“A girl is…well, a girl. It’s nice to be told you’re successful at it.” – Rita Hayworth
Quote source: Rita Hayworth: A Photographic Retrospective by Caren Roberts-Frenzel.
Rita Hayworth, poolside at the Ambassador Hotel, in 1936. At the time this photo was taken, she had signed with Fox as Rita Cansino (her birth name being Margarita Carmen Cansino).
Girls Can Play (1937). With Jacqueline Wells, Charles Quigley and George McKay.
Only Angels Have Wings (1939). With Jean Arthur and Cary Grant.
“I had to be sold to the public just like a breakfast cereal or a real estate development or something new in ladies’ wear.” — Rita Hayworth
Source: James Reid (1941)
Photographer: Whitey Schaeffer (1941)
A larger-than-life firework on the beach–and I’m not just talking about Rita Hayworth.
“I think all women have a certain elegance about them which is destroyed when they take off their clothes.” — Rita Hayworth
Photo: George Hurrell (1941)
“Rita Hayworth Visits on Bivouac.”Artist: George Samerjan (1915-2005). Egg tempura on Bristol board. 10″ x 15.” Samerjan wrote about a surprise visit while he was stationed at Camp Berkeley, Texas, in 1942:
“We were training and living in the field with none of the amenities of the base and missing the loving memories of home. Then, out of nowhere, stepped Rita Hayworth – the most famous pin-up of all time! In an instant, we felt as though ‘home’ had come to us and we were not forgotten.”
“Apparently, the way to a girl’s heart is to saw her in half.” – Victor Mature, after she dumped him for Orson Welles. Hayworth and Welles [pictured, here, in 1943] had been working together on a charity magic act at the time.
“I never really thought of myself as a sex goddess; I felt I was more a comedian who could dance.” – Rita Hayworth
“Rita Hayworth. She was Columbia Pictures. Nobody as beautiful, as famous as she. Cohn made her a star and she made Columbia a star.” — Fabiano Canosa, movie producer, in 1983
Photo: Gilda (1946)
“I never made nude movies. I didn’t have to do that. I danced. I was provocative, I guess, in some things. But I was not completely exposed.” — Rita Hayworth
Source: 1969
Photographer: Robert Coburn (1946)
Artist: Bob Hickey. Pastel, 15 x 11 ¾ inches.
“I haven’t had everything from life. I’ve had too much.” — Rita Hayworth
“No one can be Gilda 24 hours a day.” — Rita Hayworth
“We are all tied to our destiny and there is no way we can liberate ourselves.” — Rita Hayworth
“Let me tell you something. I never resented the image. But for a long time it worried me. I used to think, is this all I’m ever going to be?” — Rita Hayworth
Source: Peter Evans (1963)
Photo: Ned Scott (1947)
“See, Orson was trying something new with me, but Harry Cohn wanted The Image – The Image he was gonna make me till I was 90! ‘The Lady From Shanghai was a very good picture. So what does Harry Cohn say when he sees it? ‘He’s ruined you – he cut your hair off!'” — Rita Hayworth
“I had reached the end of my capacity to feel such total failure with her. I had done everything I could think of and I didn’t seem to be able to bring her anything but agony.” – Orson Welles explaining his decision to give up on his marriage to Hayworth. Of course, she also had her reasons for giving up on him, too.
Photo: The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
“Sometimes when I find myself getting impatient, I just remember the times I cried my eyes out because nobody wanted to take my picture at the Trocadero.” – Rita Hayworth
The Loves of Carmen (1948). With Glenn Ford.
Kirk Douglas and Rita Hayworth dancing at Ciro’s (8433 Sunset Blvd.), c. 1952.
LAPL: 00097058
Salome (1953)
“I can tell you my non-favorites, honey. Certainly ‘Salome’ and her stupid seven veils! Or those ‘happy remakes’ I hadda do like ‘Sadie Thompson.’ Oh boy!” — Rita Hayworth
