16 fotos

From an abusive father to Orson Welles: one man and five husbands made up the terrifying sentimental life of Rita Hayworth

The actress – who laid the foundations for celebrity as we know it today – would have turned 105 this year. In her life, she was never able to overcome the long shadow of an exploitative parent, while her marriages were a series of catastrophic misfortunes

Nov 04, 2023 - 00:18CET

Perhaps the name Margarita Carmen Cansino doesn’t sound too familiar. It may even seem like it came from an episode of some soap opera. But it’s actually the original name of iconic actress Rita Hayworth. Her overwhelming beauty made both the screen – and the world – fall in love with her when she made the leap to Hollywood. However, Cupid always seemed to turn his back on her. “The men I know sleep with Gilda (her character from the 1946 movie of the same name), but they wake up with me,” she once said. In this photo, you can see her with her father – the dancer Eduardo Cansino – who was her artistic partner.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

Cansino was a Sevillian who emigrated to New York in the 1920s, where he tried his luck in Broadway musicals. He helped launch his daughter’s career. He took her to perform in Nevada casinos – where they posed as a couple in their performances – and to venues on the Mexican border, where an agent discovered the artist, who went by the name Margarita. At the time, no one sensed that Rita wanted to go to Hollywood not only to succeed, but also to escape from her father, who brutally abused her (in the photo, we can see them together, in an image from 1948).Hulton Archive (Getty Images)

To escape her parents’ home, she married Edward Judson – a regular nightlife partygoer in Los Angeles – who was twice her age. He’s the one who turned her into Rita Hayworth: he chose her clothes and designed her esthetic. To make her look less Latina, he made sure that the actress relied on electrolysis-based hair removal, to delay her hairline. It was also her first husband who decided to change her surname – Cansino – to her mother’s, Haworth (to which he added a ‘y’). “I married for love, but he married for business reasons. For five years, he treated me as if I had neither a brain nor a soul,” she would later say. It was he who got her a contract with Columbia Pictures, while making sure that he got ahold of many rights to her work as possible. When they divorced in 1942, she was practically bankrupt. The director of the production company at the time was Harry Cohn… an early version of Harvey Weinstein, from whom Hayworth managed to escape. He tried to trap her, as she was essential to the company.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

In 1942, she met the man whom she considered the great love of her life: Orson Welles. He was filming in Brazil when he came across the actress on the cover of Life magazine, where she posed sensually. He insisted at that moment that she would be his wife. And he made it happen.George Rinhart (Corbis via Getty Images)

On September 7, 1943, they married during a lunch break from filming Cover Girl. When the press asked her where they would spend their honeymoon, she didn’t hesitate to answer that they had to get back to the studio.Donaldson Collection (Getty Images)

Welles and Hayworth had their daughter, Rebecca, shortly afterwards. But the director hardly paid attention to his family. He was too busy with his work… and with other women. In fact, while his wife was pregnant, he became infatuated with heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. Later, he had a passionate romance with Judy Garland. It’s not surprising, therefore, that when talking about his marriage, Orson Welles commented to Barbara Leaming – who wrote the biography of the actress, If This Was Happiness – that “if this was happiness… imagine what the rest of her life was like!” In the image, you can see the couple about to depart on Hayworth’s private jet in Mexico.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

Before divorcing, the couple filmed The Lady from Shanghai. For the movie, Welles forced Hayworth to ditch her red hair and dye it platinum blonde.Movie Poster Image Art (Getty Images)

Her marriage to Welles ended in 1948, the year in which she met her next love, who was less cinematic (but much more royal). Prince Ali Khan became her third husband. While on vacation in Europe, she attended a charity ball, where she gave a speech in French. It’s not clear if it was her emotional words (the speech was for disadvantaged children) or the Pierre Balmain dress she wore, but Ali Khan fell madly in love with her. Although he was married, gossip columnist Elsa Maxwell introduced him to the actress at the insistence of the playboy, who bombarded her with endless declarations of love. He even hired a fortune teller, who assured Hayworth that she had to be with the prince. In the previous image, they leave the Ritz in London, to head to the Ascot races.Keystone (Getty Images)

A year later, they were married at the Vallauris Town Hall, in southeastern France. The reception had a display that would astonish all the fans of today’s celebrity couples (who now dominate streaming platforms), as it took place on a blanket made of 30,000 roses, next to a pool containing eau de cologne. In the image, you can see them posing at the location where the ceremony took place, the Chateau De L’Horizon.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

Always determined to please her partners, Hayworth learned French and attended etiquette classes. However, her new husband reintroduced constant infidelities into their marriage. To keep a close eye on him, she tried to accompany Khan whenever she could in his intense social life. But during his travels, robberies and kidnapping threats were constantly directed at her. These events trapped her in a bubble of loneliness and alcoholism. In the previous image, she and Ali are seen dining at a restaurant in Lausanne, Switzerland. She was already pregnant.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

The shared life of the couple – who pose here in the clinic, where their daughter, Yasmin, was born – deteriorated very quickly. “I was never a drinker, I didn’t even like whiskey or cognac. But little by little, I got a taste for everything and ended up drunk, a wreck. How horrible!” she wrote in her memoirs. Those impulses not only tormented her because of what they meant for her health or her public image, but she was terrified that her husband would gain custody of Princess Yasmin, with whom she was already pregnant at the wedding. Those fears – as well as her refusal to have the girl convert to Islam – pushed her to move back to the United States with her two daughters in 1951. The couple divorced in 1953.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

Two years later – with the actress already back in the United States – singer Dick Haymes fell in love with Hayworth, when he saw her at Columbia Pictures’ studios in Los Angeles. He invited her to eat and she – impressed by his spontaneity and courage – accepted. It was during lunch when she mentioned that she had to return to New York to attend a premiere. Haymes (hiding the fact that he was married) didn’t hesitate to accompany her. When they got into a limousine at the door of the Plaza Hotel in New York, a member of the paparazzi immortalized them. The image was what made Dick’s wife discover the infidelity.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

Their endless drunkenness marked their relationship, which – from time to time – they tried to save with public displays of affection. He dedicated his classic song Come Rain or Come Shine to her. They got married in the chapel of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

Although Haymes became fully integrated into the family’s life, the marriage only lasted two years. He would remarry five more times and have six daughters (none with Rita).Getty Images

Hayworth’s fifth husband was the producer James Hill. Determined for his wife to continue with her Hollywood career, he constantly clashed with the diva, who actually never wanted to be a movie star. They were together for three years and she alleged “mental cruelty” upon filing for divorce. Hill abused her physically and verbally.Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)

Hayworth had five failed marriages in total. She also had a long list of lovers, which included names such as Anthony Quinn, Kirk Douglas, Victor Mature, David Niven, Glenn Ford and – according to rumors – the Real Madrid player Paco Gento. With a long, sentimental resume, Hayworth was a woman who knew heartbreak well. Love was too far away from for her.ullstein bild Dtl. (ullstein bild via Getty Images)