Who Was Rita Hayworth?
Originally born Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn, New York, Rita Hayworth was the oldest child of two dancers. Hayworth’s father, Eduardo Cansino, was big in the vaudeville circuit while her mother, Volga Hayworth, performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. Hayworth had talent in her blood, and her parents realized that from a young age. They put her into dance lessons from the time she could walk even though she wasn’t fond of them.
Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
According to those who knew her, Hayworth was always a sweet child, but she never dared to tell her father she didn’t want to take dance classes. She went to class every day taught by her uncle, Angel Cansino, and by her fifth birthday, she was featured in the Cansino family Broadway production. By the time she was eight, Hayworth got a role in La Fiesta, a short film for Warner Bros. Hayworth was gifted, and her father wanted to capitalize on her natural gifts.