People talk a lot about the way that Rita Hayworth looked. She was the Hollywood “love goddess,” with a sensational figure, a dazzling smile, and hair that fell in long, auburn waves. The pinup so iconic that her posters were used as avatars of escapist fantasy in Bicycle Thieves (1948), and as a cover-up for a more literal escape in Stephen King’s jailbreak novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
The bombshell so voluptuous they pasted her image onto an actual atom bomb. What people don’t talk about enough is what she did on-screen, in front of the camera, to create that effect. That’s partly because we have been told that Rita Hayworth was a fabrication, made by other hands.
Those hands belonged to the father who made her his dance partner when she was still a schoolgirl; the Svengali-like first husband, Eddie Judson, who pushed her into the movies; and to Harry Cohn, who ruled over her career, her image, and more at Columbia. Perhaps also to Orson Welles, her second husband and one-time director, or to Fred Astaire, who said she was his best dance partner in the movies.
Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of Rita Hayworth through Robert Coburn’s lens in the 1940s and 1950s.
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Affair in Trinidad, 1952 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Affair in Trinidad, 1952 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Gilda, 1946 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Gilda, 1946 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Gilda, 1946 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Gilda, 1946 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Gilda, 1946 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Gilda, 1946 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from Gilda, 1946 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn from The Lady from Shanghai, 1947 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn, 1952 |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth by Robert Coburn |
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| Rita Hayworth from Cover Girl by Robert Coburn, 1944 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Cover Girl by Robert Coburn, 1944 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Cover Girl by Robert Coburn, 1944 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Cover Girl by Robert Coburn, 1944 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Cover Girl by Robert Coburn, 1944 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Cover Girl by Robert Coburn, 1944 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Cover Girl by Robert Coburn, 1944 |
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| Rita Hayworth from My Gal Sal by Robert Coburn, 1942 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Salome by Robert Coburn, 1953 |
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| Rita Hayworth from The Loves of Carmen by Robert Coburn, 1948 |
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| Rita Hayworth from Tonight and Every Night by Robert Coburn, 1940 |
Here's an amusing story while Rita was filming The Wrath Of God (1972, MGM) One night during production when the film company was in Mexico City, publicist Tom Miller dined out with Rita Hayworth. When they got back to her hotel, there was much excitement. The Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards were being presented in the large convention hall in the hotel. Rita was very much excited, "Let's go!" Rita said. Miller replied, "But Rita, we don't have an invitation!" She looked back at him and said, "But, I am Rita Hayworth!" And Miller said, "So you are." He spoke to someone at the door, who excitedly ran up to the front of the room and whispered to the MC, who announced to the crowd the presence of a surprise guest. And she went up on the stage to a standing ovation.
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