Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth: biography and best films

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Hollywood superstar Rita Hayworth was born October 17, 1918 in a family of artists. Father, Eduardo Cansino is a flamenco dancer, a native of the Spanish city of Seville. Mother, Volga Hayworth - choir singer from the Broadway show Florenz Ziegfeld. It is known that artists are restless people, so the parents of the future movie star were constantly on the road, and Rita, waiting for their return, was in the circle of close relatives. She was quickly taught to dance, and it was obvious that the child was drawn to art. The girl danced in front of the mirror from morning to evening, and when she was asked to go to the store for bread, she walked the longest way, making intricate steps with her childish legs. Later, when Rita grew up, she began to go with her father to his performances.

Career start

The girl entered the stage at the age of 12, danced with her father in Spanish choreographic performances and in nightclubs. When Rita was seventeen years old, agents of the 20th Century Fox film studio noticed her and offered to act in films. The girl at first played small episodic roles, but in 1939 the young actress was invited to audition"Only Angels Have Wings" directed by Howard Hawks. According to the role that Rita Hayworth received, she had to play along with such stars as Jean Arthur and Cary Grant, and her character in the course of the plot was equalized with the leading actors, and in some episodes even came to the fore. The girl was at first lost in the neighborhood with such celebrities, but then she got used to it, feeling the sincere friendly disposition towards herself and Jean Arthur and Cary Grant, who did their best to support the young talent. Each of them remembered that he also once started acting in films, and not always everything worked out.

Popularity

Hawks' film, as well as the paintings that followed it: "Strawberry Blonde", "Cover Girl", "Blood and Sand" - made Rita Hayworth a popular actress. And two films in the genre of musical comedy: "You've never been so delightful" and "No way to get richer", where she played in tandem with Fred Astaire - added to her fame. The dances that Rita learned as a child were useful to her. Natural grace and plasticity helped to cope with the role.

The girl danced beautifully, enthralling even such a master as Fred Astaire. However, the actress was embarrassed to sing, although she had a good voice and a wonderful timbre. It got to the point that a professional singer was invited to the set, who dubbed Rita Hayworth. In the end, the young actress got used to it, stopped wheezing and losing her rhythm. And when I felt a kind irony withside of the partner, then completely bolder. Films with Fred Astaire opened a wide road to success in cinema for Rita. And not far off was the most important role in her creative life.

Highest hour

In 1946, Rita Hayworth, whose biography was then replenished with a new page, reached the peak of her popularity, playing the main character in Charles Vidor's melodrama "Gilda". The motion picture became the star hour of the actress, after the release of the film, she was elevated to the Olympus of Hollywood and for many years turned into an indisputable idol of American cinema. Waking up famous, Rita Hayworth could not get used to her new image for a long time. She was embarrassed when fans asked on the street for an autograph. I could not believe that her modest person could bring so much joy to people. And at the same time, Rita was not in any way threatened by star fever: she remained the same modest girl who once first came to the set.

Actress in great demand

In the future, actress Rita Hayworth played only the main roles, others did not offer her. She herself thought about the script for a long time before giving her consent to participate in the filming. If the directors started shooting a new film, then first of all, an actress named Rita Hayworth was considered for the female lead.

"Gilda" has become the favorite film of millions of Americans, and everyone wanted to see the actress in a new role. The Hollywood star received a huge number of invitations, but she agreed to act in films.only in those films that suited her in terms of the level of intelligence inherent in the script. The actress rejected empty, superficial plots.

Heyworth and film stagnation

US cinema in the fifties experienced a period of depression, like all of America in the mid-20th century. Film studios closed one after another, only the strongest survived: Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and a few others. Rita Hayworth, whose films the moviegoers were looking forward to, tried to act in several films at once. However, the actress could not grasp the immensity, and all she could do was play the main role in two films in one year.

How Hayworth starred in a movie without appearing on set

Then the producers figured out how else to use her popularity. An example of such resourcefulness can be seen in the thriller The Shawshank Redemption. Rita Hayworth did not participate in the filming, and at the same time, her image appeared in the film throughout the entire plot. In the course of the film, the main character, a prisoner, makes a tunnel to escape. The work takes exactly twenty years, and all this time he covers up a hole in the wall with a portrait of the movie star Hayworth. It was a plastic poster of an actress. It was not difficult to convince the prison guards of their love for the popular movie star and thereby lull their vigilance.

In the same movie, "The Shawshank Redemption", the prisoners are watching the movie "Gilda" with Rita in the prison cinemaHayworth starring.

