life magazine photograph published that same year-a favorite of American servicemen recently called to war-made Rita one of the most desirable women in the world.

Her next film, a musical with Victor Mature called My Gal Sal for 20th Century-Fox, was also popular, and Hayworth and Mature began an affair, leading to her divorce from Ed Judson in mid-1942. At the time she said, "[Judson] regarded me as an investment and I had no fun.... But I'm not bitter now. I realize how much Ed has done for me. He fought for me.... [M]y career was his only concern." Mature went public with his love for Rita; however, while he was on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard, Rita never publicly confirmed her affection for him, dating several others, including Tony Martin, David Niven, and Howard Hughes. Then came Orson Welles.

Rita, Orson, and future best man Joseph Cotten: The Mercury Wonder Show

When Orson Welles saw Rita Hayworth's famous Life magazine photo, he supposedly said, "I'm gonna marry her." They met, and Rita became part of Welles' The Mercury Wonder Show, a sort of vaudeville show that he and friends like Joseph Cotten and Marlene Dietrich were performing for troops in Los Angeles. Harry Cohn was not thrilled about Rita's appearances in Orson's little revue but let her go on performing. Orson was dazzled by Rita's beauty, and Rita was besotted by Orson's brain. She said he not only was brilliant but that he was the only person who listened to her and took her seriously. After a whirlwind courtship, they married on September 7, 1943. But while Rita gave birth to their daughter, Rebecca, on December 17, 1944, the marriage was doomed. Welles, it was said, didn't like to be tied down to just one woman.

In spite of the turmoil of her years with Welles, she continued making movies. In 1944, she made Cover Girl, a musical with Gene Kelly that is considered among her best and was known to be one of her favorites. She does display some great dancing, but I find the film doesn't live up to its reputation. In 1945, she made Tonight and Every Night, an interesting backstage look at a London musical show determined not to miss one performance during the World War II Blitz. And in 1946, Rita Hayworth made the film for which she would be best remembered: Gilda.

Co-starring Glenn Ford, Gilda is a film noir with a sour romance at its core. Rita's Gilda and Ford's Johnny Farrell were once lovers in America. When the movie begins, Johnny is on the bum in Buenos Aires when fate intervenes, and Johnny is saved from getting robbed by Balin Mundson, a rich casino owner. He gives Johnny his card and invites him to visit the club. Johnny, an ace gambler, shows up, befriends Mundson, and is soon supervising the club for him. Then one night at Mundson's home, Johnny hears a familiar song. It's "Put the Blame on Mame," and soon it's being performed by Johnny's lost love, Gilda. From there it's just one big innuendo after another.

"Gilda? Are you decent?"  "Me?"

I can't stress enough how much I love this movie. It's all about Johnny's twisted sexual obsession, Balin's repression, and Gilda, stuck in the middle. Every time I see Gilda I'm amazed that it got past the censors. The camerawork and staging suggests the prison these two men have trapped Gilda in. Rita's costumes are incredibly sexy. And, of course, I cannot say enough about her rendition of "Put the Blame on Mame."
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Gilda was a huge hit in 1946, and its reputation as a classic has only grown through the years. For Rita, however, the film and its title character became a kind of curse. Years later Rita lamented,"Men went to bed with Gilda, but they woke up with me." Gilda was the symbol of sex Rita could never live up to. At age 28, she had reached the cinematic peak of her career. While she made several very good films after Gilda, it was for this femme fatale that audiences would forever recognize her.

As Gilda packed theaters, Rita was making a new film with estranged husband Welles. The Lady From Shanghai was also seeped in noir decadence. For it, Rita had her famous long, red hair cut short and dyed blonde. It almost seems Welles was eager to destroy the Gilda myth. Maybe Rita welcomed the change, maybe not, but it made Harry Cohn furious. To Cohn, Welles was maiming Columbia Studios' biggest asset.

Good still of Rita as the blonde Welles made over in 1948's The Lady From Shanghai

The new look certainly made her look thinner and older. It gave her a harder look, which suited her character, Elsa, well. When finally released in 1948, The Lady From Shanghai was a flop-everything Gilda was not. Rita had agreed to make the film because she hoped to reconcile with Welles. Welles made it because he needed the money after his notorious Broadway flop, Around The World. In the end, it was the film that won. Eventually, The Lady From Shanghai became a well-respected piece of film noir as the popularity of that genre grew. The climatic mirror scene near the film's conclusion is a sterling example of what imagination could achieve within the limits of noir's conventions.

