A Rita Hayworth lovefest
Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 4:53PM 
Born Margarita Carmen Cansino, Rita Hayworth was one of Old Hollywood's brightest and most glamourous stars. As it often happens with such legends of the silver screen, her life was an unhappy one, full of tales of abuse and five failed marriages, crippling insecurity, alcoholism and Alzheimers. Perhaps more hauntingly, her biographers agree that Hayworth despised her existence as a movie star and as a pin-up icon, longing to escape the movie business in her heyday. In Hayworth's later years, she would even come to express disdain towards some of her more famous movies like the iconic Gilda. Still, those same pictures, as well as other classics, made her an immortal legend.
To explore the filmography of Rita Hayworth is to confront the cruel incongruences of her biography, how the movies sculpted her into something bigger than life and made her suffer for it too…
Many of the stars' most important works are currently available to watch online, either by streaming or rental. Just the Criterion Channel has a wonderful collection of 13 Hayworth flicks, which span from the 1930s to the late 50s. However, it's difficult to find the actress' earlier screen appearances, when she was either credited as Rita Cansino or went unnamed altogether. Because of the perceived ethnic quality of her looks, she was limited by studio authority to bit parts or small appearances that made use of her skills as a trained dancer. It was the corrosive influence of her first husband as well as the best cosmetic transfiguration Columbia Pictures could buy that gave her a style more easily marketable.
Gone was her father's surname as well as Rita's raven locks, now dyed dark red. Her hairline was also altered, lifted thanks to experimental electrolysis to give her a more Caucasian look. The miasma of racism and misogyny that got Rita Hayworth to stardom is repugnant, but we shouldn't stop appreciating her talents because of this. For instance, one of her first big roles after the makeover was in Howard Hawk's 1939 flick Only Angels Have Wings, where she's wonderful in a supporting role. It was a popular hit at the time and helped make Rita one of Columbia's brightest new stars. One year later, she was already headlining star vehicles built around her magnetic presence.
Rita was especially brilliant in musicals, though her singing was always dubbed. Her pairings with Fred Astaire in 1941's You'll Never Get Rich and 1942's You Were Never Lovelier are beguiling examples of musical romcoms at their most charming. Many years after, Astaire would name Hayworth as his best dance partner onscreen. You need only see a few minutes of their numbers to understand why, for she is magnificent. At the same time, Hayworth was also cast in more dramatic projects, often in the roles of seductive temptresses. An example of this is the bleak 1940's proto-noir Angels Over Broadway, her breathy line deliveries seem like a prelude to the character type Marilyn Monroe would come to perfect a decade later.
The 40s were Hayworth's greatest decade, though the shy actress balked at the attention she received. One of the greatest surprises one finds when researching this starlet's life is how radically different she was from her vixen public persona. That preternatural sexual confidence Hayworth exuded onscreen was a masterful bit of acting which always looked effortless. The dichotomy between the woman and the celebrity wouldn't go unnoticed by the filmmakers that worked with her. On one hand, there are the movies that make the impossible magnetism of her screen presence in comedy, like Cover Girl or Down to Earth, where Hayworth literally plays a Greek goddess. When she smiled in those cinematic trifles, it was as if the sun broke through deep grey clouds, warming up our very soul.
On the other, when giving life to apparent Femme Fatales like Gilda or Chris Emery of Affair in Trinidad, Hayworth was capable of finding depths of unease hiding beneath the surface-level sensuality. Her temptresses are always more complex than they seem, either knowingly weaponizing their desirability or internally resenting it. Orson Welles' The Lady of Shanghai is particularly ruthless in its exploration of her star persona, dissecting it with cruel abandon and giving the actress one of the juiciest roles of her career. Hayworth's talents would become especially useful in the 50s when noirs gave way to moralistic tales of punished libertines like Miss Sadie Thompson or Salomé. She's often the only tolerable element of those movies.
As her personal life became increasingly complicated and the years started to weight on Rita, Columbia started to let go of her. Kim Novak was a temporary substitute and the two even starred together in a repulsive adaptation of Pal Joey. The story of that 1957 flick may center on Frank Sinatra's lothario but it's the baton passing of one female sex symbol to another that makes it an important historical artifact. Later on, the roles would start to dwindle and so did Hayworth's popularity. Still, even in small supporting roles in movies like 1965's The Money Trap, her magnetism was undeniable as was the melancholy that always haunted her screen appearances.
Though tragic, Rita Hayworth's tenure as a Hollywood star is worth celebrating. I urge you to seek out her pictures and let yourself fall in love with the Love Goddess herself, one of the greatest stars that ever was.
Reader Comments (13)
The camera loved her specially whenever she did a musical number.
She was an entrancing creature on screen.
If you have read the excellent biography of her "If This Was Happiness" which was just a heartbreaker you do see how much of a creation the "Rita Hayworth" in her films is but if you can put that aside she's a pleasure to watch.
