|
|
 |
A radiant Rita as we all remember her, at the peak of her legendary career.
At left is Rita's obituary from the New York Times. The first paragraph reads: "Rita Hayworth, the legendary Hollywood beauty who rose to international fame in the 1940's and 1950's died Thursday night, of Alzheimer's disease, in her Central Park West apartment in Manhattan. She was 68 years old." As we all know, Rita was a screen beauty who became one of the greatest of all Hollywood legends. Her daughter, Princess Yasmin, said in the June 1, 1987 issue of People Magazine, "She was a beautiful, talented, warm-hearted woman who had the greatest sense of humor," and in an interview in 1997, she said Rita "loved her career as an actress. She devoted herself completely to it and worked hard at it, particularly when in came to dancing" In 1981, Yasmin brought her sick mother to live with her in New York. Rita's behavior in the years before being diagnosed was unpredictable. People mistakenly attributed her erratic behavior to alcoholism. It's sad to hear the stories about the effects the disease was having on her in later years. Yasmin said "She claimed to hear things in the Beverly Hills house and would insist someone was breaking and entering. No one could convince her that nothing was wrong, and she would call for the police." In the end none of the triumphs or heartache of the past were even a memory in Rita's ravaged mind. |
 |
 |
