Showing posts with label Rita Hayworth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rita Hayworth. Show all posts

01 September 2024

Rita Hayworth

Sultry Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) was an American dancer and actress who was one of the top pin-up girls for GIs during World War II. Her beauty catapulted her to international stardom and she is best known for her sexy performance in the Film Noir Gilda (1946). Later in her career she also appeared in European films.

Rita Hayworth
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto / Ediz. Garami, no. 54. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia Pictures / CEIAD. Publicity still for Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Rita Hayworth
Belgian postcard by Victoria, Brussels, no. 639. Photo: Columbia Pictures.

Rita Hayworth
British postcard. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Rita Hayworth
Vintage card.

Rita Hayworth
American postcard by Movie Candid Color Card, Beverly Hills, Calif., no. A 22. Photo: John Albin Kodachrome / Columbia Pictures.
Rita Hayworth in Blood and Sand (1941)
American postcard by Godfrey Herbert, 1941. Photo: Fox. Rita Hayworth in Blood and Sand (Rouben Mamoulian, 1941).

Rita Hayworth
German postcard by Editions P.I., no. 620. Photo: Columbia.

Rita Hayworth
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 218.

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
French postcard in the Collection Cinéma by Editions Art & Scene, Paris, 1996, no. CA 101. Rita Hayworth in Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris / Saint-Dié, no. CA 36. Photo: Edward Cronenweth. Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth in The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947).

Put the blame on Mame


Rita Hayworth was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918 as Margarita Carmen Cansino. She was the oldest child of two dancers, Eduardo Cansino, Sr., from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a little town near Seville, Spain, and Volga Hayworth, an American of Irish-English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. Margarita had two brothers, Eduardo Cansino, Jr. and Vernon Cansino. Margarita's father wanted her to become a professional dancer, while her mother hoped she would become an actress. She performed publicly from the age of six. In 1926 at the age of eight, she was featured with the dancing Cansino family in the Vitaphone short La Fiesta (1926). In 1927, her father took the family to Hollywood. He believed that dancing could be featured in the movies and that his family could be part of it. He established his own dance studio, where he taught such stars as James Cagney and Jean Harlow. In 1931 Eduardo Cansino partnered with his 12-year-old but mature-looking daughter to form an act called the Dancing Cansinos.

Margarita took a bit part in the Mexican film Cruz Diablo (Fernando de Fuentes, 1934) at age 16, which led to another in the Hollywood production In Caliente (Lloyd Bacon, 1935) with the Mexican actress, Dolores del Río. She danced with her father in such nightspots as the Foreign and the Caliente clubs. Winfield Sheehan, the head of the Fox Film Corporation, saw her dancing at the Caliente Club and quickly arranged for Hayworth to do a screen test a week later. Impressed by her screen persona, Sheehan signed her for a short-term six-month contract at Fox, under the name Rita Cansino, the first of two name changes for her film career. During her time at Fox, Rita appeared in unremarkable roles, often cast as the exotic foreigner. She had her first speaking role as an Argentinian girl in the romantic Western Under the Pampas Moon (James Tinling, 1935). By the end of her six-month contract, Fox had merged into 20th Century Fox, with Darryl F. Zanuck serving as the executive producer. Zanuck did not renew Hayworth's contract. Feeling that Hayworth had screen potential, salesman and promoter Edward C. Judson, who became her first husband in 1937, got her freelance work in several small-studio films and a part in the Columbia Pictures feature Meet Nero Wolfe (Herbert J. Biberman, 1936).