A beautiful dancer and at times a fine actress though her films with a few exceptions didn't demand much of her outside of being charismatic and beautiful.
She's great in Gilda and one of my favorites is her work in The Strawberry Blonde. She's kittenish and coy in the early scenes and brittle and wry later and completely believable at both plus she stands toe to toe with pros Olivia de Havilland, Jimmy Cagney and Jack Carson.
I've managed through the years to see all her films but two early ones-Criminals of the Air and Born to Dance which is especially galling since it's another chance to see her dance onscreen. Many of those early appearances once she started getting larger roles but was still stuck in quickies are rough. At times she's fine but the pix are cheap programmers and there are times when her inexperience really shows and she's stiff and uncomfortable but still watchable.
While we're talking about her and Only Angels Have Wings I have to ask if that fun streaming series that looked at certain titles that were currently available is kaput? It was supposed to be Only Angels and Pollyanna next up and I know it was delayed when Nathaniel fell ill but I wondered if it was still in the pipeline.
I wonder was Rita not considered white back then? She was half Spanish but nonetheless still white. It’s sad she had to go through that surgery in order to be more palpable to audiences.
COVER GIRL. That is all.
I didn't know she was half-Hispanic as opposed to being entirely Hispanic. I think it's most respectful to Latin Americans to simply refer to them as Latin Amrian or Hispanic or LatinX rather than divide them and define them further by pigmentation along that spectrum. I'm not sure why the Census does that. I don't think being a lighter skinned Hispanic makes you and less a member of the Hispanic people or race as some sociologists might define it (though not US nomenclature currently)
Joel6 - The word is Smackdown and belatedly concluding Seasons of Bette are Nathaniel’s first priorities, with Reader’s Choice and any more current or newsworthy articles next.
P.S. Great comment as always. You are like the Cláudio of commenters most often.
Orrin - I think you’re looking at it from a skewed angle - very few people argue that lighter skinned or mixed race Hispanic people are “not Hispanic enough” - they take issue with Hollywood and the music industry checking a “diversity” box by selecting only from a pool of those who “pass” as white, maintaining a whole structure that rewards and benefits white people and throws only the occasional treat to people of colour.
It’s like Hollywood ignoring huge swathes of Latinx actors and saying “we don’t discriminate, look at all the work we give Penelope Cruz” - hiring her alone doesn’t fix the problem of representation.
And that’s without even going into the “colorism” that exists within the community, like any other group - we white people struggle to understand it because white culture is the only culture where we’re indoctrinated that “darker skinned equals more beautiful” (but not actually people of colour because those people are different, apparently, and will steal your opportunities if given a chance).
It’s a sad state of affairs that this conversation is hugely relevant now, 50 years after Rita’s heyday...
Jose-That's very nice of you too say, thanks for the info!
Many dancers look graceful in repose. Rita seems to be still in movement, like movement temporarily suspended, or like when a hummingbird is in one place. She can cross a room in two steps, she is so swift and light.
There are people who need a lot of space to feel truly comfortable. They have a large spirit that needs to expand. Small physical and mental spaces make them feel boxed in, and they vibrate against the walls of the box.
Hayworth’s freedom and joy in movement is beautiful to watch.
Latin people come in all colors - it was very common in that era to change actors name to make them more appealing to general audiences of their day.
Yeah, the changing ppl's name to make them less Latina and Latinos was something that happened equally and it was insulting to all Latinos.
What I have issue is the sort of flattening of all racial experiences and backgrounds to "people of color" and "white." I even saw it this past Oscar season when people said there was only one "POC" nominated. If you don't think Antonio Banderas being Hispanic as a Spaniard has impacted his ability to progress in Hollywood, look at all the ways he's been typecast. He pretty much was stuck in the same latin lover career trajectory of Ramon Navarro and Rudolph Valentino and it's kind of diminishing to say this wasn't a victory for the Latin community
I majored in geography and was talking to an antrhopology professor and they said they wanted to gag when they heard students saying "POC" because the world is so much more complicated than that.
But I think we're on the same page for the most part.
I only discovered yesterday that my household has TCM on demand. It's like a door to a new life just opened. So many goodies (today I'm going to finally watch the Falconetti Passion of Joan of Arc). Anyway, because of this post, I started with Gilda last night. Holy moly, if Hayworth's first shot isn't the epitome of a star entrance, then nothing in this world is true anymore. Thanks for using this site to highlight these treasures of the past. Much appreciated!
joel 6 -- still in the pipeline. I'm not sure who started the rumor all over ever comment section that Seasons of Bette is next but that's not true. I had totally forgotten about that series but I suppose i should finish it at some point.
I am still hoping to do the readers choice series but I got distracted by a) getting sick for two weeks b) my day job stress c) shelter in place doldrums and d) the very very very busy but exciting planning and panel gathering for SIX episodes of the Smackdown. whooohoo.