Hairstyle change

In the 1948 film "The Lady from Shanghai" the actress needed a makeover. Rita Hayward approached the issue too radically: she cut off her luxurious hair and dyed her platinum blonde. Thus, the actress provided the film with a huge failure - the public did not accept the metamorphosis of the appearance of her beloved Hayworth, and the picture failed miserably.

Meet the Aga Khan

This failure caused a fit of melancholy in Rita, she refused further work and left for Europe. There, on the French Riviera, she met the Arab millionaire Aga Khan, and they began an affair. The Aga Khan became Hayworth's de facto husband, but they could not register the marriage because he was married, although he attempted to divorce.

Nevertheless, Rita Hayworth decided to finally break with the cinema and devote herself to family life. She came to Los Angeles and made a row at Columbia Pictures, demanding to be fired. But she still had to pay a pen alty on the contract in the amount of a quarter of a million dollars. After that, she defiantly left.

Reverse effect

Of course, such a passage could not be in vain, many turned their backs on the actress. And now she was sitting within four walls in splendid isolation, without work and without a family, since the Aga Khan retreated very quickly and, leaving Rita with their daughter Jasmine, took up some business on the side. And in 1951 Arabicplayboy and completely broke up with Hayworth.

In 1952, the actress went to Gary Cohn with an apology. She needed a job. He went to meet her, forgot the old grievances and identified Rita in the film "Love in Trinidad". But the former popularity of Hayworth had already gone, she immediately felt it. Moviegoers didn't buy tickets for a movie with Rita Hayworth. Having once again failed her role, the actress fell into depression. New quarrel with Gary Cohn ended with her leaving the studio.

Return

Two years later, Hayworth came back and was accepted again. She successfully starred in the movie "Pal Joey". Her partners on the set were Kim Novak and Frank Sinatra. However, this success was the last for the fading movie star. Hayworth took to drink, her condition instilled fear in others. Consultations with a psychoanalyst began, and then treatment. But the mental illness quickly turned into pathology, and the actress showed signs of Alzheimer's disease.

Disease and death

The malaise developed slowly, Rita Hayworth had a good memory, but over time, coordination of movements began to deteriorate. After a while, everything returned to normal, the actress was already able to move freely, as before. She occasionally acted, but by the beginning of the seventies her memory began to change. On the set of the last film with her participation called "Wrath of the Gods" Rita could not independently conduct a dialogue with partners, she was prompted to text.

I had to say goodbye to cinema. The actress began to livetogether with a daughter from a third marriage. Jasmine pitied and loved her mother, they lived relatively happily for sixteen years. Rita Hayworth passed away quietly on May 14, 1987 in her New York City apartment in Manhattan.

Private life

Rita Hayworth has been married five times. From her second husband, director Orson Welles, the actress had a daughter, Rebecca. Another daughter was born during the third marriage, the father was the Arab millionaire Aga Khan. The girl was named Jasmine. Rita Hayworth, whose children were raised by governesses, found peace with her youngest daughter by the end of her life.

Filmography

• 1926 - "Fiesta".
• 1939 - "Only angels have wings".
• 1940 - "Music in the Heart".
• 1940 - "Susan and God".
• 1940 - "Budget Blonde".
• 1940 - "The Search for a Woman".
• 1940 - Broadway Angels.
• 1941 - "Strawberry blonde.
• 1941 - "Blood and sand".
• 1941 - "Never get rich".
• 1942 - "My girl Sal".
• 1942 - "There is no one more charming".
• 1942 - "Tales of Manhattan".
• 1943 - "Show business during the war".
• 1944 - "Cover Girl".
• 1945 - "Every Evening".
• 1946 - "Gilda".
• 1947 - "Lady from Shanghai".
• 1947 - "From heaven to earth".
• 1948 - "Carmen".
• 1952 - "Love in Trinidad".
• 1952 - "Champagne Safari".
• 1953 - "Miss Sadie Thompson".
• 1953 - "Salome".
• 1957 - "Pal Joey".
• 1957 - "Hell Fire".
• 1958 - "Separate Tables".
• 1959 - "The front page story".
• 1959 - "Arrival in Cordura".
• 1962 - "The Happy Kidnappers".
• 1964 - "Circus World".
• 1965 - "Money Trap".
• 1966 - "Poppies are also flowers".
• 1967 - "Adventurer".
• 1971 - "Road to Salina".
• 1971 - "The Naked Zoo".
• 1972 - "Wrath of the Gods".