View source for Rita Hayworth

{{Short description|American actress, dancer, pin-up girl (1918–1987)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}

{{Expand Spanish|topic=bio}}{{Infobox person
| name               = Rita Hayworth<!-- use common name/article title -->
| image              = Rita Hayworth 1940s.jpg
| caption            = Hayworth by Bob Coburn, 1948
| birth_name         = Margarita Carmen Cansino
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1918|10|17|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = New York City, U.S.<!--No boroughs/neighborhoods, just cities per format.-->
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1987|05|14|1918|10|17|mf=y}}
| death_place        = New York City, U.S.<!--No boroughs/neighborhoods, just cities per format.-->
| death_cause        = <!-- should only be included when the cause of death has significance for the subject's notability -->
| resting_place      = [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver&nbsp;City]]
| awards             = [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]]
| height             = 5'6"
| occupation         = {{hlist|Actress|dancer|pin-up girl}}
| years active       = 1926; 1934–1972
| party              = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| father             = [[Eduardo Cansino]]
| mother             = [[Volga Hayworth]]
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Edward C. Judson|1937|1942|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Orson Welles]]|1943|1947|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Aly Khan]]|1949|1953|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Dick Haymes]]|1953|1955|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[James Hill (American film producer)|James Hill]]|1958|1961|end=divorced}}
}}
| children           = 2, including [[Yasmin Aga Khan]] <!-- notable people only -->
| relatives          = {{plainlist|
* [[Richard Cansino]] (nephew)
* [[Vinton Hayworth]] (uncle)
}}
| signature          = Rita Hayworth signature.svg
}}

'''Rita Hayworth''' (born '''Margarita Carmen Cansino'''; October 17, 1918{{spaced ndash}}May 14, 1987) was an American [[actress]], [[dancer]], and [[Pin-up model|pin-up girl]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.life.com/arts-entertainment/rita-hayworth-photos-of-a-movie-legend-and-all-american-pinup-girl/|access-date=April 21, 2024|first=Ben|last=Cosgrove|title=Rita Hayworth: Hollywood Legend, Pinup Icon - LIFE|date=October 2014 }}</ref><ref name=la>{{cite web|url=https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/rita-hayworth/|access-date=April 21, 2024|first=Gerald|last=Faris|title=Rita Hayworth - Hollywood Star Walk|date=May 16, 1987|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the [[Classical Hollywood cinema|Golden Age of Hollywood]], and appeared in 61 films in total over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth, after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top [[Pin-up model|pin-up girl]] for [[GIs]] during [[World War II]].<ref name=chitribobt>{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1987/05/16/page/8/ |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |agency=Associated Press |title=Rita Hayworth, 68, films' 'Love Goddess' |date=May 16, 1987 |page=8 }}</ref>

Hayworth is widely known for her performance in the 1946 [[film noir]] ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'', opposite [[Glenn Ford]], in which she played the ''[[femme fatale]]'' in her first major dramatic role. She is also known for her performances in ''[[Only Angels Have Wings]]'' (1939), ''[[The Strawberry Blonde]]'' (1941), ''[[Blood and Sand (1941 film)|Blood and Sand]]'' (1941), ''[[The Lady from Shanghai]]'' (1947), ''[[Pal Joey (film)|Pal Joey]]'' (1957), and ''[[Separate Tables (film)|Separate Tables]]'' (1958). [[Fred Astaire]], with whom she made two films, ''[[You'll Never Get Rich]]'' (1941) and ''[[You Were Never Lovelier]]'' (1942), once called her his favorite dance partner.<ref> In Such Good Campany, Carol Burnett, Three Rivers Press, 2016, Page 223</ref> She also starred in the [[Technicolor]] musical ''[[Cover Girl (film)|Cover Girl]]'' (1944), with [[Gene Kelly]]. She is listed as one of the top 25 female motion picture stars of all time in the [[American Film Institute]]'s survey, [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars]]. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Hayworth received a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 1645 Vine Street in 1960.<ref name=la />

In 1980, Hayworth was diagnosed with [[early-onset Alzheimer's disease]], which contributed to her death in 1987 at age 68. The public disclosure and discussion of her illness drew attention to Alzheimer's, and helped to increase public and [[Alzheimer's Association|private]] funding for research into the disease.

==Early life==
{{multiple image
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| image1    = Hayworth-American-c1931.jpg
| alt1      =
| caption1 = At age 12, Margarita (later Rita) Cansino was dancing professionally as her father's partner in "The Dancing Cansinos", 1931.
<!-- Image 2 -->
| image2    =Dancing-Cansinos-1933.jpg
| alt2      =
| caption2 = Margarita Cansino, at age 14, with her father and dancing partner, 1933
<!-- Image 3 -->
| image3    =Rita-Eduardo-Cansino-1935.jpg
| alt3      =
| caption3 = Rita Cansino and her father, 1935
}}

Hayworth was born as Margarita Carmen Cansino on 17 October 1918 in [[Manhattan]], [[New York (state)|New York]], the eldest of three children born to dancer parents.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New York City Birth Index {{!}} New York Genealogical & Biographical Society |url=https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/new-york-city-birth-index/617-1918-1a/84 |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org}}</ref> Her father, [[Eduardo Cansino]], was a Spaniard of [[gitanos|Romani]] descent,<ref>{{cite book|last= Hancock|first= Ian|author-link= Ian Hancock|title= We are the Romani People|location= Hatfield|publisher= [[University of Hertfordshire Press]]|year= 2002|page= 129|isbn= 978-1902806198|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MG0ahVw-kdwC&pg=PA129}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Kendrick|first= Donald|title= Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies)|year= 2007|location= United States|publisher= Scarecrow Press ([[Rowman & Littlefield]])|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tQKyAAAAQBAJ&q=rita+hayworth&pg=PA108|page= 108|isbn= 978-0810864405}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Nericcio|first= William Anthony|author-link= William Nericcio|title= Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America|year= 2007|location= Austin|publisher= [[University of Texas Press]]|page= 97|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OEAQYpxv4T0C&pg=PA97|isbn= 9780292714571}}</ref> from [[Castilleja de la Cuesta]], a town near [[Seville]], Spain.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/sevilla/abc.sevilla/1984/03/24/003.html|title=Del firmamento al limbo|last=Márquez Reviriego|first=Víctor|date=March 24, 1984|newspaper=[[ABC (newspaper)|ABC]]|access-date=April 5, 2012}}</ref>

Her mother, [[Volga Hayworth]], was an American of Irish and English descent who had performed with the [[Ziegfeld Follies]].<ref name="Ware">{{cite book|editor1-last=Ware|editor1-first=Susan|editor1-link=Susan Ware|editor2-last=Braukman|editor2-first=Stacy|title=Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary|volume=5: Completing the Twentieth Century|location=Cambridge, Mass.|publisher=[[Harvard University Press|Belknap Press]]|page=281|date=2005|isbn=978-0674014886}}</ref>{{Rp|281}} The couple married in 1917. They also had two sons: Eduardo Jr. and Vernon.<ref name="Ware"/><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UgoQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6ooDAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20police&pg=3977%2C419139 "Princess Born to Rita After Pre-dawn Dash to Clinic"], Associated Press, December 28, 1949; accessed June 13, 2009.</ref> Her maternal uncle [[Vinton Hayworth]] was an actor.<ref name=BS510129>{{cite news|title=TV's Vincent Hayworth Has Two Beauties Saying 'Uncle' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/9077876/?terms=%22Vincent%2BHayworth%22 |newspaper=The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Texas) |date=January 29, 1951 |page=6 |via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = August 9, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Eduardo Cansino wanted his daughter to become a professional dancer, while her mother hoped that she would become an actress.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SkgKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mUoDAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20delights&pg=3178%2C2810104 "Rita Hayworth Delights Papa and Mama Cansino"], ''Ellensburg Daily Record'', July 13, 1944. Accessed June 7, 2009.</ref> Her paternal grandfather, [[Antonio Cansino]], was renowned as a classical Spanish dancer. He popularized the [[Bolero (Spanish dance)|bolero]], and his dancing school in [[Madrid]] was world-famous.<ref>"Actress Rita Hayworth's Grandfather Dies at 89." ''Los Angeles Times'', June 22, 1954.</ref> Antonio Cansino instructed Rita Hayworth in her first dance lesson.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1954-06-22 |title=Antonio Cansino RIP (Rita Hayworth's grandfather) |pages=37 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82663635/antonio-cansino-rip-rita-hayworths/ |access-date=2022-03-23}}</ref> Hayworth later recalled, "From the time I was three and a half... as soon as I could stand on my own feet, I was given dance lessons."<ref name="Agan">
{{cite book|last=Agan|first=Patrick|date=1979|title=The Decline and Fall of the Love Goddesses|location=Los Angeles|publisher=Pinnacle Books|isbn=978-0523406237|url=https://archive.org/details/declinefalloflov00agan}}</ref>{{Rp|67}} She noted "I didn't like it very much... but I didn't have the courage to tell my father, so I began taking the lessons. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, that was my girlhood."<ref name="Morella">{{cite book|last1=Morella|first1=Joe|last2=Epstein|first2=Edward Z.|date=1983|title=Rita: The Life of Rita Hayworth|location=New York|publisher=Delacourte Press|isbn=0-385-29265-1|url=https://archive.org/details/ritalifeofritah00more}}</ref>{{Rp|16}}

She attended dance classes every day for a few years in a [[Carnegie Hall]] complex, where she was taught by her uncle Angel Cansino.<ref name="Ware"/> Before her fifth birthday she was one of the Four Cansinos featured in the Broadway production of ''The Greenwich Village Follies'' at the [[Winter Garden Theatre]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-organization/the-cansinos-34440 |title=The Cansinos |publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]] |access-date=April 25, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=September 21, 1923 |title='Greenwich Follies' Anew |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1923/09/21/archives/dodduwood.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 25, 2018 }}</ref> In 1926, at the age of eight, she was featured in ''La Fiesta'', a short film for [[Warner Bros.]]<ref name="Ware"/>

In 1927, her father took the family to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]. He believed that dancing could be featured in the movies and that his family could be part of it. He established his own dance studio,<ref name="Ware"/> where he taught such stars as [[James Cagney]] and [[Jean Harlow]].<ref name="Burroughs">{{cite book|last=Burroughs Hannasberry|first=Karen|date=2010|title=Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|isbn=978-0-786-44682-7}}</ref>{{Rp|253}}

In 1931, Eduardo Cansino partnered with his 12-year-old daughter to form an act called the Dancing Cansinos.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth">{{cite book|last=Leaming|first=Barbara|date=1989|title=If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth|location=New York|publisher=[[Viking]]|isbn=0-670-81978-6|url=https://archive.org/details/ifthiswashappine00leam}}</ref>{{Rp|14}} Her hair was dyed from brown to black to give her a more mature and "Latin" appearance.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|last=Meares|first=Hadley Hall|title=The Love Goddess: Rita Hayworth's Tragic Quest|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/09/rita-hayworth-biography-trauma|access-date=2021-05-08|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=September 23, 2020|language=en-US}}</ref> Since under California law Margarita was too young to work in nightclubs and bars, her father took her with him to work across the border in [[Tijuana]], Mexico. In the early 1930s, it was a popular tourist spot for people from [[Los Angeles]].<ref name="Ware"/><ref name=":1" /> Because she was working, Cansino never graduated from high school, but she completed the ninth grade at [[Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles)|Hamilton High]] in Los Angeles.

