They Moved Her Hairline, Changed Her Name, and Erased Her Identity: Rita Hayworth (Documentary)

In 1937, Columbia Pictures took an 18-year-old dancer named Margarita Carmen Cansino and physically rebuilt her: roughly 3 years of weekly electrolysis sessions moved her hairline back nearly an inch, her dark hair was dyed flaming red, and her Spanish surname was replaced with her mother's maiden name. The product was Rita Hayworth. By the end of World War II, more than 5 million copies of her 1941 Life magazine pinup had been sold, and in 1946 her photograph was taped to the 4th atomic bomb ever detonated, nicknamed Gilda after her most famous role. At her peak she earned $250,000 a year plus 50% of her films' profits, yet she dissolved her own production company in 1954 to pay debts. She married 5 times, and every marriage ended in divorce. For 20 years the world watched her decline and called it alcoholism. The truth, diagnosed in 1980, was something no one had even thought to look for. In this video, we talk about the dark truth behind the Rita Hayworth story, including the Dancing Cansinos and the Tijuana casino years, the Fox contract that went nowhere, the electrolysis and the name change, the salesman husband Edward Judson, Harry Cohn and the bugged dressing room, the 5 million pinups, Gilda and the glove, the atomic bomb that carried her face, the marriage to Orson Welles, the Aly Khan fairy tale and the Vallauris wedding, Dick Haymes and the Cocoanut Grove, the replacement by Kim Novak, the Heathrow photographs of 1976, the Alzheimer's diagnosis that rewrote her whole story, and the daughter who turned her mother's invented name into a force for medical research. Hit subscribe to never miss a video! Drop a comment with where you're watching from and what you think of this story. Share this anywhere — Facebook, Reddit, or even your group chats. You're the reason this channel exists. #RitaHayworth #Gilda #20thCenturyWomen #OldHollywood #ClassicHollywood #GoldenAgeOfHollywood #Documentary #HistoryDocumentary #HollywoodHistory #StudioSystem #FilmNoir #OrsonWelles #AlyKhan #HarryCohn #ColumbiaPictures #WomensHistory #Alzheimers #PinUp #1940s #VintageHollywood #ClassicMovies #HollywoodScandal