Hayworth spent a lot of her career dodging the control of both her husbands and film studios who tried to dictate her career. Tragically, nearly all of her relationships fell apart due to violence against her violence that women continue to face, but that was extremely prevalent in Hayworth's lifetime. She was married and divorced five times between 19-just twenty-four years' time. Hayworth and many of her female peers were not strangers to this dominant behavior. Post-World War II life was filled with a bursting sense of nationalism and the men who had returned home were overflowing with masculinity and domination over their female counterparts. The unfortunate truth was that while women were seeping into the workforce, the lingering stigma continued to effect them. Thus, Hayworth underwent hairline electrolysis, dyed her hair red, and took her mother's maiden name in order to transform into the all-American actress we know her as today.
Judson, convinced her to change her name and appearance to fit the bill of what a Hollywood actress "should look like". Studio execs and even Hayworth's first husband, Edward C. Hayworth, in fact, was half-Spanish, born Margarita Carmen Cansino early in her career, she got a few gigs as an "ethnic" extra in films such as Dante's Inferno (1935). 1930s Hollywood had little to no room for "exotic" (read: not white) actors, and actresses like Rita were certainly made aware of this fact. Women, like Hayworth, who managed to succeed on camera did not do so without sacrifice. Women who had previously not worked were now taking on more complex jobs and working in factories, but changes in how females were viewed (and how they viewed themselves) didn't just end there. While men were shipped off to fight in World War II, women took their places at home. The amount of women in the workforce increased upwards of 35 percent throughout the 1940s, with figures like Eleanor Roosevelt leading the way. Hollywood was thriving and, most importantly, women began to thrive as well. America had blossomed into its role as the centerpiece of cinema, peaking in 1939 with The Wizard of Oz, and spilling over to kick off the '40s with Gone with the Wind (1940). The roughly thirty year chapter between 19 is the period dotingly referred to as the Golden Age of Hollywood.
She struggled so that she could succeed, and her resilience, strong sexuality, and tendency to outwardly disagree with her superiors are what made her such a staple during the Golden Age of Hollywood. By 1940, for example, there were 3,800 stories and 12,000 photos of Rita Hayworth already in circulation.ĭespite her constant uphill battles off camera, Rita Hayworth remained glamorous and warm in the spotlight. Women like Hayworth and their stories demonstrate the difficulties they faced throughout their careers, and how they became emblems of female power. Postwar culture was filled with women eager to be more involved in society, but with slim opportunity to do so. Hayworth was ostensibly glamorous but covertly dark, like many women of her time. On the surface, Rita Hayworth was the definition of Hollywood magic.īut the glamour we see on-screen and the lives that exist off-screen are very different. The press called her "The Love Goddess." Her daughter is an actual princess. Stephen King fittingly used her desirable image as the centerpiece in his short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. A photo symbolic of her "bombshell" status was put on an atomic bomb and (much to her dismay) named Gilda in her honor. She was a trained and talented dancer with a thin, supple body to match. Hayworth remains the epitome of a sexual icon, appearing as a top pin-up girl during World War II. Furthermore, very few have been forced to pay as big a price as Hayworth paid for her success. There has not been one actress, past or present, to fully encompass Hollywood glamour like Rita Hayworth did.
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