Columbia Studio head Harry Cohn signed her to a seven-year contract and tried her out in small roles. Cohn argued that Hayworth's image was too Mediterranean, which reduced her opportunities to being cast in 'exotic' roles that were fewer in number. Rita Cansino became Rita Hayworth when she adopted her mother's maiden name, to the consternation of her father. At the urging of her husband Eddie Judson, she changed her hair colour to dark red and had electrolysis to raise her hairline and broaden the appearance of her forehead. In 1939, Cohn pressured director Howard Hawks to use Hayworth for a small but important role as a man-trap in the aviation drama Only Angels Have Wings (1939), opposite Cary Grant. With this film's box-office success, fan mail for Hayworth began pouring into Columbia's publicity department. Cohn began to see Hayworth as his first and official new star. While on loan to Warner Bros., Hayworth appeared as the second female lead in The Strawberry Blonde (Raoul Walsh, 1941), opposite James Cagney. Because the film was a big box-office success, Hayworth's popularity rose and she immediately became one of Hollywood's hottest actresses.

A Bob Landry photo of Rita in Life magazine, 11 August 1941, made her the number 2 soldier pin-up of World War II. That same year the 'American film goddess' shared the dance floor with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941). This musical was so successful, that the studio produced and released another Astaire-Hayworth picture the following year, You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942). Under the influence of her second husband Orson Welles, Rita began to read classic literature. While pregnant in 1944, she was impressed by Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and named her firstborn daughter Rebecca after the novel's heroine. That year, Hayworth had top billing in one of her best-known films, the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (Charles Vidor, 1944) with Gene Kelly. Cohn continued to showcase Hayworth's dance talents and featured her in the Technicolor films Tonight and Every Night (Victor Saville, 1945), and Down to Earth (Alexander Hall, 1947) with Larry Parks.

Rita Hayworth is best known for her dramatic performance opposite Glenn Ford in the Film Noir Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946). The film included a controversial (tame by today's standards) striptease by Hayworth. Singing Put The Blame On Mame, she wore black satin and performed a one-glove striptease. It made her into a cultural icon as a femme fatale. The following year she starred in another Film Noir favourite, The Lady From Shanghai (1947), which was directed by her then-husband, Orson Welles. Hayworth's performance was critically acclaimed. The film's failure at the box office was attributed in part to Hayworth's famous red hair being cut short and bleached platinum blonde for the role. Cohn had not been consulted and was furious that Hayworth's image was changed.

Rita Hayworth
Vintage postcard, no. 3160. Photo: Europa-Columbia.
Rita Hayworth in You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 173. Photo: Columbia Pictures. Rita Hayworth in You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942).

Rita Hayworth
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 124. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia. Publicity still for Cover Girl (Charles Vidor, 1944).

Rita Hayworth
Dutch postcard, Col. Int., no. 286. Photo: Columbia. Publicity still for Cover Girl (Charles Vidor, 1944).

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, Barcelona, no. 3912. Photo: Columbia. Publicity still for Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
Spanish postcard. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia. Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford in Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Spanish postcard by Sobe. Photo: Edward Cronenweth. Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947).
Rita Hayworth
Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. 3317. Photo: Ned Scott / Columbia. Publicity still for Down to Earth (Alexander Hall, 1947).

Rita Hayworth
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 913. Photo: Columbia.

A little-known disease


In 1948, at the height of her fame, Rita Hayworth travelled to Cannes and was introduced to Prince Aly Khan. They began a year-long courtship and were married in 1949. Hayworth left Hollywood and sailed for France, breaking her contract with Columbia. Hayworth gave birth to the couple's only daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan. However, the marriage did not work out. In 1951, Hayworth set sail with her two daughters for New York. Although the couple did reconcile for a short time, they officially divorced by 1953.

Hayworth was forced to return to Hollywood to star in her 'comeback' picture, Affair in Trinidad (Vincent Sherman, 1952) which again paired her with Glenn Ford. Next, she starred in the Biblical epic Salome (William Dieterle, 1953) with Charles Laughton and Stewart Granger, the 3D musical Miss Sadie Thompson (Curtis Bernhardt, 1953), and the British-American adventure drama Fire Down Below (Robert Parrish, 1957). In between these films, she was off the big screen for another four years, mainly because of a tumultuous marriage to the singer Dick Haymes. After the musical Pal Joey (George Sidney, 1957) with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak, Hayworth left Columbia for good.

