Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, You Were Never Lovelier
Rita Hayworth has been one of my absolute favorite actresses for as long as I can remember. I remember being very, very young and walking through the living room and saw what looked like a princess from one of my storybooks come to life. I sat and watched her with my mom. While I’d give just about anything to be able to sit and watch anything with my mom again, some things haven’t changed – I still think of Rita as a fairytale princess that came to life – if only for a brief time, before leaving us.
The first Rita Hayworth film I saw (the one I watched with my mom) was You Were Never Lovelier (1942) and, to this day, I don’t know why Gilda is so much more popular than this one. Granted, Gilda is an extraordinary movie… but so is You Were Never Lovelier.
Truth be told, though, I am absolutely wild about just about every Rita Hayworth movie. The Lady from Shanghai and The Loves of Carmen aren’t high on my list, but Rita’s in them… and that’s good enough for me!
If you’ve never seen You Were Never Lovelier (link to the dvd on Amazon), I hope you’ll find it and watch it soon. If you HAVE seen it, watch it again! Each time I do, I love it even more.