Hayworth later confided to Orson Welles that her father began to sexually abuse her as a child when they were touring together as the Dancing Cansinos.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|first=Carol |last=Kleiman |title=Behind Glamor are Scars of Incest |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-11-14-8901310071-story.html|access-date=2021-05-08|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> Her biographer, [[Barbara Leaming]], wrote that her mother may have been the only person to know of the abuse; she slept in the same bed as her daughter to try to protect her. Leaming wrote that the abuse experienced by Hayworth as a young girl contributed to her difficulty in relationships as an adult.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Braudy|first=Susan|date=1989-11-19|title=What We Have Here is a Very Sad Story |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/19/books/what-we-have-here-is-a-very-sad-story.html|access-date=2021-05-08|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Cansino took a bit part in the film ''[[Cruz Diablo]]'' (1934) at age 16, which led to another bit part in the film ''[[In Caliente]]'' (1935) with the Mexican actress [[Dolores del Río]].<ref name="Ware"/> She danced with her father in such nightspots as the Foreign and the Caliente clubs. [[Winfield Sheehan]], the head of the [[Fox Film Corporation]], saw her dancing at the Caliente Club and quickly arranged for Hayworth to do a screen test a week later. Impressed by her screen persona, Sheehan signed her to a six-month contract at Fox under the name Rita Cansino, the first of two name changes during her film career.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

==Career==
===Early career===
During her time at Fox, Hayworth was billed as Rita Cansino and appeared in unremarkable roles, often cast as the exotic foreigner. In late 1934, aged 16, she performed a dance sequence in the [[Spencer Tracy]] film ''[[Dante's Inferno (1935 film)|Dante's Inferno]]'' (1935), and was put under contract in February 1935.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|27}} She had her first speaking role as an Argentinian girl in ''[[Under the Pampas Moon]]'' (1935).<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|28–30}} She played an Egyptian girl in ''[[Charlie Chan in Egypt]]'' (1935), and a Russian dancer in ''[[Paddy O'Day]]'' (1935). Sheehan was grooming her for the lead in the 1936 Technicolor film ''[[Ramona (1936 film)|Ramona]]'', hoping to establish her as Fox Film's new [[Dolores del Río]].<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|29–31}}
[[File:Rita-Hayworth-Fox-1935.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Fox Film|Fox]] publicity photo of Rita Cansino, 1935]]

By the end of her six-month contract, Fox had merged into [[20th Century Fox]], with [[Darryl F. Zanuck]] serving as the executive producer. Dismissing Sheehan's interest in her and giving [[Loretta Young]] the lead in ''Ramona'', Zanuck did not renew Cansino's contract.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|32–33}} Sensing her screen potential, salesman and promoter Edward C. Judson, with whom she would elope in 1937,<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|36}} got freelance work for her in several small-studio films and a part in the [[Columbia Pictures]] feature ''[[Meet Nero Wolfe]]'' (1936). Studio head [[Harry Cohn]] signed her to a seven-year contract and tried her out in small roles.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|34–35}}

Cohn argued that her image was too Mediterranean, which limited her to being stereotyped in "exotic" roles that were fewer in number. He was heard to say her last name sounded too Spanish. Judson acted on Cohn's advice: Rita Cansino became Rita Hayworth when she adopted her mother's maiden name, to the consternation of her father.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|36}} Therefore, Cohn argued, people were more likely to regard her as a classic "American". With Cohn and Judson's encouragement, Hayworth also changed her hair color to ginger red hair and had [[Electrology|electrolysis]] to raise her hairline and broaden the appearance of her forehead.<ref name="Ware"/>
[[File:Astaire-Hayworth-dancing.JPG|thumb|upright=.8|With [[Fred Astaire]] in ''[[You Were Never Lovelier]]'' (1942)|left]]Hayworth appeared in five minor Columbia pictures and three minor independent movies in 1937. The following year, she appeared in five Columbia [[B movie]]s. In 1939, Cohn pressured director [[Howard Hawks]] to use Hayworth for a small, but important, role as a man-trap in the aviation drama ''[[Only Angels Have Wings]]'', in which she played opposite [[Cary Grant]] and [[Jean Arthur]].<ref name="Ware"/>

Cohn began to build up Hayworth in 1940 in features such as ''[[Music in My Heart]]'', ''[[The Lady in Question]]'', and ''[[Angels Over Broadway]]''. That year, she was first featured in a ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine cover story.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=July 15, 1940|title=Rita Hayworth Goes on a Bicycle Picnic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1j8EAAAAMBAJ|magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]]|volume=9|issue=3|page=58|access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref> While on loan to Warner Bros., Hayworth appeared as the second female lead in ''[[The Strawberry Blonde]]'' (1941), opposite James Cagney.<ref name="Ware"/>

She returned in triumph to Columbia Pictures, and was cast in the musical ''[[You'll Never Get Rich]]'' (1941) opposite [[Fred Astaire]] in one of the highest-budgeted films Columbia had ever made.<ref name="Ware"/> The picture was so successful, the studio produced and released another Astaire-Hayworth picture the following year, ''[[You Were Never Lovelier]]''.<ref name="Ware"/> Astaire's biographer [[Peter Levinson]] writes that the dancing combination of Astaire and Hayworth was "absolute magnetism on the screen".<ref name=Levinson>Levinson, Peter (2019). ''Puttin' On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography'', St. Martin's Press, pp. 123–124.</ref> Although Astaire made 10 films with [[Ginger Rogers]], his other main dancing partner, Hayworth's sensuality surpassed Rogers' cool technical expertise. "Rita's youthful exuberance meshed perfectly with Fred's maturity and elegance", says Levinson.<ref name=Levinson/>

When Astaire was asked who his favorite dance partner was, he tried not answering the question, but later admitted it was Hayworth: "All right, I'll give you a name", he said. "But if you ever let it out, I'll swear I lied. It was Rita Hayworth."<ref name=Levinson/> Astaire commented that "Rita danced with trained perfection and individuality ... She was better when she was 'on' than at rehearsal." Biographer Charlie Reinhart describes the effect she had on Astaire's style:
{{blockquote|There was a kind of reserve about Fred. It was charming. It carried over to his dancing. With Hayworth there was no reserve. She was very explosive. And that's why I think they really complemented each other.<ref name=Levinson/><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUhhKELUxB0&t=1m12s ''You Were Never Lovelier''], fair use clip</ref>}}
[[File:Rita-Hayworth-Landry-1941.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Iconic 1941 photograph of Hayworth for ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine]]

In August 1941, Hayworth was featured in an iconic ''Life'' photo in which she posed in a negligee with a black lace bodice.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=August 11, 1941|title=Rita Hayworth Rises from Bit Parts Into a Triple-Threat Song & Dance Star|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YE0EAAAAMBAJ|magazine=Life|volume=11|issue=6|page=33|access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://life.time.com/icons/rita-hayworth-photos-of-a-movie-legend-and-all-american-pinup-girl/#1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017141445/http://life.time.com/icons/rita-hayworth-photos-of-a-movie-legend-and-all-american-pinup-girl/#1|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 17, 2013|title=Life with Rita Hayworth: Hollywood Legend, Pinup Icon|magazine=Life|access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref> Bob Landry's photo made Hayworth one of the top two pin-up girls of the World War II years; the other was [[Betty Grable]], in a 1943 photograph. For two years, Hayworth's photograph was the most requested pin-up photograph in circulation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1143273|title=Rita Hayworth, Present at the Creation|last=Stamberg|first=Susan|author-link=Susan Stamberg|date=May 13, 2002|website=[[Morning Edition]]|publisher=[[NPR]]|access-date=June 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Osborne|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Osborne|title=Robert Osborne on Pin-Up Girls|journal=Now Playing|publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|issue=June 2015|page=4}}</ref> In 2002, the satin nightgown Hayworth wore for the photo sold for $26,888.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2002/planet-hollywood-selections-from-the-vault-n07818/lot.37.html|title=Rita Hayworth Nightgown From Her Famous World War II Publicity Photos|publisher=Sotheby's|access-date=March 8, 2015}}</ref>

