Quendrith Johnson

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

She was born in the Year of the Other Pandemic, 1918, The Spanish Flu, and Margarita Carmen Cansino turned out to be fever-inducing herself for servicemen around the planet with her WWII status as a pin-up. But not until they dyed her locks, anglicized her name, and tried to steal her very Latin soul. While that is hyperbolic, by the 1946 film GILDA, when she sashays onto a ballroom floor in a five-alarm, form-fitting dress, Margarita becomes Rita Hayworth beyond the “bombshell,” The Screen Legend.

In this film her husband Orson Welles was allegedly in a near-constant jealous rage for the former half of the Dancing Casinos, her storied past as a club dancer throughout Mexico with her talented mentor father.

The next year, 1947, Welles would, as some say, exact his revenge on Rita with THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, where he plays opposite his wife, whom he’d made a gorgeous but deceitful femme fatale. He literally destroys his then-wife in a horrid "hall of mirrors" takedown. Rita Haworth took a powder and walked on Hollywood’s Boy Wonder, of CITIZEN KANE fame,  in retribution.

Yes, Rita then turned down Onassis and the Shah of Iran in later life and ended up merely marrying Prince Aly Khan in a ceremony serenaded by Yves Montand, as the lore goes. Yet, GILDA is the sparkling black-and-white goddess that outlived all of Hayworth’s colossal up’s and down’s in real life.

If you think that’s exciting, Goddess of the series “Desperate Housewives”  Eva Longoria has yet another deep dire secret from the #MeToo themed life of this screen siren, who most searingly said “They go to bed with Rita Hayworth, and wake up with me.”

Here’s Eva Longoria to give you the inside dope on GILDA’s titular star…

WHAT:  Eva Longoria announces today’s AFI Movie Club selection: GILDA. The film stars Rita Hayworth and appears on AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 SONGS list of the greatest American movie music of all time – and Hayworth appears as #19 on AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 STARS!

DID YOU KNOW? GILDA was originally written as an American gangster film. The more salacious events in the story were threatened by censorship codes, so the location was changed to Buenos Aires.

The film was Hayworth’s first major dramatic role for Columbia and catalyzed her ingenious genesis as a femme fatale. Watch Edward James Olmos talk about Rita Hayworth and GILDA in this exclusive AFI Archive video.                                 

WHERE:     AFI.com/MovieClub   

Now Rita Haworth says… “I Hate You Too, Johnny,”  Sexiest Screenwriting Ever

Your AFI Movie Club

AFI Movie Club is a newly launched free program to raise the nation’s spirits by bringing artists and audiences together – even while we are apart. AFI will shine a spotlight on an iconic movie each day, with special guests announcing select AFI Movies of the Day in short videos posted on AFI.com and social media platforms. Audiences can “gather” at AFI.com/MovieClub to find out how to watch the featured movie of the day with the use of their preexisting streaming service credentials. The daily film selections will be supported by fun facts, family discussion points and exclusive material from the AFI Archive to enrich the viewing experience. Audiences can continue the conversation online using the hashtag #AFIMovieClub. Learn more at AFI.com and follow us on social media at Facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, youtube.com/AFI, twitter.com/AmericanFilm and Instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute.

Put the Blame on Coronavirus, but think of all the great movies to watch. ;)

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