Rita Hayworth: The life story you may not know

George Hurrell/John Kobal Foundation // Getty Images Rita Hayworth was more than just a Hollywood bombshell who could seductively remove a glove like no other. The Spanish American actor had staunch political beliefs and fought for her independence in an industry where men consistently controlled her–from her father to her manager-turned-husband who was twice her age. Born into a family of performers, Hayworth’s dancing prowess and enigmatic stage presence became her tickets to Hollywood even before she reached adulthood. Hayworth would play many dichotomic parts throughout her life–challenging the stereotypical confines of ethnicity in Hollywood, juggling the responsibilities of being a princess and a successful actor, and forever trying to strike a balance between her persona as a sexy siren and her longing for quieter family life. But Hayworth’s life behind the bright lights of fame was difficult. She overcame an abusive childhood, domineering husbands and managers, and battled early onset Alzheimer’s disease before the disorder was well-known and more easily diagnosed. Decades after she died in 1987, her memory is still vibrant in pop culture and Alzheimer’s research. To celebrate the woman who was so much more than the Love Goddess, Stacker compiled a list of moments in Rita Hayworth’s life you may not know about, drawing from news accounts, biographies, magazine interviews, and movie databases. 1918: Born to dance Hulton Archive // Getty Images Before becoming Hollywood icon Rita Hayworth, she was Margarita Carmen Cansino–born in Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 17, 1918, a year after her parents married. Her father, a dancer named Eduardo Cansino, hoped she would follow in the footsteps of him and his father, Antonio Cansino. Antonio, a Spanish-born dancer, put bolero on the map at his world-famous dance schools in his home country in the late 1800s. Her Irish American mother, Volga Hayworth, a former Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, had hoped she would become an actor. Their daughter was poised to do it all. 1923: Her Broadway debut Bettmann // Getty Images Hayworth’s grandfather started giving her dance lessons at just 3 years old. She would later say rehearsing was the sole focus of her childhood, much to her chagrin, but she continued practicing because she was too afraid to tell her demanding father she didn’t like it. Less than two years after her first lesson, just before her fifth birthday, Hayworth was featured with her relatives in the Broadway production of “The Greenwich Village Follies.” 1927: Going West Bettmann // Getty Images At 8 years old, Hayworth had her first taste of the movies, appearing in the 1926 Warner Bros. short film “La Fiesta.” The following year, her family moved to California, where her father opened a dance studio, teaching legends like James Cagney and Jean Harlow. 1931: A dark turn in her relationship with her father Bettmann // Getty Images Hayworth was 13 when her father decided to revive the family vaudeville act, the Dancing Cansinos. He pulled his daughter out of school and took her on the road; she eventually completed the ninth grade in Los Angeles, but that was her last year of formal education. In their act, Eduardo Cansino took his teen daughter on as a dance partner and attempted to age her–changing her stage name to Rita Cansino and dying her brown hair black to make her look older. On the road, he reportedly began sexually abusing Rita, as biographer Barbara Leaming wrote in her 1989 book “If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth.” (Orson Welles, Rita’s future second husband, told Leaming of the alleged abuse in interviews for the book.) 1935: Her Fox film debut Bettmann // Getty Images After a few years of performing with her father, the head of the Fox Film Corporation spotted Hayworth and asked her to do a screen test at age 16, which landed her a six-month contract. Her first film for Fox was 1935’s “Dante’s Inferno,” starring Spencer Tracy; she played a dance hall girl and had no lines. But that same year, she was featured in many speaking roles, all representing different ethnicities. She played an Argentinian in “Under the Pampas Moon,” an Egyptian in “Charlie Chan in Egypt,” and a Russian in “Paddy O’Day.” When her contract ended, Fox became 20th Century Fox in a merger, and they didn’t renew her deal. 1937: Her first marriage Bettmann // Getty Images Disappointed with her short-lived contract, Eduardo Cansino hired car salesman and promoter Edward Judson to manage his daughter’s career. But he got more than he bargained for with Judson. He helped get Hayworth several roles in small studio films in 1936, and then, despite Judson being 40 and Hayworth being 18, the two eloped in Las Vegas in 1937. 1937: Rita Cansino becomes Rita Hayworth Bettmann // Getty Images Under Edward Judson’s management, Hayworth signed a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures executive Harry Cohn, but it would come at a huge cost. Cohn was alleged to have expected and even demanded sex from women actors in exchange for roles, but when Hayworth refused his advances, it spurred a decadeslong feud. Together, Judson and Cohn were responsible for altering Hayworth’s appearance to look more “American”–replacing her father’s last name with her mother’s, changing her raven hair to auburn, and pushing back her hairline with painful electrolysis treatments. 1941: The pinup shot seen ’round the world George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images Doors began to open more widely for Hayworth after her makeover in the late 1930s, but it wasn’t until 1941 that her star reached atmospheric levels. She took on leading roles in major films like the period musical “The Strawberry Blonde” opposite James Cagney and the 1941 melodrama remake “Blood and Sand,” produced in Technicolor, allowing Hayworth to show off her new bright red hair. She also starred in “You’ll Never Get Rich,” sharing the dance floor with Fred Astaire. That same year, Life magazine published a publicity photograph of 23-year-old Hayworth kneeling on a bed in a negligee that would become the most reproduced pinup photograph ever. 1942: The end of her first marriage