The Many Marriages of Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth was a thoroughly Hollywood creation. Born Margarita Carmen Cansino, the daughter of Spanish flamenco legends went to Hollywood to dance. When Columbia Pictures signed her to a deal, studio head Harry Cohn deemed her to be too "exotic" looking for traditional leading lady roles, so he had her undergo a makeover and changed her name to the more American (and white)-sounding Rita Hayworth. Her hair was dyed red and her hairline raised through painful electrolysis procedures. It worked. She was a brilliant dancer who could hold her own against Fred Astaire and later became one of the defining women of noir thanks to her starring role in Gilda. She was a star of legendary proportions, but also a great actress when given the right material. Check out The Lady From Shanghai or Cover Girl for proof of that. Largely, though, you probably know her for that hair flip or for helping Tim Robbins hide his route to freedom in The Shawshank Redemption.

Fittingly for a bombshell, she had a few dramatic romances, including one to a legendary filmmaker and another to a literal prince. And not one of these losers deserved her!

ONE: EDWARD C. JUSTON

Aged only 18, Rita Cansino married an oil baron twice her age called Edward C. Judson. It was a quickie ceremony in Vegas, and it was a bad match. He made a point of throwing his weight (and money) around to help launch her career, then used that as an excuse to help himself to her earnings. Rita alleged that Judson threatened her with "great bodily harm" unless she paid him $12,000 and transferred ownership of her property to him. He had also forgotten to tell her that he'd been married twice before he wed her. Hayworth filed for divorce from him on February 24, 1942, with a complaint of cruelty. Ending the marriage pleased her family, who hated Edward, but also left her broke, even though she was a leading lady by this point in time. He didn’t need her money. He just wanted to control her.

It’s worth noting that Rita had a very difficult relationship with her family. She would admit to her second husband that her father, Eduardo Cansino, had sexually abused her during her adolescence when the pair toured as a dance duo called the Dancing Cansinos. Her biographer, Barbara Leaming, wrote that Rita’s mother may have been the only person to know of the abuse and tried to protect Rita by sharing a bed with her for years.

TWO: ORSON WELLES

In 1943, actor-director-wunderkind Orson Welles produced a variety show to raise the spirits of U.S. soldiers serving in the Second World War. He selected Rita to be his assistant, teaching her magic tricks and wooing her with his wit. Harry Cohn controlled Rita like a puppet for the entirety of her run at Columbia, and he did not want her doing parlour tricks on stage, even if it was for the troops. After the show's premiere, Cohn forbade her from continuing, saying she'd be in breach of contract if she continued. Rita was ready to tell Cohn to stuff it, but Welles persuaded her not to throw her career away. A month later, Welles and Hayworth married.