Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth
Hayworth in Down to Earth (1947)
Born	Margarita Carmen Cansino (1918-10-17)October 17, 1918 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	May 14, 1987(1987-05-14) (aged 68) New York, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Alzheimer's disease
Resting place	Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, dancer
Years active	1931–1972
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Spouse(s)	Edward C. Judson (m. 1937; div. 1942) Orson Welles (m. 1943; div. 1947) Prince Aly Khan (m. 1949; div. 1953) Dick Haymes (m. 1953; div. 1955) James Hill (m. 1958; div.1961)
Children	Rebecca Welles Manning (1944–2004) Yasmin Aga Khan (b. December 28, 1949)
Parent(s)	Eduardo Cansino, Sr. Volga Hayworth
Relatives	Eduardo Cansino, Jr. (brother) Richard Cansino (nephew)
Signature

Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress and dancer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in a total of 61 films over 37 years. The press coined the term "love goddess" to describe Hayworth after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II.

Hayworth is perhaps best known for her performance in the 1946 film noir, Gilda, opposite Glenn Ford, in which she played the femme fatale in her first major dramatic role. Fred Astaire, with whom she made two films, called her his favorite dance partner. Her greatest success was in the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly. She is listed as one of the top-25 female motion picture stars of all time in the American Film Institute's survey, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars.

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

Hayworth was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918 as Margarita Carmen Cansino, the oldest child of two dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, Sr., was from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a little town near Seville, Spain. Her mother, Volga Hayworth, was an American of Irish-English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. The couple married in 1917. They also had two sons: Eduardo Cansino, Jr. and Vernon Cansino.