Rita Hayworth received good reviews for her performance in Separate Tables (Delbert Mann, 1958), with Burt Lancaster and David Niven. The film was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture. Hayworth was married to co-producer James Hill at the time. Another critical success was The Story on Page One (Clifford Odets, 1960) with Anthony Franciosa. She continued working throughout the 1960s. For her part in Circus World (Henry Hathaway, 1964) she earned a Golden Globe nomination.

She also appeared in some European films. In Italy, she made the war-drama L'avventuriero/The Rover (Terence Young, 1967), based on the novel by Joseph Conrad and co-starring Anthony Quinn and Rosanna Schiaffino. In France, she appeared in the psychological thriller La route de Salina/Road to Salina (Georges Lautner, 1970), starring Robert Walker, Jr. and Mimsy Farmer. Her career ended with Ralph Nelson's offbeat Western The Wrath of God (1972), starring Robert Mitchum.

In 1980, Rita Hayworth was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which contributed to her death at age 68. The public disclosure and discussion of her illness drew international attention to Alzheimer's, then a little-known disease, and helped to greatly increase public and private funding for Alzheimer's research.

Rita Hayworth in The Loves of Carmen (1948)
Italian postcard. Photo: Columbia-CEIAD. Rita Hayworth in The Loves of Carmen (Charles Vidor, 1948).

Rita Hayworth
Belgian postcard, no. 50. Photo: Bob Coburn, 1948.

Rita Hayworth in Affair in Trinidad (1952)
German postcard by F.J. Rüdel Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 423. Photo: Columbia. Publicity still for Affair in Trinidad (Vincent Sherman, 1952).

Rita Hayworth in Affair in Trinidad (1952)
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 655. Photo: Columbia-Film. Publicity still for Affair in Trinidad (Vincent Sherman, 1952).

Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953)
Vintage postcard. Photo: Columbia. Rita Hayworth in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Charles Laughton, Rita Hayworth, and Stewart Granger in Salome (1953)
Vintage postcard. Photo: Columbia. Charles Laughton, Rita Hayworth and Stewart Granger in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953).

Rita Hayworth
Dutch postcard by J. Sleding, Amsterdam, no. 913. Photo: Europa Film N.V.

Rita Hayworth
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 843. Photo: Browning Studio.

Rita Hayworth
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. 4252. Photo: Columbia Film. Publicity still for Pal Joey (George Sidney, 1957).


Trailer for The Lady From Shanghai (1947). Source: MUBI UK (YouTube).

Sources: bio., Wikipedia and IMDb.

31 January 2022

La Collectionneuse: Salome

In 2021, small fragments of Theda Bara’s Salome (1918) were made available to the public in a digitalised form. Those brief clips had been found in Madrid’s Filmoteca Espanola. It was tremendous news to silent film lovers, as most of Bara’s films are considered lost.

Theda Bara
British postcard by Lilywhite in the Cinema Stars series, no. C.M. 413D. Photo: William Fox. Theda Bara in Salome (J. Gordon Edwards, 1918). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

The Salome character


Salome is a biblical character who is mentioned, although unnamed, in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Mathew. She was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. Her mother, after her divorce, remarried Herod Antipas. This second marriage was heavily criticised by John the Baptist.

The young girl danced before King Herod Antipas at his birthday celebration and he was so enthralled by his stepdaughter’s performance that he told her that she could ask anything in return for it. Prompted by her mother, she asked for John the Baptist’s head.

Despite his reluctance, the King had to keep his promise. The prophet was executed and his head was given to her on a platter. The dancer is called "Salome" for the first time in Flavius Josephus’ 'Antiquities of the Jews', published in AD 93 or 94.

Salome is certainly one of the most famous female biblical characters. She has been painted by renowned artists such as Van der Weyden, Memling, Cranach, Rubens, Botticelli, Titian, Caravaggio, and Gustave Moreau

In 1891, Oscar Wilde wrote his play 'Salome'. It was first published in France in 1893 and then in England, illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, in 1894. Wilde never saw his play produced on stage. It was banned in the U.K. until 1931 and the only performances given in his lifetime took place in France in 1896, when he was in jail for homosexuality.

