In this photograph colorized by Steve Foster, Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles wave from their plane, the Rita Hayworth Special as they depart for Acapulco. Hayworth’s hair has been died platinum blonde and cut short for their work on the film The Lady From Shanghai.
Colorized by Steve Foster.
Before Hayworth and Welles began their turbulent marriage, they had both been recently married and divorced. Hayworth married Edward C. Judson in 1937 when she was 18. Judson, an oilman turned promoter, was more than twice her age. That marriage didn’t last though, and she filed for divorce from him on February 24, 1942.
He Saw A Picture Of Her
Orson Welles married Virginia Nicholson, a Chicago-born actress and socialite on November 14, 1934. They separated in December 1939 and divorced on February 1, 1940. In 1941, he was working on The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and, after seeing a picture of Hayworth, who was not only an actress, but also a pinup model, decided to call Hayworth to ask her out on a date. Although she refused, she eventually relented and met him for dinner.
A Secret Wedding
Welles and Hayworth with best man Joseph Cotten, 1943. Source: (Wikipedia).
Since they were both in entertainment, they began working together eventually; she appeared as a guest on his radio program, The Mercury Theater on the Air and they entertained the American troops with a magic act. On September 7, 1943, while Hayworth was working on the film Cover Girl, she headed to Las Vegas with Welles, and Hayworth married Welles in a secret ceremony. They became darlings of the press, who dubbed the couple “The Beauty and the Brain.” On December 17, 1944, their daughter Rebecca was born.
A Turbulent Marriage
Source: (Classic Movie Favorites).
Hayworth started working on
Gilda (1946), which w, although she had been in many films throughout her life, was her first major film role and the one she was best known for and her career was doing well. However, things at home were not great. Although he did not believe Hayworth was an alcoholic, he did note that she had a drinking problem; she also flew into rages which Welles said was never at him, but “always at Harry Cohn or her father or her mother or her brother. She would break all the furniture and she'd get in a car and I'd have to get in the car and try to control her. She'd drive up in the hills suicidally.” To add to the challenges in their marriage, Welles was a moody man who was obsessed with his work. As he became more distant, Hayworth suspected he was cheating on her, and he was, notably with Judy Garland, although there were other actresses as well as prostitutes. Hayworth decided to leave him, but money brought them back together for a time.
Working Together Before Their Divorce
Welles was not good with money, and had many unfinished projects, some of which he had financed himself and needed an income, and Hayworth was also struggling financially. So, the two decided to work on a film together, The Lady From Shanghai (1947). For the film, Welles had Hayworth cut her long auburn hair and dye it platinum blonde. While the movie may have helped them both financially, but it did not save their marriage, and on November 10, 1947, they divorced.
Life After Divorce
After the divorce, Hayworth married three more times beginning with Prince Aly Khan in 1948, with whom she had a daughter. After their divorce, which ended in a bitter custody battle, her next two marriages were brief. She was also coping with worsening problems with alcohol. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1981. Welles also remarried, marrying actress Paola Mori in 1955, with whom he had a daughter. They separated but did not divorce, and Welles began a personal and professional relationship with actress Oja Kodar in 1966, and they lived together for part of the last 20 years of his life.
Before he died, Welles called Hayworth "one of the dearest and sweetest women that ever lived … and we were a long time together—I was lucky enough to have been with her longer than any of the other men in her life." On October 10, 1985, Welles died from a heart attack. Hayworth’s death followed shortly after May 14, 1987 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
