Rita Hayworth

[Kristin Moore]

[Kristin Moore]

[Kristin Moore]

James Hill

Hayworth began a relationship with 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. On September 1, 1961, Hayworth filed for divorce, alleging extreme mental cruelty. He later wrote Rita Hayworth: A Memoir, in which he suggested their marriage collapsed because he wanted Hayworth to continue making movies, while she wanted them both to retire from Hollywood.

In his book, In the Arena, Charlton Heston writes 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 and the actor Rex Harrison, Hayworth's co-star in The Happy Thieves. Heston wrote 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 writes how 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." [43]

[Kristin Moore]

Beauty

Hayworth was a top glamour girl in the 1940s, a pin-up girl for military servicemen and a beauty icon for women. At 5'6" (168 cm) and 120 lb (55 kg),[44] 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.[45]

In 1949, Hayworth's lips were voted best in the world by the Artists League of America.[46] She had a modeling contract with Max Factor to promote its Tru-Color lipsticks and Pan-Stik make-up.

Barbara Leaming writes in her biography of Hayworth, If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth (1989) that because of her addiction to alcohol and the stresses of her life, she aged before her time. Reappearing in New York in 1956 to begin work on her first film in three years, Hayworth was described by the following: "Despite the artfully applied make-up and shoulder-length red hair, there was no concealing the ravages of drink and stress. Deep lines had crept around her eyes and mouth, and she appeared worn, exhausted, older than her thirty-eight years."[47] Leaming wrote that during the filming of Fire Down Below, Hayworth heard a comment that she should hurry up as, "No amount of time was going to make her look any younger."[48] In San Francisco the following year filming Pal Joey, she was signing autographs when she heard a fan say, "She looks so old."[49]

[Kristin Moore]

[Kristin Moore]

Health problems

Rita Hayworth's daughter Yasmin Aga Khan spoke of her mother's long struggle with alcohol:

    I remember as a child that she had a drinking problem. She had difficulty coping with the ups and downs of the business ... 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 ... Her condition became quite bad. It worsened and she did have an alcoholic breakdown and landed in the hospital.[50]

In 1972, Hayworth was 54 years old and wanted to retire from acting, but she needed money and so signed up for The Wrath of God. The experience exposed her poor health and worsening mental state. As she could not remember lines, they filmed her scenes one line at a time.

The following year, Hayworth agreed to do one more movie, the British Tales That Witness Madness (1973). Because of her worsening health, she abandoned the movie set and returned to the United States. She never returned to acting.[51]

In March 1974, both her brothers died within a week of each other, which caused her great sadness and led to heavy drinking. In 1976 at London's Heathrow Airport, Hayworth was removed from a TWA flight after having an angry outburst while traveling with her agent. "Miss Hayworth had been drinking when she boarded the plane," revealed a TWA flight attendant, "and had several free drinks during the flight." The event attracted much negative publicity; a disturbing photograph was published in newspapers.[52]

Hayworth's alcoholism hid symptoms of what was eventually understood to be Alzheimer's disease.[53] "It was the outbursts," said her daughter. "She'd fly into a rage. I can't tell you. I thought it was alcoholism-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."[54]

In July 1981, Hayworth's health had deteriorated to the point where a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that she should be placed under the care of her daughter, Princess Yasmin Khan of New York City.[55] Hayworth lived in an apartment at The San Remo on Central Park West next to her daughter, who arranged for care for her mother through her final years.

[Kristin Moore]

Death


Rita Hayworth lapsed into a semicoma in February 1987. She died at age 68 from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease a few months later on May 14, 1987. A funeral service was held on May 19, 1987, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.[56] Pallbearers included actors Ricardo Montalbán, Glenn Ford, Don Ameche, agent Budd Burton Moss, and the choreographer Hermes Pan. She was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.[57] Her headstone includes the inscription: "To yesterday's companionship and tomorrow's reunion."

"Rita Hayworth was one of our country's most beloved stars," said President Ronald Reagan, who had been an actor at the same time as Hayworth.

    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 and I are saddened by Rita's death. She was a friend who we will miss. We extend our deep sympathy to her family.[58]

[Kristin Moore]

Hayworth's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

[Kristin Moore]

Awards


    1964: Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in Circus World (1964)
    1977: National Screen Heritage Award.
    1999: Hayworth is included as one of the American Film Institute's Greatest Stars of All Time.

Legacy

    A fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association is named in her honor by her daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, who has been the hostess for these events and a major sponsor of Alzheimer's Disease charities and awareness programs.

