Background and career
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films over 38 years. The press nicknamed her "The Love Goddess" during the peak of her fame in the 1940s. She was the second favorite pin-up girl for GIs during World War II, after Betty Grable.
Hayworth is widely known for her performance in the 1946 film Gilda, opposite Glenn Ford, in which she played the femme fatale in her first major dramatic role. She is also known for her performances in Only Angels Have Wings (1939), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Blood and Sand (1941), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Pal Joey (1957), and Separate Tables (1958). Fred Astaire, with whom she made two films, You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942), once called her his favorite dance partner. She also starred in the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly. She is listed as one of the top 25 female motion picture stars of all time in the American Film Institute's survey AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Hayworth received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1645 Vine Street in 1960.
In 1980, Hayworth was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which contributed to her death in 1987 at age 68. The public disclosure and discussion of her illness drew attention to Alzheimer's and helped increase public and private funding for research into the disease.
Hayworth was born as Margarita Carmen Cansino in Manhattan, New York City, the eldest of three children born to dancer parents. It has been speculated by friends that she was Romani, but this has never been confirmed and she referred to herself as "just another dirty-faced Mexican kid". In academic journals, in an article focused on ethnic represenation in Hollywood, she is described as "Latin" and "Spanish-Irish American". Her Spanish-born father Eduardo Cansino was from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a town near Seville, Spain. Her mother, Volga Hayworth, was of Irish and English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. The couple married in 1917. They also had two sons. Her maternal uncle Vinton Hayworth was an actor.
How Rita Hayworth makes money
In 2002, the satin nightgown Hayworth wore in the photo sold for $26,888. In 1947, Hayworth's new contract with Columbia provided a salary of $250,000 plus 50% of films' profits.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (2025-02-04), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
