Rita Hayworth, Hollywood’s celebrated “Love Goddess,” was at the height of her fame in 1946 when she starred as Gilda, the dangerously alluring femme fatale who would define her legacy. The role, directed by Charles Vidor, showcased a type of femininity that was both magnetic and unsettling, and it cemented her status as one of the most iconic stars of the era. Yet behind the carefully crafted image, the glamour, and the pin-up photographs that adorned the lockers of countless soldiers, was a life marked by exploitation, troubled marriages, and a devastating final chapter that the public would not fully understand until decades later. She was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Queens, New York, into a family of professional dancers.

Her father, a dancer and later a choreographer for Hollywood films, was a dominant presence in her life. As vaudeville declined, the family relocated to Los Angeles when Rita was nine, where she began acting and dance lessons. She attended the Carthay School and appeared in school plays, but her own ambitions were soon subsumed by her father’s career. She became his dance partner, performing as one of the “Cansino Dancers” up to twenty times a week.

Her talent and striking appearance eventually caught the attention of Fox Film executives while she was performing in Agua Caliente, Mexico. At sixteen, she was invited to begin her film career. Her screen debut came with her family in La Fiesta in 1932, but her first solo film was Dante’s Inferno, where she was billed as Rita Cansino. While the film was not a major success, it impressed Fox executives enough to offer her a one-year contract.

During that year, she appeared in small, often ethnic roles in films such as Charlie Chan in Egypt, Under the Pampas Moon, Paddy O’Day, and Human Cargo. The contract was not renewed, and she was forced to take minor roles as Mexican or Indian girls for very low pay. The turnaround came when she married Edward C. Judson at eighteen.

Judson became her business manager and aggressively remade her image. He arranged for electrolysis to soften her hairline and changed her name to Rita Hayworth. The transformation quickly drew public attention and led to a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures. Though she initially received small roles in low-budget films, her breakthrough arrived in 1939 with Only Angels Have Wings, in which she played an unfaithful wife opposite Cary Grant.

She continued to impress audiences in The Strawberry Blonde with James Cagney and Blood and Sand with Tyrone Power, both in 1941. Her defining moment came with You’ll Never Get Rich in 1941, where she starred opposite Fred Astaire, who later called her his favorite dance partner. The film showcased her dancing abilities and earned her the title of “The Great American Love Goddess” from Life magazine. She appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

A string of successes followed, including My Gal Sal, Tales of Manhattan, and You Were Never Lovelier, her second and final film with Astaire. While her career flourished, her personal life was unraveling. Her marriage to Judson ended in divorce in 1942. That same year, she married the celebrated actor, director, and screenwriter Orson Welles.

The couple had a daughter, Rebecca, and for a time, Hayworth enjoyed both personal and professional success. In 1944, she starred opposite Gene Kelly in Cover Girl. A provocative photograph of her in black lace and satin became an iconic image for American soldiers during World War II. Her popularity continued to rise with films like Tonight and Every Night in 1945 and the 1946 Gilda, a role that shocked more conservative audiences and ultimately became her most famous performance.

Another film from this period, Down to Earth, received mixed reviews but was later included in a time capsule for the twentieth century. In 1948, Hayworth starred in The Lady from Shanghai, directed by her husband, Orson Welles. Despite appearances, the film marked the end of their relationship. Hayworth was in the midst of divorce proceedings from Welles during the filming.

After the release of The Loves of Carmen in 1948, she married Prince Aly Khan, her third husband. The scandal surrounding their affair and marriage while she was pregnant with their daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, caused a decline in her popularity. The marriage ended in 1953, and her career did not recover. She continued to work, appearing in Affair in Trinidad, Salome, and Miss Sadie Thompson in the early 1950s.

In 1953, she married singer Dick Haymes. The marriage was unsuccessful; he was physically abusive and attempted to use her fame to revive his own career. They divorced in 1955. Afterward, Hayworth appeared in Fire Down Below in 1957 and had a supporting role in Pal Joey opposite Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak.

In 1958, her career began to wane despite success with Separate Tables. That same year, she married for the fifth time. That marriage also ended in divorce in 1961. She had lost faith in finding a happy and successful relationship, believing that men were one of the greatest problems in her life.

According to her biographer Barbara Leaming, Hayworth’s troubled relationship with her abusive father may have been the root of her difficulties with men. The source states that her father reportedly raped her in the afternoons and danced with her at night. Despite her personal struggles, she continued to work in films, including They Came to Cordura in 1959, The Poppy Is Also a Flower in 1967, I Bastardi in 1968, The Naked Zoo in 1971, and The Wrath of God in 1972. In 1971, she attempted to perform on stage but could not because she was unable to remember her lines.

Around that time, people began to realize that something was seriously wrong with her. Alzheimer’s disease was not well understood then, and she received a variety of diagnoses for her condition. In 1981, she was declared incapable of caring for herself. Her daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, took over her care until her death on May 14, 1987.

Hayworth had been out of the public eye for nearly two decades. The public was deeply affected by her death. She would always be remembered as an icon of American beauty.