[Kristin Moore]

References in Popular Culture

    The film I Remember Better When I Paint (2009) describes how Hayworth took up painting while struggling with Alzheimer's and produced art.[59]
    Lynda Carter portrayed Hayworth in the television movie Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess (1983).
    In the movie Beat the Devil (1953), starring Humphrey Bogart, he tells the Sheik that he knows Rita Hayworth very well, and that he would introduce him to her. The Sheik has pictures of Rita Hayworth all over the wall behind him and Humphrey Bogart, and she is the Sheik's idol.
    Actress Veronica Watt portrayed her in the film Hollywoodland (2006).
    "Rita Hayworth as Gilda" written in 112,000,000 year old cave paintings by time travelers in the 2008 movie 100 Million BC.
    Hayworth's pin-up poster is portrayed in Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (1982), and was later brought to the screen in the film The Shawshank Redemption (1994) directed by Frank Darabont (which itself features a video clip of Hayworth in Gilda, shown as a film the prisoners are watching).
    Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra co-creator Bryan Konietzko has said that his design for Asami Sato, a character from the latter of the two series, was partially inspired by Hayworth.[60]
    Tom Waits mentions Hayworth in his song Invitation to the Blues from the 1976 album, Small Change.[61]
    Musician Jack White makes reference to Hayworth in two of his songs, "White Moon" and "Take, Take, Take" from the White Stripes' album Get Behind me Satan. White confessed to Rolling Stone Magazine:

[Kristin Moore]

Rita Hayworth became an all-encompassing metaphor for everything I was thinking about while making the album. There was an autograph of hers -- she had kissed a piece of paper, left a lip print on it, and underneath it said, "My heart is in my mouth." I loved that statement and wondered why she wrote that. There was also the fact that she was Latino and had changed her name. She had become something different, morphed herself and was trying to put something behind her. And there was the shallowness of celebrity when it's thrown upon you. All of that was going around in these songs; what had been thrown on me, things I'd never asked for. Every song on that album is about truth.[62]

[Kristin Moore]

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

[Kristin Moore]

