Rita Hayworth
One of my favorite actresses (or stars overall) is Rita Hayworth. Love her, love her, love her. The first thing about her that caught my attention (when I was around 16 or so) was her beauty. I remember seeing a photo of her in one of my mom’s books and asking her about the ridiculously beautiful actress. She said she’d find one of her movies on tv soon for us to watch. She did… we did… and I’ve been obsessed with Rita since!
As I said, her beauty is what I first noticed about Rita Hayworth, but after seeing a few of her films, I quickly realized that she was as talented as she was beautiful. Over the years, as I’ve seen so many more of her films, I’m also struck by the fact that she could play any role, any genre, and master anything thrown her way. Comedy, drama, musicals (she was one of the best dancers ever and was the one Fred Astaire named as his favorite dance partner… HIGH praise from a man who danced with the best)… there isn’t anything this lady couldn’t do.
The pictures here are promotional photos for Rita’s 1957 film Fire Down Below. I rewatched this film recently and something else occurred to me about this lovely actress – she seemed to heighten the charisma and screen presence of everyone around her. It’s almost as though they knew they were sharing a screen with an icon and stepped their game up to the highest notch possible.
Not that any of her co-stars needed to step up their game, mind you… I just personally think she made the great ones even better.
You can find the Fire Down Below dvd on Amazon (link to Amazon) or watch it on Prime Video: Fire Down Below on Prime Video (Amazon link).
Rita Hayworth