In March 1942, Hayworth visited Brazil as a [[Goodwill Ambassador|cultural ambassador]] for the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] administration's [[Good Neighbor policy]], under the auspices of the [[Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Benamou|first=Catherine L.|date=2007|title=It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey|url=https://archive.org/details/itsalltrueorsonw0000bena|url-access=registration|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/itsalltrueorsonw0000bena/page/244 244–245]|isbn=978-0-520-24247-0}}</ref> During the 1940s Hayworth also contributed to the OCIAA's [[cultural diplomacy]] initiatives in support of [[Pan-Americanism]] through her broadcasts to South America on the [[CBS]] "Cadena de las Américas" radio network.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Qx00pQIkclMC&q=Rita+Hayworth&pg=PA166 ''Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of La Onda'' Deborah R. Vargas. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2012 pp. 152–153] {{ISBN|978-0-8166-7316-2}}<span> Rita Hayworth, OCIAA, CBS radio, Pan-americanism and Cadena de las Americas on google.books.com</span></ref>
[[File:Rita Hayworth - Stardom (March 1942).png|thumb|left|upright=.7|Hayworth on the cover of ''Stardom'' magazine, March 1942]]

In 1943, she was suspended without pay for nine weeks because she refused to appear in ''[[Once Upon a Time (1944 film)|Once Upon a Time]]''.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=March 22, 1943 |title=Screen News Here and in Hollywood |newspaper=The New York Times }}</ref>

===Peak years at Columbia===
Hayworth had top billing in one of her best-known films, the [[Technicolor]] musical ''[[Cover Girl (film)|Cover Girl]]'', released in 1944.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=378&Display=C|title=Cover Girl|website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=June 3, 2015 }}</ref> The film established her as Columbia's top star of the 1940s, and it gave her the distinction of being the first of only six women to dance on screen with both Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.<ref name="news.google.com">{{Cite web|author=Faris, Gerald|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q3wQAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20hollywood&pg=3397%2C4986759|title=A Screen Goddess and Hollywood Rebel Loses The Battle Against Disease|work=The Age|date=May 18, 1987|access-date=June 7, 2009}}</ref> "I guess the only jewels of my life", Hayworth said in 1970, "were the pictures I made with Fred Astaire ... And ''Cover Girl'', too."<ref name="Hallowell">{{cite news|last=Hallowell|first=John|date=October 25, 1970|title=Rita Hayworth: Don't Put the Blame on Me, Boys|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/25/archives/rita-hayworth-dont-put-the-blame-on-me-boys-dont-put-the-blame-on.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 7, 2015|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[File:Tonight-and-Every-Night-LIFE-2.jpg|thumb|Hayworth and choreographer [[Jack Cole (choreographer)|Jack Cole]] in ''[[Tonight and Every Night]]'' (1945)]]

For three consecutive years, starting in 1944, Hayworth was named one of the top movie box-office attractions in the world. She was adept in [[ballet]], [[Tap dance|tap]], [[Ballroom dance|ballroom]], and Spanish routines. Cohn continued to showcase Hayworth's dance talents. Columbia featured her in the Technicolor films ''[[Tonight and Every Night]]'' (1945) with [[Lee Bowman]] and ''[[Down to Earth (1947 film)|Down to Earth]]'' (1947) with [[Larry Parks]].

[[File:Gilda trailer hayworth1.JPG|thumb|Hayworth in ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'' (1946)]]

Her sexy, glamorous appeal was most noted in [[Charles Vidor]]'s [[film noir]] ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'' (1946) with [[Glenn Ford]], which caused censors some consternation. The role, in which Hayworth wore [[Black dress of Rita Hayworth|black satin]] and performed a legendary one-glove striptease, "Put The Blame On Mame", made her into a cultural icon as a ''[[femme fatale]]''.<ref name="Ware"/>

While ''Gilda'' was in release, it was widely reported that an atomic bomb that was scheduled to be tested at [[Bikini Atoll]] in the Pacific Ocean's [[Marshall Islands]] would bear an image of Hayworth, a reference to her [[Bombshell (sex symbol)|bombshell]] status. Although the gesture was undoubtedly meant as a compliment,<ref name="NYT obit"/> Hayworth was deeply offended. Orson Welles, then married to Hayworth, recalled her anger in an interview with biographer [[Barbara Leaming]]: "Rita used to fly into terrible rages all the time, but the angriest was when she found out that they'd put her on the atom bomb. Rita almost went insane, she was so angry.... She wanted to go to Washington to hold a press conference, but Harry Cohn wouldn't let her because it would be unpatriotic." Welles tried to persuade Hayworth that the whole business was not a publicity stunt on Cohn's part, that it was simply homage to her from the flight crew.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|129–130}}
[[File:Gilda trailer rita hayworth2.JPG|thumb|Glenn Ford and Hayworth in ''Gilda'' (1946)]]
On the June 30, 1946, broadcast of ''[[Orson Welles Commentaries]]'', Welles said of the imminent test, "I want my daughter to be able to tell her daughter that grandmother's picture was on the last atom bomb ever to explode."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1946OrsonWellesCommentaries|title=1946 Orson Welles Commentaries|date=June 30, 1946|publisher=[[Internet Archive]]|access-date=March 11, 2015}}</ref>

[[Operation Crossroads#Test Able|The fourth atomic bomb]] ever to be detonated was decorated with a photograph of Hayworth cut from the June 1946 issue of ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' magazine. Above it was stenciled the device's nickname, "Gilda" - the name of the film in which she was starring at the time - in two-inch black letters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conelrad.blogspot.com/2013/08/atomic-goddess-revisited-rita-hayworths.html|title=Atomic Goddess Revisited: Rita Hayworth's Bomb Image Found|date=August 13, 2013|publisher=CONELRAD Adjacent (blog)|access-date=March 11, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Lady from Shanghai trailer hayworth1.JPG|thumb|left|Hayworth in ''The Lady from Shanghai'' (1947)]]
In 1947, Hayworth's new contract with Columbia provided a salary of $250,000 plus 50% of films' profits.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hopper|first=Hedda|author-link=Hedda Hopper|date=October 22, 1947|title=Looking at Hollywood|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1a0LAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20250000&pg=3936%2C2915865|newspaper=[[Associated Press]]|access-date=June 4, 2009}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 

Hayworth's performance in Welles' 1947 film ''[[The Lady from Shanghai]]'' was critically acclaimed.<ref name="Ware"/> The film's failure at the box office was attributed in part to Hayworth's famous red hair being cut short and bleached platinum blonde for the role. Cohn had not been consulted and was furious that Hayworth's image was changed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Bob |author-link=Bob Thomas (reporter) |title=King Cohn: The Life and Times of Hollywood Mogul Harry Cohn |url=https://archive.org/details/kingcohn00bobt_0/ |year=1990 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-070-64261-4 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|221}}

Also in 1947, Hayworth was featured in a ''Life'' cover story by [[Winthrop Sargeant]] that resulted in her being nicknamed "The Love Goddess".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Sargeant|first=Winthrop|author-link=Winthrop Sargeant|date=November 10, 1947|title=The Cult of the Love Goddess in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1EEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80|magazine=Life|volume=23|issue=19|pages=80–96|access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref> The term was adopted and used later as the title of a biopic and of a biography about her. In a 1980s interview, Hayworth said, "Everybody else does nude scenes, but I don't. I never made nude movies. I didn't have to do that. I danced. I was provocative, I guess, in some things. But I was not completely exposed."<ref name="Morella"/>{{Rp|234}}

Hayworth's next film, ''[[The Loves of Carmen (1948 film)|The Loves of Carmen]]'' (1948) with Glenn Ford, was the first film co-produced by Columbia and Hayworth's production company, The Beckworth Corporation (named for Rebecca, her daughter with Welles). It was Columbia's biggest moneymaker that year. She received a percentage of the profits from this and all her subsequent films until 1954, when she dissolved Beckworth to pay off debts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dick|first=Bernard F.|date=1993|title=The Merchant Prince of Poverty Row: Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures|location=Lexington|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|page=130|isbn=978-0813118413}}</ref>

===Hiatus and return===
[[File:Hayworth-Aly-Khan-Wedding.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|Hayworth and [[Aly Khan]] at their wedding reception in the garden of the [[Château de l'Horizon]] near Cannes, 1949]]

In 1948, at the height of her fame, Hayworth met [[Aly Khan]]. They were married on May 27, 1949. Hayworth left Hollywood and sailed for France, breaking her contract with Columbia. An Ismaili Muslim suggested that Rita take the local name of ''Rehmat Khanum'', meaning "''Lady of the Blessings of the Almighty''".<ref name=":Time">{{cite magazine|title=International Oui Out |url=https://time.com/archive/6604244/international-oui-out/ |url-status=live|magazine=Time|date=June 6, 1949}}</ref>

In 1951, Columbia alleged it had $800,000 invested in properties for her, including the film that she had walked out on that year.<ref name="auto1">{{cite news|date=January 9, 1952|title=Hayworth, Studio Agree Once Again|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> A 1951 article in the British periodical ''[[The Sunday People|The People]]'' called for a boycott of Hayworth's films:

<blockquote>Hollywood must be told its already tarnished reputation will sink to rock bottom if it restores this reckless woman to a place among its stars."<ref>{{cite news|date=April 30, 1951|title=Call for Boycott of Rita Hayworth|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RLEUAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20boycott&pg=5716%2C6975581 |newspaper=[[The Age]] ([[Australian Associated Press]])|access-date=March 8, 2015}}</ref></blockquote>

After the collapse of her marriage to Khan, Hayworth returned to Hollywood to star in her "comeback" picture, ''[[Affair in Trinidad]]'' (1952) which again paired her with Glenn Ford. Director [[Vincent Sherman]] recalled that Hayworth seemed "rather frightened at the approach of doing another picture". She continued to clash with Columbia boss Harry Cohn and was placed on suspension during filming.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Hayworth refused to report for work because she objected to the script.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1970, she said,

<blockquote>I was in Switzerland when they sent me the script for ''Affair in Trinidad'' and I threw it across the room. But I did the picture, and ''[[Pal Joey (film)|Pal Joey]]'', too. I came back to Columbia because I wanted to work and first, see, I had to finish that goddamn contract, which is how Harry Cohn ''owned'' me!"<ref name="Hallowell"/></blockquote>

Nevertheless, the picture was highly publicized. ''Affair in Trinidad'' ended up grossing $1&nbsp;million more than her previous blockbuster, ''Gilda''.<ref>{{AFI film|id=50386|title=Affair in Trinidad}}.</ref>

