Rita Hayworth

Find Rita Hayworth stuff here.

Ms. Hayworth was born on October 17, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York as Margarita Carmen Cansino.

Among her many accomplishments, she probably helped in winning World War II just by posing for Pin-Up style photos for our GIs.

Factoids:

• The annual Rita Hayworth charity gala, managed by daughter Princess Yasmin Khan, raised $1.8 million in 1999 alone for the Alzheimer's Assn.
• She appeared in 5 movies with classic leading actor, Glenn Ford: Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Lady in Question (1940), The Loves of Carmen (1948), The Money Trap (1965) and Gilda (1946).
• Ranked #98 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
• Some legends say the Margarita cocktail was named for her when she was dancing under her real name in a Tijuana, Mexico nightclub.
• Her dancer father, Eduardo Cansino, himself the son of a dancer, came to New York from Spain in 1913 with sister Elisa.
• Mother, showgirl Volga Hayworth (sometimes spelled Haworth), met Eduardo on Broadway in 1916; they married 1917.
• Her first (uncredited) appearance on film was with the dancing Cansino family in a Vitaphone short La fiesta (1926) (aka "La Fiesta").
• She appeared 5 times on the cover of "Life" Magazine.
• The famous Bob Landry photo of Rita in "Life", 11 August 1941, p. 33, made her the number 2 soldier pin-up of World War II.
• Owned the production company "Hillworth Productions A.G." together with her fifth husband, James Hill.
• Through her mother she is part Irish and part English.
• In 1947 started her own production company, "Beckworth Corporation" (formed from syllables of her daughters name, Rebecca, and her own surname). It was dissolved in 1954 under advice from her fourth husband, Dick Haymes.
• In the early 1940s she replaced Jean Arthur as the top female star at Columbia Picture. Coincidentally, the two stars share the same birthday (October 17).
• Measurements: 36.5-C-24-36 during WW II.
• Knocked out two of Glenn Ford's teeth during their fight in Gilda (1946).
• In 1946, an expedition into the wilderness of Canada's unexplored Headless Valley came across an abandoned trapper's shack. In it the expedition found three things: a candle, a can of beans, and a picture of Rita.
• On May 27, 1949, she married Prince Aly Khan. Many people forget that Rita, not Grace Kelly, was the first movie star to become a princess.
• She was the producers' first choice for Casablanca (1942), but they couldn't get her and were fortunate to settle for Ingrid Bergman.
• She was voted the 65th "Greatest Movie Star" of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
• She was voted the 34th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
• Was named #19 Actress, The American Film Institutes 50 Greatest Screen Legends.
• Influencedby her second husband Orson Welles, Rita began to read classic literature. While pregnant in 1944, she was very impressed by Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe" and named her firstborn daughter Rebecca after the novel's heroine.
• Cousin of Ginger Rogers.
• When she passed, it was her former Paddy O'Day (1935) costar Jane Withers who delivered the eulogy at her funeral.
• One of the few actresses to have danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in the movies, other actresses that have also done this includes Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Vera-Ellen, Debbie Reynolds, and Leslie Caron.

---

Find Rita Hayworth more stuff here.

Find Rita Hayworth more stuff here.