In 1905, Richard Strauss’ opera 'Salome', which was inspired by Wilde’s play, opened in Dresden. It is said that, at the time, the dance of the seven veils performed by Salome shocked the audiences. The Salome character also appeared several times in movies. Arguably the three more famous screen Salomes were Theda Bara, Alla Nazimova, and Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953)
Argentinian postcard by Cromocart G.W., no. 143. Photo: Columbia. Rita Hayworth in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Here is a non-exhaustive selection of several Salome-related stars.

Maud Allan


Maud Allan
British postcard by Rotary Photo E.C., no. 4946 D. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield. Miss Maud Allan as Salomé. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Canadian-born Maud Allan (1873-1956) became a star when she created a dance number called 'Vision of Salomé' in Vienna (Austria) in 1906 and soon became famous internationally. In 1915 she starred in her only movie, The Rug Maker’s Daughter, filmed in California. She played a Turkish girl who falls in love with an American. The film is now considered lost but it was said at the time that the three Oriental dances she performed in it had similarities to her famous Salomé dance. In 1918, after having been accused in an article of being involved in a pro-German conspiracy and of being linked to a circle of sexual deviants, she sued for libel. During the sensational trial that took place in London, it was revealed that her brother had been hanged for murder in 1898. She lost the case and her career never recovered from the scandal. Although she still performed until 1936, her days of glory were gone. She died penniless in the U.S.A. in 1956.

Lyda Borelli


Lyda Borelli
Spanish postcard by Amadeo, Pelayo 62, Barcelona. Lyda Borelli in an outfit for Oscar Wilde's stage play 'Salome'. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Lyda Borelli

Italian postcard, no. 603. Photo: Emilio Sommariva, Milano. Lyda Borelli in an outfit for Oscar Wilde's stage play 'Salome'. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Before she became one of the most famous Italian film divas, Lyda Borelli (1884-1959) was a well-known theater actress. One of her major roles on the stage was Oscar Wilde’s 'Salome'.

Theda Bara


Theda Bara
British postcard by Lilywhite in the Cinema Stars series, no. C.M. 94. Photo: William Fox. Theda Bara in Salome (J. Gordon Edwards, 1918). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Salome (1918) was a big-budgeted epic that starred Fox’s reigning vamp, Theda Bara (1885-1955), who had become a star thanks to A Fool There Was (1915). It was released in August 1918 and, that same month, the actress came tenth in a popularity poll held by Motion Picture Magazine. The movie was a success. Unfortunately, Theda’s Bara career went into decline in 1919, and, at the end of the year, Fox didn’t renew her contract.

Pearl White


Pearl White
British postcard by Lilywhite Ltd, no. C.M. 429 D. Pearl White as Salome. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Serial queen Pearl White (1889-1938) never played Salome on screen but a photographer had the idea to make her pose as the biblical character. This shot was inspired by a 1870 painting by Henri Regnault, which is currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Alla Nazimova


Alla Nazimova in Salome (1923)
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, no. 16. Photo: United Artists. Alla Nazimova in Salome (Charles Bryant, 1923). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Salome (1922) was produced by Alla Nazimova (1879-1945) and was adapted from Oscar Wilde’s play. Inspired by Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations, Natacha Rambova, who became Rudolph Valentino’s second wife in 1923, designed the costumes and the sets. Although she was over forty, Nazimova decided to play herself the teenage heroine. The movie divided the critics and was a commercial flop. It was certainly too theatrical and sophisticated for standard audiences. Nazimova suffered important financial losses and it was the beginning of a difficult period for her. She had to wait until her performance on Broadway in 'The Cherry Orchard' in 1928 to fully regain her prestige. Over the years, Nazimova’s Salome has acquired cult status.

