If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth - Hardcover

Leaming, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517079968 ISBN 13: 9780517079966

Publisher: Random House Value Publishing, 1992

Synopsis

A beautiful actress, a gifted dancer, a fiery screen temptress linked to some of the most handsome men of her generation, Rita Hayworth seemed to live the life that dreams are made of. But the reality behind the fantasy was a harsh one. Sexually abused by her father as a young girl, Rita constantly searched for a man to save her, marrying five times. At the age of forty-two, Alzheimer's disease began to ravage her mind, cutting short her career at its peak. A haunting and sympathetic tribute to the talented but insecure beauty who was created, and ultimately destroyed, by the movies.
From the Paperback edition.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Hayworth fans will learn much from this biography by the author of Orson Welles . The surprising story of the acutely shy Margarita Carmen Cansino, who was dubbed "the Love Goddess," contains more melodrama than most romance novels. We follow Hayworth's life from reluctant child performer to incest victim, glamour queen and wife to Orson Welles and Prince Aly Kahn. Some readers will doubtless appreciate the details of the star's sex life and inner thoughts ("as her wedding day approached, Rita grew more anxious"). Yet aside from interviews with Welles, the book is based on secondary sources and information furnished by Hayworth's secretary, publicist, studio hairdresser and makeup man. As her chronicled fights with Columbia Pictures mogul Harry Cohn and court battles over divorce and child custody attest, fame and beauty assure no happy endings. Hayworth, a long-undiagnosed victim of Alzeimer's disease, died at age 68 in 1987. 50,000 first printing; first serial to Cosmopolitan and the Star; BOMC and Time/Life Condensed Books alternates; author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Hayworth made her name in films such as Cover Girl and Gilda . She also attained fame and notoriety through her marriages to Orson Welles, Prince Aly Khan, and Dick Haymes, among others. Finally she became probably the best-known victim of Alzheimer's disease. Leaming, author of well-received biographies of Welles and Roman Polanski, contends that Hayworth was sexually abused by her father. Since both the principals, and Leaming's source, Orson Welles, are all dead, the truth will never be known, but she does make a reasonably convincing case. For information on Hayworth's movies, consult John Kobal's Rita Hayworth (LJ 10/1/78); for Hayworth's life, read Leaming.
- John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0517079968
• ISBN 13: 9780517079966
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 404