Rita Hayworth

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Actress. Born to Spanish dancer Eduardo Cansino and Volga Hayworth, a Ziegfield Follies showgirl, Rita Hayworth began her career as a dancer in the family act during her adolescence. In the late 1930s, she signed with Columbia studios who urged her to dye her hair auburn and change her name to Rita Hayworth.

In the 1940s she became a leading lady to many popular stars including Gene Kelly, Glenn Ford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Her most popular films to date are "Gilda" (1946), "Lady From Shanghai" (1947), which she co-starred with then husband Orson Welles, "Salome" (1953) and "Separate Tables" (1958) which also starred Burt Lancaster. Soon afterwards, her career came to a standstill and in the 1960s when she began to suffer from early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

Her daughter, Princess Yasmin Khan (Rita Married Aly Khan in 1949, they were divorced 2 years later) would care for her in her later years. It was Rita's death from Alzheimer's that was the catalyst for increased funding and public awareness of the disease