Hayworth continued to star in a string of successful pictures. In 1953, she had two films released: ''[[Salome (1953 film)|Salome]]'' with [[Charles Laughton]] and [[Stewart Granger]], and ''[[Miss Sadie Thompson]]'' with [[José Ferrer]] and [[Aldo Ray]]. She was off the big screen for another four years, mainly because of a tumultuous marriage to the singer [[Dick Haymes]]. During her marriage to Haymes, she was involved in much negative publicity, which significantly lessened her appeal.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} In 1955, she sued Columbia Pictures to be released from her contract, but asked for her $150,000 salary, alleging that the filming failed to start on ''Joseph and His Brethren'' (1961) when agreed. The film was later filmed in 1961 by a foreign company as ''[[The Story of Joseph and His Brethren]]'' (film).<ref>{{cite news|date=April 9, 1955|title=Rita Hayworth Files Suit to End Film Contract|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> Harry Cohn expressed his frustration with Hayworth in a 1957 interview with ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine:

<blockquote>Hayworth might be worth ten million dollars today easily! She owned 25% of the profits with her own company and had hit after hit and she had to get married and had to get out of the business and took a suspension because she fell in love again! In five years, at two pictures a year, at 25%! Think of what she could have made! But she didn't make pictures! She took two or three suspensions! She got mixed up with different characters! Unpredictable!"<ref name="Kobal"/>{{Rp|163}}</blockquote>

By the time Hayworth returned to the screen for ''[[Fire Down Below (1957 film)|Fire Down Below]]'' (1957) with [[Robert Mitchum]] and [[Jack Lemmon]], [[Kim Novak]] had become Columbia's top female star. Her last musical was ''[[Pal Joey (film)|Pal Joey]]'' (1957) with [[Frank Sinatra]] and Novak (Hayworth had [[Billing (performing arts)|top billing]] in both pictures but actually played a supporting role in ''Pal Joey''). Hayworth then left Columbia for good.

===Later career===
Hayworth received good reviews for her performances in ''[[Separate Tables (film)|Separate Tables]]'' (1958), with [[Burt Lancaster]] and [[David Niven]], ''[[They Came to Cordura]]'' (1959) with [[Gary Cooper]] and ''[[The Story on Page One (film)|The Story on Page One]]'' (1960). She was meant to be in ''Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'' with Lancaster but both withdrew after the original play failed on Broadway.<ref name="natural">{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|date=27 February 2025|access-date=27 February 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/wrecking-australian-stories-summer-of-the-seventeenth-doll/?fbclid=IwY2xjawItNeFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHdfjoDKKNPRwIUw_CpwHxvsx-Nwe0Ux0vs54ici1NORlcxM0tGnZAIlpIg_aem_B57Gkzk7qzqgKn0YaklBwA|title=Wrecking Australian stories: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll}}</ref> She continued working throughout the 1960s. In 1962, her planned Broadway debut in ''Step on a Crack'' was cancelled for undisclosed health reasons.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s3EKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WEsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20step-on-a-crack&pg=6012%2C2570294 "Rita Hayworth Replaced in Play"]{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, AP, August 24, 1962.</ref> In 1964 ''[[Circus World (film)|Circus World]]'' was released, in which John Wayne was her co-star and for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a dramatic role. ''[[The Money Trap]]'' (1965) paired her, for the last time, with good friend Glenn Ford. 

Even after Harry Cohn had died, Hayworth still resented her treatment by both him and Columbia. She spoke bluntly in a 1968 interview:

<blockquote>I used to have to punch a time clock at Columbia. Every day of my life. That's what it was like. I was under exclusive contract, like they owned me&nbsp;... I think he had my dressing room bugged&nbsp;... He was very possessive of me as a person, he didn't want me to go out with anybody, have any friends. No one can live that way. So I fought him&nbsp;... You want to know what I think of Harry Cohn? He was a monster.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hallowell |first=John|date=June 23, 1968|title=Rita: Hollywood Still Is Her Town But No One Knows She's There|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ViMMAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20said&pg=6610%2C1537036|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|access-date=June 4, 2009}}</ref></blockquote> Hayworth resented the fact that the studio had failed to train her to sing or even to encourage her to learn how to sing.<ref name="Kobal">{{cite book|last=Kobal|first=John|author-link=John Kobal|date=1982|title=Rita Hayworth: The Time, the Place, and the Woman|location=New York|publisher=Berkley Books|isbn=0-425-05634-1|url=https://archive.org/details/ritahayworthtime00koba}}</ref>{{Rp|103}}

Hayworth continued to act in films until the early 1970s. She made comedic television appearances on ''[[Laugh In]]'' and ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'' in the 1970s. Her second-to-last film was French director [[Georges Lautner]]'s [[Road to Salina]] (1970), starring [[Mimsy Farmer]] and [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1940)|Robert Walker Jr]]. Her last film was ''[[The Wrath of God]]'' (1972), a western.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

===Public image===
Hayworth was a top glamour girl in the 1940s, a pin-up girl for military servicemen and a beauty icon for women. At {{height|ft=5|in=6}} and {{convert|120|lb|abbr=on}},<ref name="meet">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dypWAAAAIBAJ&pg=4691%2C819313 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |agency=(This Week)|last=Mason |first=Jerry |title=Meet Rita Hayworth |date=January 3, 1942 |page=13}}</ref> she was tall enough to be a concern for dancing partners such as Fred Astaire. She reportedly changed her hair color eight times in eight movies.<ref>Chapman, John. "Red Heads", ''Chicago Daily Tribune'', May 25, 1941.</ref>

In 1949, Hayworth's lips were voted best in the world by the Artists League of America.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pEUNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gGoDAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20lips&pg=2984%2C3374100 "Presenting: Ten Most Perfect Features in the World"], AP, February 17, 1949. Accessed June 13, 2009.</ref> She had a modeling contract with [[Max Factor]] to promote its Tru-Color lipsticks and Pan-Stik make-up.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

==Personal life==
Hayworth's two younger brothers, Eduardo Cansino Jr. and Vernon Cansino, both served in [[World War II]]. Vernon left the United States Army in 1946 with several medals, including the [[Purple Heart]], and later married Susan Vail, a dancer. Eduardo Jr. followed Hayworth into acting; he was also under contract with Columbia Pictures. In 1950, he made his screen debut in ''The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ellenberger|first=Allan R.|year=2001|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ&q=eduardo+cansino+Jr.+acting+debut|publisher=McFarland|page=117|isbn=978-0-786-45019-0}}</ref>

In 1941, Hayworth said she was the antithesis of the characters she played: "I naturally am very shy&nbsp;... and I suffer from an [[inferiority complex]]."<ref>[[Louella Parsons|Parsons, Louella O.]] "Rita, Shy Off Set, Now Groomed for Vamp Role", ''St. Petersburg Times'', May 25, 1941.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qZ8KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X00DAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20refused&pg=3692%2C4060984] Accessed June 2, 2009.</ref> Her provocative role in ''Gilda'', in particular, was responsible for people expecting her to be what she was not. Hayworth once said, with some bitterness, "Men go to bed with Gilda, but wake up with me."<ref name="Leaming Hayworth" />{{Rp|122}} She said, "Basically, I am a good, gentle person, but I am attracted to mean personalities."<ref>[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20064274,00.html "Chatter"], ''People'', July 15, 1974. Accessed June 6, 2009.</ref>

===Marriages, relationships and family===
[[File:Rebecca-Welles-Rita-Hayworth-1946.jpg|thumb|left|Hayworth with daughter Rebecca Welles in 1946]]
Hayworth married and divorced five times in twenty-four years. She had affairs with several of her leading men, most notably with [[Victor Mature]] in 1942, during the filming of ''[[My Gal Sal]]''.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 10, 1999 |title=From the Archives: Victor Mature, Beefcake Star of '40s and '50s, Dies|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-victor-mature-19990810-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=October 23, 2019 }}</ref>

Hayworth had two daughters and two grandsons, one by each daughter. Her older daughter, Rebecca Welles, was born on December 17, 1944 and was the daughter of her second husband, Orson Welles.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://people.com/all-about-rita-hayworth-children-8671427|title=Rita Hayworth's Children: All About Her Daughters Yasmin and Rebecca|website=People.com|last=Briese|first=Nicole |date=December 18, 2024}}</ref> Rebecca had a son, Marc McKerrow, in 1966; Marc was placed for adoption at birth, by some accounts, at Hayworth's urging.<ref name="grand">{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=David |date=2008-08-28 |title=Who's the grandaddy? |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/aug/29/documentary.orsonwelles |access-date=2023-11-24 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Rebecca Welles died in 2004.<ref name="grand" /> McKerrow had three children and died at age 44 as a result of complications from a nocturnal seizure related to a serious car accident that he had when he was 21 years old.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marc McKerrow Obituary (2010) - Great Falls, MT - Great Falls Tribune |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/greatfallstribune/name/marc-mckerrow-obituary?id=48757857 |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Legacy.com}}</ref> Marc is featured in the 2008 documentary ''[[Prodigal Sons (film)|Prodigal Sons]]''.{{cn|date=May 2025}} 

Hayworth's younger daughter, [[Yasmin Aga Khan]], was born on December 18, 1949 and is the daughter of Aly Khan.<ref name="auto"/> Khan had one son, Andrew Ali Aga Khan Embiricos, who died unmarried at age 25.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rita Hayworth's Grandson, Andrew Embiricos, Dead |url=https://people.com/celebrity/rita-hayworths-grandson-andrew-embiricos-dead/ |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Peoplemag |language=en}}</ref>

====Edward Charles Judson====
[[File:Judson-Hayworth-1942.jpg|thumb|upright|Edward Judson and Hayworth featured in ''[[Photoplay]]'', 1942]]
In 1936, at age 18, Hayworth married Edward C. Judson, an oilman turned promoter who was more than twice her age. They married in Las Vegas. Judson, who helped launch her acting career, was a shrewd businessman, but domineering. "He helped me with my career", Hayworth conceded after they divorced, adding "and helped himself to my money." She alleged that Judson compelled her to transfer a considerable amount of her property to him, and she promised to pay him $12,000 under threats that he would do her "great bodily harm".<ref>"Rita Hayworth Tells of Threats by Ex-Mate", ''Los Angeles Times'', July 3, 1943, p. A16.</ref>

Hayworth filed for divorce from him on February 24, 1942, with a complaint of cruelty. She noted to the press that his work took him to [[Oklahoma]] and [[Texas]] while she lived and worked in Hollywood. Judson was as old as her father, who was enraged by the marriage, which caused a rift between Hayworth and her parents until the divorce. Judson had failed to tell Hayworth before they married that he had previously been married twice.<ref name="Kobal"/>{{Rp|62}} When she left him, she had no money.

