Barbara Leaming's biography of actress Rita Hayworth is well written, but utterly depressing.
Thrust into show business at 12 as her father's dancing partner, the young Margarita Cansino was placed in the role of family wage-earner, denied schooling, and dragged through various border-town dives in erotically-charged performances which eventually drew the attention of Hollywood.
Hayworth (the name was changed when she began acting) allegedly confessed years later to husband Orson Welles that her father sexually abused her during this period. Certainly the family history which can be confirmed, and Hayworth's own lifelong pattern of attracting partners (and husbands) who exploited and controlled her, are all textbook examples of adult behavior by a childhood sexual abuse survivor.
At any rate, the story then becomes a familiar, if dreary, one -- groomed for stardom, tagged "The Love Goddess" after an iconic cheesecake photo became wildly popular with WWII era GIs, Hayworth embarked on a series of disastrous affairs and marriages, most of which resulted with the man in her life taking control of her career, squandering her money, and -- frequently -- abusing her physically.
Ultimately, she was stricken with what is now known as Early-Onset Alzheimers, and died at 68 after decades of heartbreaking and often public decline.
Thrust into show business at 12 as her father's dancing partner, the young Margarita Cansino was placed in the role of family wage-earner, denied schooling, and dragged through various border-town dives in erotically-charged performances which eventually drew the attention of Hollywood.
Hayworth (the name was changed when she began acting) allegedly confessed years later to husband Orson Welles that her father sexually abused her during this period. Certainly the family history which can be confirmed, and Hayworth's own lifelong pattern of attracting partners (and husbands) who exploited and controlled her, are all textbook examples of adult behavior by a childhood sexual abuse survivor.
At any rate, the story then becomes a familiar, if dreary, one -- groomed for stardom, tagged "The Love Goddess" after an iconic cheesecake photo became wildly popular with WWII era GIs, Hayworth embarked on a series of disastrous affairs and marriages, most of which resulted with the man in her life taking control of her career, squandering her money, and -- frequently -- abusing her physically.
Ultimately, she was stricken with what is now known as Early-Onset Alzheimers, and died at 68 after decades of heartbreaking and often public decline.