The Lady From Shanghai's dialogue is superb-razor sharp-and the visuals are justly praised. Every time I view the mirror scene, I find myself thinking that Welles, who also wrote the script, must have been commenting on how he felt about the state of his relationship with Hayworth. The lines "I'm aiming at your lover" and " You know I'm pretty tired of both of us" ring true for me. As much as Rita wanted him, he wanted just as strongly to be free. No one-not a producer, not a movie studio, not a wife-could tie down Welles because Welles always did exactly what he wanted to do. Soon after the film was released to the public (after nearly half of it was cut by Harry Cohn's studio editor) both Rita and Orson were in Europe, though not together (their divorce was final in November 1947). Welles was escaping communist witch-hunters-and the IRS-and Rita was escaping into the arms of playboy, Prince Aly Kahn.

Rita with her Prince

In May 1949, Rita and Aly Khan were married in Cannes. At 30, Rita embarked on yet another marriage, giving up her film career to become a princess long before Grace Kelly ever did. Seemingly, Rita had finally found her Prince Charming and happiness. But, despite the birth of daughter Yasmin, this marriage didn't work either. Aly was a playboy and lived up to his reputation. Shortly after the press published photos of Aly dancing in a night club with Joan Fontaine, Rita left for Reno with her daughters to set up residence and file for divorce.

Harry Cohn, who technically still had her under contract, welcomed his biggest cash magnet back to the Columbia fold. But it was 1952, and Rita hadn't been in a movie in four years when most stars made two or three a year. The world had moved on since Gilda in 1946. And Rita had aged. In her absence Hollywood had discovered other sex goddesses, including Marilyn Monroe, who was on the cusp of fame that would far outlast her remaining ten years; Elizabeth Taylor, who was starting to bloom; and Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield, Anita Ekberg, and Brigitte Bardot, who were also right around the cinematic corner. With all this in mind, Harry Cohn decided it was best to act as if time had stood still. He cast Rita with Glenn Ford in the potboiler, Affair in Trinidad. It isn't much of a film, but it showed Hollywood that Rita's name could still sell a film, and it made money.

Interestingly, there was a tailor-made part in a first class production that would have done Rita a world of good, both professionally and personally. Harry Cohn had bought the rights to the "unfilmable" novel, From Here To Eternity. Helmed by Fred Zinnemann-fresh off his High Noon triumph-the film had Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, and Deborah Kerr in the leading roles. Why Rita wasn't considered for Kerr's role is one of the all-time movie mysteries. Joan Crawford had been penciled in for the part of Karen Richards, the unhappily married wife of Lancaster's commanding officer, but after (allegedly) fussing about who her costume designer would be, she was erased from the project. Rita would have been perfect, but no offer was made. As far as I know she was never even considered, opening the door for Kerr's great run of movies (The King and I; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Bonjour, Tristesse; The Sundowners) through the 1950s. Meanwhile Rita made two other movies in 1953: Salome (bad) and Miss Sadie Thompson (good).

One of my favorite Rita portrayals, Miss Sadie Thompson, 1953

Miss Sadie Thompson, adapted from "Rain," a 1923 story by W. Somerset Maugham, had already been made twice in Hollywood-a 1928 silent with Gloria Swanson called Sadie Thompson and a 1932 sound version with Joan Crawford called Rain-before the 1953 version, starring Rita. Both earlier version were more faithful to the story as they are what is now known as "pre-code" movies-films made before the film censorship board made serious inroads as to what content could be shown on the screen. By the time Rita's Sadie arrived, censors had been having their way for nearly twenty years, resulting in a significantly watered down version in 1953. In Maugham's story, Sadie is a prostitute; here she is a clip joint "entertainer." Bounced out of Hawaii's red light district-by way of San Francisco-on a vague morals charge, Sadie is bound for New Caledonia but temporarily stuck on a remote island occupied by U.S. Marines.

