Rita Hayworth Her Long Road to Fame

AFTER YEARS OF DOMINATION BY THE MEN IN HER LIFE, SHE FOUND THE COURAGE TO STAND ON HER OWN FEET

- LOUISE A. BARILE

When Margarita Cansino entered the world on Oct. 17, 1918, her father wasn't happy. "I was terribly disappointed," said dancer Eduardo Cansino. "I had wanted a boy. What could I do with a girl?"

As Rita Hayworth, she would become a favorite pinup of soldiers during World War II and one of the most popular actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age, with films including Cover Girl, My Gal Sal and Gilda. To get there, she endured a tragic childhood and the grooming of several unscrupulous men. "It's easy to say that she was a victim," Adrienne McLean, author of Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardom, tells Closer. "But she had a lot more strength than we like to think she had."

She needed it. Eduardo, who had immigrated to the United States from Spain to make his fortune, enrolled his daughter in dance classes at age 3. "As soon as I could stand on my own feet, I was given dance lessons," said Rita, whose mother, Volga Hayworth, had been a Ziegfeld Follies performer. Before long, Rita was dancing onstage with her parents. Though she had two younger brothers, it was a lonely life. "Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse," Rita said.