![]() The Fox company's merger with 20th-Century Pictures left the young dancer without a contract, but in 1937 she met and married the man who was to become her Svengali and dramatically change her career fortunes. Making her film debut in 1935 in ''Under the Pampas Moon,'' Rita Cansino appeared in a succession of lesser roles, such as that of a dance hall girl in a Spencer Tracy movie called ''Dante's Inferno.'' Other films in her Cansino period included ''Charlie Chan in Egypt,'' ''Human Cargo'' and ''Meet Nero Wolfe.'' Then she joined her father's act and performed in clubs in Tijuana and Agua Caliente, Mexico, where, when she was 16 years old, she was spotted by a Fox Film Company producer, who signed her to a contract. Cansino's career took the family to Los Angeles, where his daughter attended school through the ninth grade. They named their daughter Margarita Carmen Cansino, but she shortened the name to Rita Cansino when she began dancing professionally at the age of 12, and kept that name for her first 10 movies. ![]() Her father, Eduardo Cansino, was a Spanish-born dancer and her mother, the former Volga Haworth, had been a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl. Miss Hayworth was truly born to show business, in New York City, on Oct. But by the late 1960's she was appearing in minor movies, most of them made in Europe.Īnd ultimately, the once-idolized star's health was ravaged by Alzheimer's disease - senile dementia, a devastating mental illness that affects the brain, brings on loss of memory, and ravages bodily functions - which left her ''utterly helpless,'' according to Princess Yasmin. They were married in 1949, but she divorced him, as she did four other husbands, including Orson Welles.Īs Miss Hayworth grew older, she successfully shifted from her glamour image and took on mature roles in movies such as ''Separate Tables'' in 1958 and ''They Came to Cordura'' in 1959. So did Miss Hayworth's open affair, in the late 1940's, when such behavior was far less commonplace than it is today, with Prince Aly Khan, the playboy son of the spiritual leader of millions of Ismaili Moslems. While the controversial strip scene dazzled tens of thousands of young males, it upset more conservative people across the nation. Anita Ellis dubbed Miss Hayworth's songs in four movies, including ''Pal Joey'' and ''The Loves of Carmen,'' and other ''ghosts'' did the singing for her in other films.īut that mattered little to Hayworth fans, who admired her chiefly for the sensuality she exuded, playing temptresses in movies such as ''Blood and Sand'' and ''The Lady From Shanghai.'' The Temptress of 'Gilda'Ī particularly memorable temptress role was the title one in ''Gilda,'' in 1946, in which she did a striptease, demure by today's standards, inasmuch as it was limited to removing her arm-length gloves. ![]() As a singer, however, she was not similarly gifted, even though she was cast in many musicals. ![]()
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