====Orson Welles====
[[File:Welles-Hayworth-Cotten-1943.jpg|thumb|Wedding of [[Orson Welles]] and Hayworth, with best man [[Joseph Cotten]], 1943]][[File:Rebecca-Welles-Rita-Hayworth-1946.jpg|thumb|upright|Daughter Rebecca Welles and Hayworth (December 23, 1946)]]

Hayworth married [[Orson Welles]] on September 7, 1943, during the run of ''[[The Mercury Wonder Show]]''.<ref>{{cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=Actor Orson Welles Weds Rita Hayworth. Couple Married In Superior Court At Santa Monica |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C05E4D9103CEE3BBC4053DFBF668388659EDE |quote=Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth were married today by Superior Court Judge Orlando Rhodes. ...|newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 8, 1943 |access-date=December 9, 2014 }}</ref> None of her colleagues knew about the planned wedding (before a judge) until she announced it the day before. For the civil ceremony, she wore a beige suit, a ruffled white blouse, and a veil. A few hours after they got married, they returned to work at the studio. They had a daughter, Rebecca, who was born on December 17, 1944, and died at the age of 59 on October 17, 2004. They struggled in their marriage, with Hayworth saying that Welles did not want to be tied down:
<blockquote>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.<ref name="UZ8VAAAAIBAJ 1947">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FdpXAAAAIBAJ&pg=3240%2C2754414 |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Washington |agency=Associated Press |title=Rita Hayworth wins divorce from Orson|date=November 10, 1947 |page=1}}</ref></blockquote>

On November 10, 1947, she was granted a divorce that became final the following year. The divorce was civil and they remained friendly afterwards.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/rita-hayworth-love-life-orson-welles-marriage-divorce/8427a05b-c6c6-437e-b884-18457165e3f5 | title=Rita Hayworth's tragic romances and one 'great love' | date=April 9, 2021 }}</ref>

====Relationship with Glenn Ford====
[[File:Backstage_photo_of_Gilda.jpg|thumb|Hayworth (left) and Glenn Ford on the filming set of ''Gilda'']]
Hayworth also had an intermittent, long-term relationship with [[Glenn Ford]], which started during the filming of ''Gilda'' in 1945, and continued through each other's numerous marriages.<ref>Ford, Peter (2011). ''Glenn Ford: A Life'' (Wisconsin Film Studies). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 62, 63 {{ISBN|978-0-29928-154-0}}</ref> Their relationship is documented in the 2011 biography ''Glenn Ford: A Life'' by Ford's son, [[Peter Ford (actor)|Peter Ford]]. Peter revealed in his book that Hayworth became pregnant during the filming of ''The Loves of Carmen'' and traveled to France to get an abortion.<ref>Ford, Peter (2011). ''Glenn Ford: A Life'' (Wisconsin Film Studies). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, p. 96. {{ISBN|978-0-29928-154-0}}</ref> Ford later moved next door to her in Beverly Hills in 1960, and they continued their relationship until the early 1980s.<ref>Ford, Peter (2011). ''Glenn Ford: A Life'' (Wisconsin Film Studies). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 202, 203 {{ISBN|978-0-29928-154-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-apr-11-la-et-classic-hollywood-20110411-story.html|title=A Ford fiesta|last=King|first=Susan|date=April 11, 2011|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|language=en-US|access-date=March 14, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glennfordbio.com/Peter-Ford-story-4.jpg |title=Page 73 |website=glennfordbio.com |access-date=March 14, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Glenn Ford: A Life – Book Notes|url=http://www.glennfordbio.com/classicimagesarticle.html|website=www.glennfordbio.com|access-date=March 14, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=May 2, 2006|title=Ford celebrates his 90th after 15 years of seclusion|url=https://www.deseret.com/2006/5/2/19951204/ford-celebrates-his-90th-after-15-years-of-seclusion|website=Deseret News|language=en|access-date=March 14, 2021}}</ref>

====Aly Khan====
[[File:Hayworth-Aly-Khan-1952.jpg|thumb|left|Hayworth and [[Prince Aly Khan|Aly Khan]] in Paris in 1952, before their divorce]]
In 1948, Hayworth left her film career to marry Aly Khan, a son of [[Aga Khan III|Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III]], the leader of the [[Ismailism|Ismaili]] community of Shia Islam. They were married on May 27, 1949.

Aly Khan and his family were heavily involved in [[horse racing]], owning and racing horses. Hayworth had no interest in the sport, but became a member of the [[Del Mar Racetrack|Del Mar Thoroughbred Club]] anyway. Her filly, Double Rose, won several races in France and finished second in the 1949 [[Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe]].<ref><!--Author Not stated--> [https://web.archive.org/web/20110131032001/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853954,00.html "Love's Long Shot"], ''Time'' October 17, 1949. Accessed May 29, 2009.</ref>

In 1951, while still married to Hayworth, Khan was spotted dancing with the actress [[Joan Fontaine]] in the nightclub where he and Hayworth had met. Hayworth threatened to divorce him in [[Reno, Nevada]]. In early May, Hayworth moved to Nevada to establish legal residence to qualify for a divorce. She stayed at [[Lake Tahoe]] with their daughter, saying there was a threat the child would be kidnapped. Hayworth filed for divorce from Khan on September 2, 1951, on the grounds of "extreme cruelty, entirely mental in nature".<ref>"Rita Hayworth Files Divorce Action in Reno", ''Los Angeles Times'', September 2, 1951.</ref>

Hayworth once said she might convert to Islam, but did not.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.islamicity.org/5271/brief-history-of-the-islamic-center-of-southern-california-1952-1972/ | title=Brief History of the Islamic Center of Southern California (1952-1972) | last=Yacoob |first=Mohammad | access-date=2022-11-09 | date=2013-05-22 }}</ref> During the custody fight over their daughter, [[Yasmin Aga Khan]], born {{birth date |1949|12|28}}, Aly said he wanted her to be raised as a [[Muslim]]; Hayworth wanted the child to be raised as a Christian.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dHYRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=t-IDAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20threats&pg=3546%2C4678546 "Prince Wants Yasmin Back"], Associated Press, October 31, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009.</ref> Hayworth rejected his offer of $1 million if she would rear Yasmin as a Muslim from age seven and allow her to go to Europe to visit with him for two or three months each year, stating:
<blockquote>Nothing will make me give up Yasmin's chance to live here in America among our precious freedoms and habits. While I respect the Moslem faith, and all other faiths, it is my earnest wish that my daughter be raised as a normal, healthy American girl in the Christian faith. There isn't any amount of money in the entire world for which it is worth sacrificing this child's privilege of living as a normal Christian girl here in the United States. There just isn't anything else in the world that can compare with her sacred chance to do that. And I'm going to give it to Yasmin regardless of what it costs.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Jf8SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g7YDAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20announced&pg=2774%2C1737152 "Rita Says No to Million"], ''Sydney Morning Herald'', September 13, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009.</ref></blockquote>

In January 1953, Hayworth was granted a divorce from Aly Khan on the grounds of extreme mental cruelty. Her daughter Yasmin, only three years old, played about the court while the case was being heard, finally climbing on to the judge's lap.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Rita Hayworth Gets Divorce|date=January 27, 1953|newspaper=The Manchester Guardian}}</ref>

====Dick Haymes====
[[File:Hayworth-Haymes-1953.jpg|thumb|upright|Hayworth and [[Dick Haymes]] obtaining their marriage license in Las Vegas, 1953]]
When Hayworth and Dick Haymes first met, he was still married and his singing career was waning. Haymes was desperate for money because two of his former wives were taking legal action against him for unpaid child support. His financial problems were so bad that when he tried to return to California, he was arrested.<ref>"Dick Haymes Faces Arrest Over Alimony", ''Los Angeles Times'', October 5, 1956.</ref> 

On July 7, 1954, his ex-wife [[Nora Eddington]] got a bench warrant for his arrest, because he owed her $3,800 in alimony. Less than a week earlier, his other ex-wife, [[Joanne Dru]], also got a bench warrant because she said he owed $4,800 in child support payments for their three children.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yIgRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xuIDAAAAIBAJ&dq=dick%20haymes&pg=5330%2C4245268 "Haymes Hears Sour Music]", AP, July 7, 1954.</ref> Hayworth ended up paying most of Haymes's debts.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Haymes was born in Argentina and did not have solid proof of American citizenship. Not long after he met Hayworth, U.S. officials initiated proceedings to have him deported to Argentina for being an illegal alien. He hoped Hayworth could influence the government and keep him in the United States. When she assumed responsibility for his citizenship, a bond was formed that led to marriage. The two were married on September 24, 1953, at the [[Sands Hotel and Casino|Sands Hotel, Las Vegas]], and their wedding procession went through the casino.

From the start of their marriage, Haymes was deeply in debt to the [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS). When Hayworth took time off from attending his comeback performances in [[Philadelphia]], audiences sharply declined. Haymes's $5,000 weekly salary was attached by the IRS to pay a $100,000 bill, and he was unable to pay his pianist. Haymes's ex-wives demanded money while Hayworth publicly bemoaned her own lack of alimony from Aly Khan. At one point, the couple was effectively imprisoned in a hotel room for 24 hours in [[Manhattan]] at the Hotel Madison while sheriff's deputies waited outside, threatening to arrest Haymes for outstanding debts. 