References

    ^ a b c d e f Bill Geerhart "Atomic Goddess, Part I", Knol, accessed March 21, 2012[dead link]
    ^ Faris, Gerald (May 18, 1987). "A Screen Goddess and Hollywood Rebel Loses The Battle Against Disease". The Age. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    ^ Márquez Reviriego, Víctor (March 24, 1984). "Del firmamento al limbo". ABC. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
    ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t (Ware 2005, p. 281)
    ^ "Princess Born to Rita After Pre-dawn Dash to Clinic", Associated Press, December 28, 1949. Accessed June 13, 2009.
    ^ "Rita Hayworth Delights Papa and Mama Cansino." Ellensburg Daily Record, July 13, 1944. Accessed June 7, 2009.
    ^ "Actress Rita Hayworth's Grandfather Dies at 89." Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1954
    ^ (Agan 1979, p. 67)
    ^ (Morella 1983, p. 16)
    ^ (Burroughs Hannsberry 2009, p. 253)
    ^ "Lot 37 Rita Hayworth Nightgown From Her Famous World War II Publicity Photos". Sotheby's. Retrieved February 7, 2010.[dead link]
    ^ (Leaming 1989, pp. 129–130)
    ^ Sargeant, Winthrop. "The Cult of the Love Goddess in America", Life November 10, 1947.
    ^ (Morella 1983, p. 234)
    ^ (Dick 1993, p. 140)
    ^ "Rita Hayworth Replaced in Play", AP, August 24, 1962.
    ^ "Screen News Here and in Hollywood," New York Times, March 22, 1943.
    ^ Hopper, Hedda. "Looking at Hollywood," AP, October 22, 1947. Accessed June 4, 2009
    ^ "Hayworth, Studio Agree Once Again," New York Times, January 9, 1952
    ^ "Rita Hayworth Files Suit to End Film Contract", Los Angeles Times, April 9, 1955
    ^ Hallowell, John. "Rita Hayworth: Don't Put the Blame on Me, Boys", New York Times, October 25, 1970
    ^ Anderson, Nancy."Rita Hayworth Still Ranks as Beauty," Copley News Service, 11 February 1972. Accessed June 2, 2009.
    ^ Hallowell, John. "Rita: Hollywood Still Is Her Town But No One Knows She's There", St. Petersburg Times, 23 June 1968. Accessed June 4, 2009. [1]
    ^ (Kobal 1982, p. 103)
    ^ (Kobal 1982, p. 124)
    ^ (Kobal 1982, p. 104)
    ^ "Call For Boycott Of Rita Hayworth", AP, April 30, 1951
    ^ (Kobal 1982, p. 163)
    ^ Parsons, Louella O. "Rita, Shy Off Set, Now Groomed for Vamp Role," St. Petersburg Times, May 25, 1941.[2] Accessed June 2, 2009.
    ^ Hallowell, John. "Rita Hayworth, "Don't Put the Blame on Me, Boys," New York Times, October 25, 1970
    ^ "Chatter", People, July 15, 1974. Accessed June 6, 2009.
    ^ "Rita Hayworth Tells of Threats by Ex-Mate", Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1943, A16
    ^ (Kobal 1982, p. 62)
    ^ "Rita Hayworth Wins Divorce From Orson Welles," AP, November 10, 1947; accessed June 6, 2009
    ^ (Leaming 1989, pp. 142)
    ^ Staff writer, "Love's Long Shot", Time October 17, 1949. Accessed May 29, 2009.
    ^ "Rita Hayworth Files Divorce Action in Reno," Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1951
    ^ "Prince Wants Yasmin Back", Associated Press, October 31, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009.
    ^ "Rita Says No to Million", Sydney Morning Herald, September 13, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009.
    ^ "Dick Haymes Faces Arrest Over Alimony", Los Angeles Times, October 5, 1956
    ^ "Haymes Hears Sour Music," AP, July 7, 1954.
    ^ "Marriage Falls Down and So Does Rita", UP, August 30, 1955.
    ^ (Heston 1997, p. 253)
    ^ Mason, Jerry. "Meet Rita Hayworth." The Spokesman-Review. January 3, 1942.
    ^ Chapman, John. "Red Heads", Chicago Daily Tribune, May 25, 1941
    ^ "Presenting: Ten Most Perfect Features in the World," AP, February 17, 1949. Accessed June 13, 2009.
    ^ (Leaming 1989, p. 322)
    ^ (Leaming 1989, p. 323)
    ^ (Leaming 1989, p. 325)
    ^ Lindström, Pia. "Alzheimer's Fight in Her Mother's Name", New York Times, February 23, 1997. [3] Accessed June 6, 2009.
    ^ Thames, Stephanie. "The Wrath of God," TCM.com. Accessed June 14, 2009
    ^ "Actress Helped from Jet", St. Petersburg Times, January 21, 1976.
    ^ "'Love Goddess' Rita Hayworth is Dead at 68", AP, May 16, 1987. "For several years in the 1970s, she had been misdiagnosed as an alcoholic."
    ^ Hendrickson, Paul, "Alzheimer's: A Daughter's Nightmare", Los Angeles Times, April 11, 1989
    ^ "Rita Hayworth Placed in Conservatorship" AP, July 23, 1981
    ^ Krebs, Albin (May 16, 1987). "Rita Hayworth, Movie Legend, Dies". nytimes.com. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
    ^ Rita Hayworth at Find a Grave
    ^ Krebs, Albin. "Rita Hayworth, Movie Legend, Dies", The New York Times, May 16, 1987. Accessed May 29, 2009.
    ^ Gitau, Rosalia (March 11, 2010). "Art Therapy for Alzheimer's". The Huffington Post.
    ^ "Sorry guys, I wish I had something more". Bryan Konietzko. 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
    ^ "Invitation to the Blues". tomwaits.com. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
    ^ Fricke, David (Sep 8, 2005). Rolling Stone Magazine.

Sources

    Agan, Patrick (1979). The Decline of the Love Goddess (1 ed.) Pinnacle Books Inc.,N.Y. ISBN 0-523-40669-X
    Burroughs Hannsberry, Karen (2009). Femme Noir: Bad Girls Of Film. McFarland. ISBN 0-786-44682-X
    Dick, Bernard F (1993). The Merchant Prince of Poverty Row: Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813118413
    Heston, Charlton (1997). In the Arena: An Autobiography (1 ed.) Berkley Trade. ISBN 1-57297-267-X
    Leaming, Barbara (1989). If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth (1 ed.) Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-81978-6
    Kobal, John (1982). Rita Hayworth: Portrait of a Love Goddess. Berkley. ISBN 0-425-05634-1
    Morella, Joe and Epstein, Edward Z. (1983). Rita: The Life of Rita Hayworth. Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-29265-1
    Ware, Susan; Braukman, Stacy (2005). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 5. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01488-X

Further reading
Book icon    

    Book: Rita Hayworth

    Kobal, John (1977). Rita Hayworth: The Time, the Place, the Woman. ISBN 0-393-07526-5
    McLean, Adrienne L (2004). Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardom. ISBN 0-8135-3389-9
    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

[Kristin Moore]

[Kristin Moore]