Despite the lack of critical kudos, Rita's first two comeback films had done good business, so Harry Cohn decided to brush up the Maugham story with the added attractions of color and 3-D, the movie's latest television-combating fad. No doubt a stunner in its original process, Miss Sadie Thompson was mostly exhibited in its so-called flat, or normal, process. Rita makes a good Sadie, suggesting the character's low class roots and the somewhat innocent hold she has over men. She knows men want her, but she treats them mostly as harmless, good-hearted goons, even though the look on their faces-especially during Sadie's "The Heat Is On" number, performed in a sweaty, smoky atmosphere-shows the unbridled lust they have for her. With Miss Sadie Thompson Rita Hayworth, age 35-every year showing on her beautiful face-gives what may be her best performance. Unfortunately, the movie is not worthy of her effort. Capable director Curtis Bernhardt doesn't provide Rita anything to play off of. Her primary male counterparts are Aldo Ray as the main Marine on base and Jose Ferrer, whose Alfred Davidson was also sanitized, are stilted compared to Rita's swaggering Sadie.

Rita as a watered-down version of Sadie Thompson, whore of the South Seas

According to director Bernhardt, Rita wasn't her cheeriest during the making of Miss Sadie Thompson. After three failed marriages, she had begun a relationship with singer Dick Haymes. In fact the two were wed in September 1953, the fourth marriage for both (Haymes' previous wives included Joanne Dru and Nora Eddington, who was also Errol Flynn's ex). According to all reports, the union was not a happy one. Haymes supposedly beat the hell out of her. He also was in major financial straits with debts to the IRS and his ex-wives. He drank too much, and, more often than not, Rita, who had developed her own dependency on alcohol, joined him. Rita finally left Haymes in 1955 after he hit her in the face at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub. Rita said, "I'm basically a good person who is attracted to mean personalities."

Rita as Mrs. Prentice Simpson, aka "Vanessa the Undressa," in Pal Joey with Frank Sinatra.

After Miss Sadie Thompson, Rita was off the screen for another four years (years spent suing Columbia Pictures and others), finally re-appearing in 1957's Fire Down Below with Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon, a film that promised more than it delivered; and returning to musicals in Pal Joey. Fire Down Below is a fairly entertaining buddy/adventure film with Rita as a woman who comes between Mitchum and Lemmon. Some lines sound almost autobiographical, dialogue Rita could have written herself.  Pal Joey co-starred Rita with Frank Sinatra and Columbia's newest sex symbol, Kim Novak. Next to Hayworth, Novak is out of her element. The film belongs to Sinatra (his performance of  "The Lady Is a Tramp" is not just a showstopper; it may be Frank's best moment on film, ever), yet Rita holds her own, especially in the first half of the film. She has two good numbers-the faux striptease "Zip!" and her real highlight, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," which is begun with Rita lounging in bed after a night with Sinatra's Joey, and ends with her in the shower discreetly surrounded by smoked windows.

Pal Joey was Rita's last great showcase and a worthy farewell to the movie musical genre she contributed so much to. But time was running out on her career, and the last decade brought many starts and stops. 1958's Separate Tables was highly acclaimed, yielding Oscars for David Niven and Wendy Hiller, but not much for Rita. Though top billed among the starry cast, Rita was overlooked by Oscar as well as most critics of the day.

Still beautiful in 1957's Fire Down Below

After Separate Tables Rita made They Came to Cordura, one of  Gary Cooper's last film's; The Story on Page One; The Happy Thieves produced by her fifth husband, James Hill of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, just before their relationship ended; Circus World with John Wayne; and her last with Glenn Ford, 1966's The Money Trap. By now Rita was having trouble remembering her lines and having violent tantrums. After staying active in some low budget European films and several television spots for the remainder of the sixties, Rita Hayworth's last movie was 1972's The Wrath of God with old friend and co-star, Robert Mitchum. The rest of her life was a blur of embarrassing newspaper photos and headlines. Eventually her daughter, Yasmin, came to her rescue and took over as her mother's caretaker. In 1980, Rita was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Kept away from the paparazzi's hungry eyes, she died on May 14, 1987.

Happier times with Orson

Rita Hayworth's career seldom seemed to being her satisfaction or happiness. Until the end of her life Rita maintained she'd been happiest with Orson Welles-that he was the love of her life. Shortly before his own death in 1985, Welles told biographer Barbara Leaming, "If this was happiness, can you imagine what the rest of her life must have been?"

Sources: If This Was Happiness by Barbara Leaming
               Rita Hayworth : The Time, The Place and The Woman by John Kobal
               Rita Hayworth, The Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies by Gerald Peary
               Wikipedia
               IMDB
               Photos courtesy of the internet
               Rita's films courtesy of TCM