Margarita Carmen Cansino was born in Brooklyn on October 17, 1918, a name the world would soon forget in favor of her Hollywood persona, Rita Hayworth, the dazzling star of films like Gilda, You Were Never Lovelier, and Separate Tables. While her image as a silver screen siren remains iconic, Hayworth’s life was far from the glamorous image she portrayed. As Barbara Leaming reveals in her heartbreaking 1989 biography, If This Was Happiness, Hayworth’s life was a series of personal traumas and heartbreaks that began during her childhood and haunted her throughout her life.
#1. A Star on the Dance Floor
Hayworth was born into a family with deep roots in entertainment. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, was a renowned vaudeville dancer, and it didn’t take long for Hayworth’s dancing talent to shine. As Fred Astaire, her frequent dance partner, once noted, “She learned steps faster than anyone I’d ever known.” But despite her brilliance on the dance floor, there was something behind her eyes that hinted at the pain beneath the sparkle. James Cagney, another co-star, remembered how after performances, she would simply “go back to her chair and sit there and not communicate.”
#2. A Childhood Lost
Beneath the bright lights of the stage, Hayworth’s early life was marked by abuse. Her father partnered with her in the Dancing Cansinos, dyeing her hair black to make her look older and more “Latin.” The pair performed in the seedy floating casinos off the Southern California coast, where the young Hayworth endured her father’s physical abuse. But it was the emotional scars left by his sexual abuse that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
As Leaming recounts, Hayworth later revealed the dark secret of her father’s abuse to her second husband, Orson Welles. This trauma, along with years of exploitation in Hollywood, made it difficult for Hayworth to find peace, even as she ascended to superstardom.
#3. A Hollywood Transformation
Hayworth’s transformation into the glamorous “Love Goddess” of Hollywood wasn’t just about fame—it was carefully orchestrated by her first husband, Eddie Judson. Hayworth once admitted, “I married him for love, but he married me for an investment.” Judson pushed her to go through painful electrolysis treatments to raise her hairline and dyed her hair auburn, all to make her more appealing to studio executives. But the manipulation didn’t stop there—Judson even encouraged her to engage in affairs with powerful men to advance her career.
One such man was Harry Cohn, the ruthless head of Columbia Pictures, who would become both Hayworth’s boss and lifelong nemesis. Furious that she refused his advances, Cohn made Hayworth’s life miserable for decades, reportedly bugging her dressing room and keeping close tabs on her every move. As her friend Bob Schiffer once said, “All Harry Cohn wanted to do was get even, because he’d never had any sexual encounter of any kind with Rita.”
#4. The Love of Her Life?
Despite her toxic marriage to Judson and her constant battles with Cohn, Hayworth’s life brightened when she met Orson Welles. He was captivated by her beauty, having spotted her famous pin-up photo while shooting in Brazil, and soon they were married. Their relationship, however, was anything but simple. “I really wanted to be everything Orson wanted of me,” Hayworth later confided. But Welles, ever the wanderer, eventually grew tired of her need for affection and began to cheat, leaving Hayworth alone, devastated, and pregnant with their daughter.
In the end, Hayworth filed for divorce, though her feelings for Welles never faded. In one particularly poignant moment, she reportedly told him, “You know the only happiness I’ve ever had in my life has been with you.” To this, Welles would later respond with a guilt-ridden observation: “If this was happiness…imagine what the rest of her life had been.”
#5. A Royal Escape
In 1948, Hayworth seemed poised to escape the harsh realities of Hollywood when she met Prince Aly Khan, a notorious playboy and heir to a vast fortune. The world was shocked by their whirlwind romance, and the two were married in an elaborate ceremony. At first, it seemed Hayworth had found her fairy tale—after all, she was now a real-life princess. But the marriage quickly soured as the prince’s notorious womanizing and high-society lifestyle became too much for her to handle.
Despite the luxurious surroundings, Hayworth’s life became increasingly isolated and erratic. She locked herself in her room at the prince’s lavish parties, and their arguments grew more intense. One day, in a fit of anger, she threw books and picture frames at him. Eventually, she fled back to the U.S. with their daughter, Princess Yasmin, putting an end to yet another chapter of heartache.
#6. The Final Act
By the 1960s, Hayworth’s life had become a tragic spiral. Misdiagnosed with alcoholism, she actually suffered from early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Her ability to work in films diminished, and her confusion and memory loss left her increasingly isolated. Yet, despite her personal decline, Hayworth found solace in her daughter Yasmin, who cared for her until her death in 1987.
Perhaps the most telling moment of her later years occurred when Hayworth was spotted on a beach in Brazil, flying kites with local children, far from the glamour and turmoil of Hollywood. For a brief moment, she seemed to have found peace, enjoying the simple joy of being far removed from the painful memories that had haunted her life.
Rita Hayworth’s life was one of glittering highs and heartbreaking lows. She remains a cinematic icon, remembered for her beauty and talent. Yet, beneath the surface, her story is a poignant reminder of the human cost of fame. As Welles once said, “All her life was pain.”