At the same time, Hayworth was fighting a severe custody battle with Khan, during which she reported death threats against their children. While living in New York, Hayworth sent the children to live with their nanny in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]]. They were found and photographed by a reporter from ''[[Confidential (magazine)|Confidential]]'' magazine.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

After a tumultuous two years together, Haymes struck Hayworth in the face in 1955 in public at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles. Hayworth packed her bags, walked out, and never returned. The assault and crisis shook her, and her doctor ordered her to remain in bed for several days.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZywPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XYUDAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth%20doctor&pg=5468%2C62157 "Marriage Falls Down and So Does Rita"], UP, August 30, 1955.</ref>

Hayworth was short of money after her marriage to Haymes. She had failed to gain child support from Aly Khan. She sued Orson Welles for back payment of child support, which she claimed had never been paid. This effort was unsuccessful and added to her stress.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

====James Hill====
[[File:Hayworth-Hill-1958-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|left|[[James Hill (American film producer)|James Hill]] and Hayworth obtaining their marriage license in [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]], 1958]]
Hayworth began a relationship with film producer [[James Hill (American film producer)|James Hill]], whom she went on to marry on February 2, 1958. He put her in one of her last major films, ''[[Separate Tables (film)|Separate Tables]]''. This film was popular and highly praised, although ''[[The Harvard Lampoon]]'' named her the worst actress of 1958 for her performance.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Rita Hayworth Sends Thanks to Lampoon For 'Worst' Prize|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1959/3/19/rita-hayworth-sends-thanks-to-lampoon/ |newspaper=[[The Harvard Crimson]] |date=March 19, 1959 |access-date=August 5, 2015 }}</ref> On September 1, 1961, Hayworth filed for divorce, alleging extreme mental cruelty. Hill later wrote ''Rita Hayworth: A Memoir'', in which he suggested that their marriage collapsed because he wanted Hayworth to continue making movies, while she wanted them both to retire from Hollywood.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

In his autobiography, [[Charlton Heston]] wrote about Hayworth's brief marriage to Hill. One night, Heston and his wife Lydia joined the couple for dinner at a restaurant in Spain with the director [[George Marshall (director)|George Marshall]] and the actor [[Rex Harrison]], Hayworth's co-star in ''[[The Happy Thieves]]''. Heston wrote that the occasion "turned into the single most embarrassing evening of my life", describing how Hill heaped "obscene abuse" on Hayworth until she was "reduced to a helpless flood of tears, her face buried in her hands". Heston wrote that the others sat stunned, witnesses to a "marital massacre", and, though he was "strongly tempted to slug him" (Hill), he left with his wife Lydia after she stood up, almost in tears. Heston wrote, "I'm ashamed of walking away from Miss Hayworth's humiliation. I never saw her again."<ref>{{cite book |last=Heston |first=Charlton |author-link=Charlton Heston |date=1997 |title=In the Arena: An Autobiography |location=New York |publisher=Boulevard Books |page=253 |isbn=1-57297-267-X}}</ref>

===Health===
 {{multiple image
<!-- Essential parameters -->
| align     = right
| direction = vertical
| width     = 170
<!-- Image 1 -->
| image1    = Rita Hayworth Carol Burnett Carol Burnett Show 1971.JPG
| alt1      =
| caption1 = Hayworth and [[Carol Burnett]] on ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'' (1971)
<!-- Image 2 -->
| image2    = Lilly Tomlin Rita Hayworth Laugh-In 1971.JPG
| alt2      =
| caption2 = [[Lily Tomlin]] and Hayworth on ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]'' (1971)
<!-- Image 3 -->
| image3    = Rita hayworth laugh in 1971.JPG
| alt3      =
| caption3 = Hayworth reprising the role of [[Miss Sadie Thompson|Sadie Thompson]] on ''[[Laugh-In]]'' (1971)
}}
Orson Welles noted Hayworth's problem with [[Alcoholic drink|alcohol]] during their marriage, but he never believed that her problem was [[alcoholism]]. "It certainly imitated alcoholism in every superficial way", he recalled in 1983. "She'd fly into these rages, never at me, never once, always at Harry Cohn or her father or her mother or her brother. She would break all the furniture and she'd get in a car and I'd have to get in the car and try to control her. She'd drive up in the hills suicidally. Terrible, terrible nights. And I just saw this lovely girl destroying herself. I admire Yasmin so much."<ref name="Tarbox">Tarbox, Todd (2013). ''Orson Welles and Roger Hill: A Friendship in Three Acts''. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, {{ISBN|1-59393-260-X}}.</ref>{{Rp|129–130}}

Yasmin Aga Khan spoke of her mother's long struggle with alcohol:
<blockquote>I remember as a child that she had a drinking problem. She had difficulty coping with the ups and downs of the business&nbsp;... As a child, I thought, 'She has a drinking problem, and she's an alcoholic.' That was very clear, and I thought, 'Well, there's not much I can do. I can just, sort of, stand by and watch.' It's very difficult, seeing your mother, going through her emotional problems and drinking and then behaving in that manner&nbsp;... Her condition became quite bad. It worsened and she did have an alcoholic breakdown and landed in the hospital.<ref>{{Cite news|author=[[Pia Lindström]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/23/nyregion/alzheimer-s-fight-in-her-mother-s-name.html|title=Alzheimer's Fight in Her Mother's Name|newspaper=New York Times|date=February 23, 1997|access-date=June 6, 2009}}</ref></blockquote>

In 1972, the 54-year-old Hayworth wanted to retire from acting, but she needed money. At the suggestion of [[Robert Mitchum]], she agreed to film ''[[The Wrath of God]]''. The experience exposed her poor health and her worsening mental state. Because she could not remember her lines, her scenes were shot one line at a time.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|337–338}} In November, she agreed to complete one more movie, the British film ''[[Tales That Witness Madness]]'',<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|343}} but because of her worsening health, she left the set and returned to the United States. She never returned to acting.<ref>Thames, Stephanie. [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/407 "The Wrath of God"], TCM.com. Accessed June 14, 2009.</ref>

In March 1974, both of her brothers died within a week of each other, which caused her great sadness and led to heavy drinking. In January 1976, at [[London]]'s [[Heathrow Airport]], Hayworth was removed from a TWA flight after having an angry outburst while traveling with her agent. The event attracted much negative publicity; a photograph where she looked disheveled was published in newspapers the next day.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uLwMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QF8DAAAAIBAJ&dq=rita%20hayworth&pg=6955%2C3721118 "Actress Helped from Jet"], ''St. Petersburg Times'', January 21, 1976.</ref> Hayworth's alcoholism hid symptoms of what was eventually understood to be [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref name=ocsbapobt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XsFPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4992%2C4266 |newspaper=Ocala Star–Banner |location=Florida |agency=Associated Press |title=Love Goddess' Rita Hayworth is dead at 68 |date=May 16, 1987|page=1A <!--"For several years in the 1970s, she had been misdiagnosed as an alcoholic."-->}}</ref>

Yasmin Aga Khan spoke of her mother's disease:
<blockquote>
It was the outbursts. She'd fly into a rage. I can't tell you. I thought it was alcoholism{{snd}}alcoholic dementia. We all thought that. The papers picked that up, of course. You can't imagine the relief just in getting a diagnosis. We had a name at last, Alzheimer's! Of course, that didn't really come until the last seven or eight years. She wasn't diagnosed as having Alzheimer's until 1980. There were two decades of hell before that.<ref>{{Cite news|author=[[Paul Hendrickson]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-11-vw-1763-story.html|title=Alzheimer's: A Daughter's Nightmare|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 11, 1989}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Biographer Barbara Leaming wrote that Hayworth aged prematurely because of her addiction to alcohol and also because of the many [[stressor|stresses]] in her life. "Despite the artfully applied make-up and shoulder-length red hair, there was no concealing the ravages of drink and stress", she wrote of Hayworth's arrival in New York in May 1956 in order to begin work on ''[[Fire Down Below (1957 film)|Fire Down Below]]'', her first film in three years. "Deep lines had crept around her eyes and mouth, and she appeared worn, exhausted{{snd}}older than her thirty-eight years."<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|322}}

Alzheimer's disease had been largely forgotten by the medical community since its discovery in 1906. Medical historian [[Barron H. Lerner]] wrote that when Hayworth's diagnosis was made public in 1981, she became "the first public face of Alzheimer's, helping to ensure that future patients did not go undiagnosed ... Unbeknownst to her, Hayworth helped to destigmatize a condition that can still embarrass victims and their families."<ref name="Lerner">{{cite news |last=Lerner |first=Barron H. |author-link=Barron H. Lerner |date=November 20, 2006 |title=Rita Hayworth's misdiagnosed struggle|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-nov-20-he-myturn20-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=August 17, 2015 }}</ref>

In July 1981, Hayworth's health had deteriorated to the point that a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that she should be placed under the care of her daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan of New York City.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=83cUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ogIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5445,1736079&dq=rita+hayworth "Rita Hayworth Placed in Conservatorship"] AP, July 23, 1981.</ref> Hayworth lived in an apartment at [[The San Remo]] on [[Central Park West]] adjoining that of her daughter, who arranged for her mother's care during her final years.<ref name="Leaming Hayworth"/>{{Rp|359}} When asked how her mother was doing, Yasmin replied, "She's still beautiful. But it's a shell."