Gloria Swanson


Gloria Swanson in Stage Struck (1925)
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, no. 743. Photo: S.A.I. Films Paramount, Roma. Gloria Swanson in Stage Struck (Allan Dwan, 1925). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

In Allan Dwan’s Stage Struck (1925), Gloria Swanson (1897? 1899?-1983) plays a diner waitress who dreams of becoming an actress. She is seen as Salome in a 2-color Technicolor fantasy sequence, in which she imagines herself playing the biblical dancer. The movie, which displayed Swanson’s gift for comedy, is usually considered as one of her best silent films.

Yvonne De Carlo


Yvonne De Carlo in Salome Where She Danced (1945)
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, Barcelona, no. 3299. Photo: Universal. Yvonne De Carlo in Salome Where She Danced (Charles Lamont, 1945). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Salome Where She Danced (1944) made Yvonne De Carlo (1922-2007) a star. She plays a Viennese dancer who has to flee to the U.S.A. during the Austro-Prussian War. In a small Arizona town, she is a big hit on stage by portraying Salome in a "daring" dance number.

Rita Hayworth


Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953)
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2863. Photo: Columbia. Rita Hayworth in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) starred in Salome (1953) in which the heroine is portrayed as an innocent, outwitted by her mother’s machinations. In the plot, Salome is convinced that she dances to save John the Baptist and is understandably shocked when she realises that she had been cheated. It was directed by veteran William Dieterle and Rita was supported by top-notch British performers: Stewart Granger as her love interest, Charles Laughton as Herod, Cedric Hardwicke as Tiberius Caesar, and Basil Sydney as Pontius Pilatus. Australian-born Judith Anderson rounded the cast by playing Herodias. The film was a hit with the audiences and came second in the list of Columbia’s 1953 top box-office attractions.

Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953)
Vintage postcard. Photo: Columbia. Rita Hayworth in Salome (William Dieterle, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Bonus: Ivo Blom’s Salomes


Ivo Blom wished to include an Oscar Wilde’s German-born Salome and a 1941 Italian comedy in which a young lady is asked to pass herself for the famous dancer who has grown older. A funny story far from the tragic biblical story.

Hedwig Reicher


Hedwig Reicher as Salome
German postcard, no. PH 4522/2. Mailed in France.

German-born stage and screen actress Hedwig(a) Reicher (1884-1971) made her theatrical debut in 1902 in Adolf von Wilbrandt's 'Der Meister von Palmyra' in Hamburg. She remained in Germany for five more years before accepting an engagement to the Deutsches Theater (the Irving Place Theatre) in New York City in 1907. Reicher remained in the United States and appeared on Broadway. In 1916 she performed Oscar Wilde's Salome at the Punch & Judy's Theatre, a role she had already performed in Germany. In the 1920s, Richer played a number of supporting roles in Hollywood, as an immigrant or in maternal roles. She played the prison matron in Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl (1928) and Janet Gaynor's mother in Lucky Star (1929) by Frank Borzage. In 1939, she appeared in the first decidedly anti-Nazi film, Confessions of a Nazi Spy.

La nascita di Salomè (1940)


Armando Falconi and Conchita Montenegro in La nascita di Salomè
Italian postcard. Armando Falconi and Conchita Montenegro in the Italo-Spanish coproduction La nascita di Salomè (1940), directed by Jean Choux, and shot in the Cinecittà studios in Rome.

In the comedy, La nascita di Salomè (Jean Choux, 1940), based on a stage play by Cesare Meano, the mighty King of the Parthians (Nerio Bernardi) offers Aristobulus (Armando Falconi), monarch of a small kingdom, four provinces in exchange for his wife Salome, (once) a beautiful dancer (Maria Gomez). Aristobulus instead sends him a pretty, skilled young dancer named Dalila (Conchita Montenegro), and thus a new Salome is born, able to captivate all men. The envoys of the Parthian King discover the fraud, but, fascinated, they pretend that there has been no deception and lead the girl at their sovereign, who remains very impressed and gives Aristobulus the promised provinces. The exotic costumes for the film were designed by Gino Carlo Sensani and Maria de Matteis.

Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete and Ivo Blom.

27 June 2018

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)

Every evening the public of Cinema Ritrovato gathers at the Piazza Maggiore for a spectacular open air screening. One of these evening events is the screening of Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946). Among the many attractions of this Film Noir is the sultry star of the film, Rita Hayworth. When she performs Put the Blame on Mame clad in lustrous black satin, she suggests a full striptease by only removing a glove. Gilda sealed Hayworth's reputation as Hollywood's leading love goddess of the 1940s.

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
Vintage card by IBIS, no. 23. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia Pictures. Publicity still for Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Rita Hayworth
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto / Ediz. Garami, no. 54. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia Pictures / CEIAD. Publicity still for Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
Spanish postcard, no. 4026. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia Pictures. Publicity still for Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Ultimate femme fatale


Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) was the Brooklyn-born daughter of Spanish dancer Eduardo Cansino and Ziegfeld Follies showgirl Volga Haworth. She joined her family on stage when she was eight years old when her family was filmed in a movie called La Fiesta (1926). In the 1930s films, she made a few films under her real name, Margarita Cansino, and with her real hair colour (black). Her beauty would catapult her to international stardom.

Over the next few years - at the urging of Columbia Studios and her first husband - she reshaped her hairline with electrolysis, dyed her hair auburn, and adopted the name Rita Hayworth. She had her breakthrough as an unfaithful wife opposite Cary Grant in Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1939). In 1941 Hayworth took the screen opposite James Cagney in Strawberry Blonde (Raoul Walsh, 1941). That same year the 'American film goddess' shared the dance floor with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941). Her splendid dancing with Astaire made her a star.

Hayworth played her signature role as Gilda Mundson Farrell, the ultimate femme fatale in the Film Noir Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946), co-starring Glenn Ford as a small-time gambler and her former flame. The film was also noted for cinematographer Rudolph Maté's lush photography, costume designer Jean Louis's wardrobe for Hayworth (particularly for the dance numbers), and choreographer Jack Cole's staging of Put the Blame on Mame and Amado Mio, sung by Anita Ellis. Hayworth sang the acoustic guitar version of Put the Blame on Mame herself.

The following year she starred in another Film Noir favourite, The Lady From Shanghai (1948), which was directed by her then-husband, Orson Welles. The film is best remembered for its final sequence when the plot comes to a literally smashing climax in the famous 'hall of mirrors' sequence, with Hayworth and Welles shooting it out amidst shards of shattering glass.

Hayworth starred in more than fifteen films in the two following decades including Miss Sadie Thompson (Curtis Bernhardt, 1953), Pal Joey (George Sidney, 1957) with Frank Sinatra and Circus World (Henry Hathaway, 1964) for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination.

During the 1960s, she also appeared in some European films such as I Bastardi/The Cats (Duccio Tessari, 1968) with Giuliano Gemma and Claudine Auger, and Sur la Route de Salina/The Road to Salina (Georges Lautner, 1970). Her career ended with Ralph Nelson's satirical Western The Wrath of God (1972) opposite Robert Mitchum.

Hayworth was suffering from the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. For years, she would be cared for by her daughter Princess Yasmin Khan, and her death from the disease in 1987 gave it public attention that led to increased funding for medical research to find a cure.

Rita, herself, said about her most famous role, "Men fell in love with Gilda, but they wake up with me". In person, Rita Hayworth was shy, quiet and unassuming. Only when the cameras rolled did she turn on the explosive sexual charisma that in Gilda (1946) made her a superstar.

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 237. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia Pictures. Publicity still for Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
Spanish card in the series Hollywood California, no. 4027. Photo: Robert Coburn / Columbia Pictures. Publicity still for Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946).


Trailer Gilda (1946). Source: Danios12345 (YouTube).

Source: Lucia Bozzola (AllMovie), AllMovie, bio, Wikipedia and IMDb.