Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Cansino in Brooklyn, New York on October 17, 1918. Her mother was Irish, and her father, Eduardo, was a famed Spanish dancer. By the age of four, Margarita had begun dancing and was soon performing with her family in a group called The Dancing Cansinos. Sensing his daughter's talent, Eduardo moved the family to California and teamed with her to perform in Tijuana nightclubs often frequented by Hollywood's elite. The move paid off, as Fox exec. Winfield S. Sheehan signed Margarita for a contract with the studio. She made her debut at age sixteen (still credited as Margarita Cansino and with her natural hair color - black) in Dante's Inferno (1935), featuring a dance sequence choreographed by her father. Head man Harry Cohn put her on a diet, had her hairline reshaped using painful electrolysis to accentuate her widow's peak and changed her name. Rita Hayworth first hit the screen in the B-mystery The Shadow(1937).

Hayworth's first real success came in the Warner loan out, The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney, followed by a hit, Blood and Sand (1941) starring Tyrone Power. She teamed with Fred Astaire for two films following his split with Ginger Rogers, in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942). But it was Gilda (1946) that truly made Hayworth a star. It also cemented the most successful pairing of her life - an on-screen chemistry with Glenn Ford (They made five films together). But off screen, Hayworth never had much luck finding a leading man. She was married and divorced five times, including a brief marriage to a Prince (Aly Khan) and to Orson Welles who directed her in The Lady From Shanghai (1948) soon after their divorce. Hayworth's career slowed in the 1950's with reports of her erratic behavior and alleged alcoholism. The star was actually suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's, which eventually claimed her life in 1987 at the age of 68. Unlucky in love, as we're reminded by her well known quote, "men go to bed with Gilda, but wake up with me," Hayworth was one of the first stars to transcend her Hispanic roots and be seen by audiences as an all American girl.

By Frank Miller

* Films in Bold Type will air on TCM