In 1983, Rebecca Welles arranged to see her mother for the first time in seven years. Speaking to his lifelong friend Roger Hill, Orson Welles expressed his concern about the visit's effect on his daughter. "Rita barely knows me now," Welles said. He recalled seeing Hayworth three years before at an event that the Reagans held for [[Frank Sinatra]]. "When it was over, I came over to her table, and I saw that she was very beautiful, very reposed looking, and didn't know me at first. After about four minutes of speaking, I could see that she realized who I was, and she began to cry quietly."<ref name="Tarbox"/>{{Rp|129}}

In an interview that he gave the evening before his death in 1985, Welles called Hayworth "one of the dearest and sweetest women that ever lived".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZEWy--VsBQ&list=UUaxAJybXd-1ahQ9OV1J2WaA | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614154416/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZEWy--VsBQ| archive-date=2012-06-14|title=Orson Welles' Last Interview (excerpt) |publisher=[[The Merv Griffin Show]], October 10, 1985 |access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref>

===Political views===
Hayworth was a lifelong [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] who was an active member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee and was active in the campaign of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] during the [[1944 United States presidential election|1944 presidential election]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/fdrdeweyelection0000jord|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/fdrdeweyelection0000jord/page/232 232]|quote=Rita Hayworth Hollywood Democratic committee.|title=FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944|first=David M.|last=Jordan|date=September 2, 2011|publisher=Indiana University Press|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVAGAgAAQBAJ&q=Rita+Hayworth+Hollywood+Democratic+committee&pg=PA91|title=Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930–1950: Moguls, Mobsters, Stars, Reds, and Trade Unionists|first=Gerald|last=Horne|year=2013|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0292750135|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1968, Hayworth was part of a Hollywood committee that endorsed [[Robert F. Kennedy]]'s [[Robert F. Kennedy 1968 presidential campaign|presidential campaign]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-01-10 |title=Here's What RFK Did in California in 1968 |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heres-what-rfk-did-in-cal_b_80931 |first1=Joseph A. |last1=Palermo |website=HuffPost |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240119034547/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heres-what-rfk-did-in-cal_b_80931 |archive-date= Jan 19, 2024 }}</ref>

===Religion===
Hayworth was a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] whose marriage to Aly Khan was deemed [[Validity_and_liceity_(Catholic_Church)|illicit]] by [[Pope Pius XII]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.emol.org/film/archives/hayworth/index.html|title = The Life of Rita Hayworth |first1=Steve |last1=Starr |work=Entertainment Magazine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202055828/http://www.emol.org/film/archives/hayworth/index.html |archive-date= Dec 2, 2023 }}</ref>

===Death===
[[File:Rita Hayworth's grave.JPG|thumb|upright|Hayworth's grave at [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]], California]]
Hayworth lapsed into a [[Coma|semicoma]] in February 1987. She died at age 68, from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease, on May 14, 1987, at her home in Manhattan.<ref name="NYT obit">{{cite news |last=Krebs |first=Albin |title=Rita Hayworth, Movie Legend, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1017.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 16, 1987 |access-date=December 9, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Barnes|first=Bart|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/05/16/love-goddess-rita-hayworth-dies/f5a3d3f7-4958-4b2d-a5d6-ada25e3f691d/|title='Love Goddes' Rita Hayworth Dies|newspaper=Washington Post|date=May 15, 1987}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Faris|first=Gerald|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-rita-hayworth-19870516--20160514-snap-story.html|title=From the Archives: Rita Hayworth, Love Goddess of '40s, Dies|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 16, 1987}}</ref> President [[Ronald Reagan]], who was one of Hayworth's contemporaries in Hollywood (and who went on to also suffer from Alzheimer's in his final years), issued a statement:

<blockquote>Rita Hayworth was one of our country's most beloved stars. Glamorous and talented, she gave us many wonderful moments on stage and screen and delighted audiences from the time she was a young girl. In her later years, Rita became known for her struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Her courage and candor, and that of her family, were a great public service in bringing worldwide attention to a disease which we all hope will soon be cured. [[Nancy Reagan|Nancy]] and I are saddened by Rita's death. She was a friend who we will miss. We extend our deep sympathy to her family.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=34287 |title=Statement on the Death of Rita Hayworth |last=Reagan |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Reagan |date=May 15, 1987 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley |access-date=March 12, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924122134/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=34287 |archive-date= Sep 24, 2015 }}</ref></blockquote>

A funeral service was held on May 18, 1987, at the [[Church of the Good Shepherd (Beverly Hills, California)|Church of the Good Shepherd]].<ref name="NYT obit"/> Pallbearers included actors [[Ricardo Montalbán]], [[Glenn Ford]], [[Cesar Romero]], [[Anthony Franciosa]], choreographer [[Hermes Pan]], and a family friend, Phillip Luchenbill.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 19, 1987 |title=500 Rita Hayworth Mourners Told of Her Shyness and 'Gentle' Nature |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-19-me-1222-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 23, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023025024/https://articles.latimes.com/1987-05-19/local/me-1222_1_miss-hayworth |archive-date= Oct 23, 2015 }}</ref> She was interred at [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]]. Her headstone includes Yasmin's sentiment: "To yesterday's companionship and tomorrow's reunion."

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Film and television
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" | {{Tooltip|Ref.|Reference}}
|-
| 1926
| ''{{sortname|La|Fiesta|nolink=1}}''
|
| Short; credited as Rita Cansino
| <ref name="Ware"/>
|-
| 1934
| ''[[Cruz Diablo]]''
| Extra
| Uncredited
| <ref name="Ware"/>
|-
| rowspan="7" | 1935
| ''[[In Caliente]]''
|
| rowspan="4" | Credited as Rita Cansino
| <ref name="Ware"/>
|-
| ''[[Under the Pampas Moon]]''
| Carmen
| <ref name="AFI">{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/persondetails/131048 |title=Rita Hayworth |publisher=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]] |access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref>
|-
| ''[[Charlie Chan in Egypt]]''
| Nayda
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Dante's Inferno (1935 film)|Dante's Inferno]]''
| Dancer
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Piernas de seda]]''
| Ballerina
| rowspan="2" | Uncredited
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Hi, Gaucho!]]''
| Dolores
|
|-
| ''[[Paddy O'Day]]''
| Tamara Petrovitch
| rowspan="3" | Credited as Rita Cansino
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="5" | 1936
| ''[[Professional Soldier (film)|Professional Soldier]]''
| Gypsy Dancer
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Human Cargo (film)|Human Cargo]]''
| Carmen Zoro
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Dancing Pirate]]''
| Specialty Dancer
| Uncredited
|
|-
| ''[[Meet Nero Wolfe]]''
| Maria Maringola
| Credited as Rita Cansino
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Rebellion (1936 film)|Rebellion]]''
| Paula Castillo
| Alternative title: ''Lady from Frisco''<br />Credited as Rita Cansino
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="9" | 1937
| ''[[Old Louisiana]]''
| Angela Gonzales
| Alternative title: ''Louisiana Gal''<br />Credited as Rita Cansino
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Hit the Saddle]]''
| Rita
| rowspan="2" | Credited as Rita Cansino
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Trouble in Texas]]''
| Carmen Serano
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Criminals of the Air]]''
| Rita Owens
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Girls Can Play]]''
| Sue Collins
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Game That Kills}}''
| Betty Holland
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Life Begins with Love]]''
| Dinner Guest's Girl Friend
| Uncredited
|
|-
| ''[[Paid to Dance]]''
| Betty Morgan
| Alternative title: ''Hard to Hold''
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Shadow|The Shadow (1937 film)}}''
| Mary Gillespie
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="6" | 1938
| ''[[Who Killed Gail Preston?]]''
| Gail Preston
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Special Inspector]]''
| Patricia Lane
| Alternative title: ''Across the Border''
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[There's Always a Woman]]''
| Mary—Ketterling's Secretary
| Uncredited
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Convicted (1938 film)|Convicted]]''
| Jerry Wheeler
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Juvenile Court (film)|Juvenile Court]]''
| Marcia Adams
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Renegade Ranger}}''
| Judith Alvarez
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1939
| ''[[Homicide Bureau]]''
| J.G. Bliss
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Lone Wolf Spy Hunt}}''
| Karen
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Only Angels Have Wings]]''
| Judy MacPherson
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1940
| ''[[Music in My Heart]]''
| Patricia O'Malley
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Blondie on a Budget]]''
| Joan Forrester
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Susan and God]]''
| Leonora Stubbs
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Lady in Question}}''
| Natalie Roguin
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1940
| ''[[Angels Over Broadway]]''
| Nina Barona
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1941
| ''{{sortname|The|Strawberry Blonde}}''
| Virginia Brush
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Affectionately Yours]]''
| Irene Malcolm
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Blood and Sand (1941 film)|Blood and Sand]]''
| Doña Sol
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[You'll Never Get Rich]]''
| Sheila Winthrop
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1942
| ''[[My Gal Sal]]''
| Sally Elliott
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Tales of Manhattan]]''
| Ethel Halloway
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[You Were Never Lovelier]]''
| Maria Acuña
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1944
| ''[[Cover Girl (film)|Cover Girl]]''
| Rusty Parker/Maribelle Hicks
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1945
| ''[[Tonight and Every Night]]''
| Rosalind Bruce
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1946
| ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]''
| Gilda Mundson Farrell
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1947
| ''[[Down to Earth (1947 film)|Down to Earth]]''
| [[Terpsichore]]/Kitty Pendleton
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Lady from Shanghai}}''
| Elsa Bannister
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1948
| ''{{sortname|The|Loves of Carmen|The Loves of Carmen (1948 film)}}''
| Carmen
| Also producer (uncredited)
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1952
| ''[[Affair in Trinidad]]''
| Chris Emery
| Also producer (uncredited)
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1953
| ''[[Salome (1953 film)|Salome]]''
| Princess Salome
| Alternative title:<br />''Salome: The Dance of the Seven Veils''<br />Also producer (uncredited)
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Miss Sadie Thompson]]''
| Sadie Thompson
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1957
| ''[[Fire Down Below (1957 film)|Fire Down Below]]''
| Irena
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''[[Pal Joey (film)|Pal Joey]]''
| Vera Prentice-Simpson
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1958
| ''[[Separate Tables (film)|Separate Tables]]''
| Ann Shankland
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1959
| ''[[They Came to Cordura]]''
| Adelaide Geary
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Story on Page One|The Story on Page One (film)}}''
| Josephine Brown/Jo Morris
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1961
| ''{{sortname|The|Happy Thieves}}''
| Eve Lewis
| Also executive producer
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1964
| ''[[Circus World (film)|Circus World]]''
| Lili Alfredo
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1965
| ''{{sortname|The|Money Trap}}''
| Rosalie Kenny
|
|
|-
| 1966
| ''{{sortname|The|Poppy Is Also a Flower}}''
| Monique Marko
| Television film
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| 1967
| ''{{sortname|The|Rover|The Rover (1967 film)}}''
| Aunt Caterina
| Alternative title: ''L'avventuriero''
|
|-
| 1968
| ''[[The Cats (1968 film)|The Bastard]]''
| Martha
| Alternative title: ''I bastardi''
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1970
| ''[[Road to Salina]]''
| Mara
| Alternative title: ''La route de Salina''
|
|-
| ''{{sortname|The|Naked Zoo}}''
| Mrs. Golden
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1971
| ''{{sortname|The|Carol Burnett Show}}''
| rowspan="2" | Herself
| TV series (Episode #4.20)
|
|-
| ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]''
| TV series (Episode #5.3)
|
|-
| 1972
| ''{{sortname|The|Wrath of God}}''
| Señora De La Plata
|
| <ref name="AFI"/>
|}

==Accolades==
[[File:Rita Hayworth (1977).jpg|thumb|upright|Hayworth receives award from the National Film Society, 1978]]In 1999, Hayworth was acknowledged as one of the top-25 greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood cinema in the [[American Film Institute]]'s survey, [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars]].<ref>{{cite press release | url = http://www.afi.com/100Years/stars.aspx | title = AFI Recognizes the 50 Greatest American Screen Legends | publisher = [[American Film Institute]] | date = June 16, 1999 | access-date = March 7, 2015 | archive-date = January 13, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130113043532/http://www.afi.com/100years/stars.aspx | url-status=live}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Organization
!Category
!Work
!Result
!Ref.
|-
|1948
| rowspan="2" |[[Golden Apple Award]]
| rowspan="2" |Least Cooperative Actress
|{{N/a}}
|{{Won}}
| rowspan="2" |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Golden Apple Sour Apple Award Winners |url=https://www.ranker.com/list/golden-apple-sour-apple-award-winners/ranker-film |access-date=2025-10-13 |website=Ranker |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|1952
|{{N/a}}
|{{Won}}
|-
|1960
|[[Hollywood Walk of Fame]]
|[[List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame|Star - Motion Pictures]]
|{{N/a}}
|{{Honored}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chad |date=2019-10-25 |title=Rita Hayworth |url=https://walkoffame.com/rita-hayworth/ |access-date=2025-10-13 |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|[[22nd Golden Globe Awards|1965]]
|[[Golden Globe Awards]]
|[[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama]]
|[[Circus World (film)|''Circus World'']]
|{{Nominated}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rita Hayworth |url=https://goldenglobes.com/person/rita-hayworth/ |access-date=2025-10-13 |website=Golden Globes |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|1978
|[[National Film Society]]
|National Screen Heritage Award
|{{N/a}}
|{{Honored}}
|<ref name="American Classic Screen">{{cite book |last1=Tibbetts |first1=John C. |title=American Classic Screen Interviews |last2=Welsh |first2=James M |date=2010 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-0810876743 |location=Lanham, Maryland}}</ref>
|}

==Legacy==
The public disclosure and discussion of Hayworth's illness drew international attention to Alzheimer's disease, which was little known at the time,<ref name="NYT obit"/> and it helped to greatly increase federal funding for Alzheimer's research.<ref name="Lerner"/>

The Rita Hayworth Gala, a benefit for the [[Alzheimer's Association]], is held annually in Chicago and New York City.<ref name="Hayworth Gala"/> The program was founded in 1985<ref>{{cite news |last=Brozan |first=Nadine |date=May 24, 1985 |title=The Evening Hours |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/24/style/the-evening-hours.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=August 18, 2015 }}</ref> by Yasmin Aga Khan, in honor of her mother. She is the hostess for the events and is a major sponsor of Alzheimer's disease charities and awareness programs. {{as of|2017|08}}, a total of more than $72 million had been raised through events in Chicago, New York, and [[Palm Beach, Florida]].<ref name="Hayworth Gala">{{cite web|url=http://www.alz.org/galas/ny/overview.asp |title=New York Rita Hayworth Gala|publisher=Alzheimer's Association |access-date=August 1, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alz.org/galas/Rita/overview.asp|title=Chicago Rita Hayworth Gala|publisher=Alzheimer's Association |access-date=August 1, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alz.org/galas/palmbeach/|title=Rita Hayworth Luncheon in Palm Beach|publisher=Alzheimer's Association |access-date=August 1, 2017}}</ref>

On October 17, 2016, a press release from the Springer Associates Public Relations Agency announced that Rita Hayworth's former manager and friend, Budd Burton Moss, initiated a campaign to solicit the [[United States Postal Service]] to issue a commemorative stamp featuring Hayworth. Springer Associates also announced that the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] would be lobbied in hopes of having an honorary [[Academy Award]] issued in memory of Hayworth.<ref>{{cite web|title=Happy Birthday, Rita Hayworth|website = [[Facebook]]|url=https://www.facebook.com/notes/james-zeruk/happy-birthday-rita-hayworth/1347868101899287?pnref=story |access-date=October 17, 2016}}</ref> The press release added that Hayworth's daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Los Angeles, and numerous prominent personalities of stage and screen were supporting the Moss campaign. The press release stated the target date for fulfillment of the stamp and Academy Award to be on October 17, 2018, the centennial of Hayworth's birth.

== Cultural references ==
<!-- Listing trivial mentions adds no value to the encyclopedic treatment of this subject. Before adding items to this section, please read [[MOS:POPCULT]]. Additions that appear to be insignificant and/or are not attributed to a reliable source WILL be removed. If an item you have added has been removed and you wish to contest its removal, please start a discussion on this article's talk page proposing that it be restored. -->
The film ''[[I Remember Better When I Paint]]'' (2009) describes how Hayworth took up painting while struggling with Alzheimer's.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rosalia-gitau/art-therapy-for-alzheimer_b_495914.html |title=Art Therapy for Alzheimer's |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |author=Gitau, Rosalia |date=March 11, 2010}}</ref> In 1983, [[Lynda Carter]], who was of a similar Irish and Hispanic ancestry, played and danced as Hayworth in a TV biopic ''[[Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess]]''.

In the ''[[Baptiste (TV series)|Baptiste]]'' episode "Shell", Baptiste talks to Kim about Hayworth in an attempt to gain information from her about Natalie after noticing that she has several DVDs of Hayworth's films; the Dream Room has a poster of ''Gilda''.<ref>[https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-04-05/baptiste-episode-one-recap/ Who is the Real Edward Stratton? ''Baptiste'' Creators Harry and Jack Williams Discuss the Twists and Turns of Episode One] ''[[Radio Times]]''; retrieved April 21, 2020.</ref>

Hayworth's name can be heard in the [[Madonna]] hit from 1990, "[[Vogue (Madonna song)|Vogue]]", ("Rita Hayworth gave good face") among other artists from [[classical Hollywood cinema]]. Her name is also mentioned in [[Tom Waits]]'s song "Invitation to the Blues", from his 1976 album ''[[Small Change (Tom Waits album)|Small Change]]''.

In the Sicilian scenes of the film ''[[The Godfather]]'', the bodyguard of [[Michael Corleone]] is heard shouting the name "Rita Hayworth" to GI's passing by in jeeps.

Hayworth is the main topic of the song, "Take, Take, Take"<ref>{{Citation|title=The White Stripes – Take, Take, Take|url=https://genius.com/The-white-stripes-take-take-take-lyrics|access-date=2021-09-20}}</ref> by the [[The White Stripes|White Stripes]] and also referenced in "White Moon";<ref>{{Citation|title=The White Stripes – White Moon|url=https://genius.com/The-white-stripes-white-moon-lyrics|access-date=2021-09-20}}</ref> both from their ''[[Get Behind Me Satan]]'' album, released in 2005. In a 2005 interview with ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', [[Jack White]] said, "Rita Hayworth became an all-encompassing metaphor for everything I was thinking about while making the album."<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Fricke|first=David|date=2005-09-08|title=The White Stripes: Jack White Comes Clean|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-mysterious-case-of-the-white-stripes-75345/|access-date=2021-09-20|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>

The film ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'' was adapted from a [[Stephen King]] novella, "[[Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption]]", from his 1982 collection ''[[Different Seasons]]''. A succession of posters, starting with one of Rita Hayworth, hides a hole in a jail cell wall in the novella. In the film, a poster of Rita Hayworth was used for the first third of the film, then changed to a poster of [[Marilyn Monroe]] for the middle third, then [[Raquel Welch]] for the last third. The film also includes a scene where the prison movie night shows Rita Hayworth's film ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]].''

In the film ''[[Mulholland Drive (film)|Mulholland Drive]]'', an amnesiac character who cannot remember her real name gives herself the name Rita. She sees the name on a poster for Hayworth’s film  ''[[Gilda (film)|Gilda]]'' that hangs in the room where she’s standing at the time she’s first asked her name.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* McLean, Adrienne L (2004). ''Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardom''. {{ISBN|0-8135-3389-9}}.
* Moss, Budd Burton (2015). ''Hollywood: Sometimes the Reality is Better Than the Dream''. {{ISBN|978-1-943625-33-8}}
* Peary, Gerald (1976). ''Rita Hayworth: A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies''. {{ISBN|0-515-04116-5}}.
* Ringgold, Gene (1974). ''The Films of Rita Hayworth: The Legend and Career of a Love Goddess''. {{ISBN|0-8065-0439-0}}.
* Roberts-Frenzel, Caren (2001). ''Rita Hayworth: A Photographic Retrospective''. {{ISBN|0-8109-1434-4}}.

==External links==
{{Sister project links|d=Q42745|commons=category:Rita Hayworth|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|mw=no|s=no|m=no|species=no|wikt=no}}
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* {{IBDB name}}
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* [https://www.listal.com/rita-hayworth#Rita Hayworth]
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* [https://thenedscottarchive.com/galleries/film-stars/photos-of-rita-hayworth.html Photos of Rita Hayworth in ''Down to Earth''] by [[Ned Scott]]

{{Authority control}}

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