Rita Hayworth
BORN: 10/17/1918, New York, NY
DIED: 5/14/1987
INDUCTED: 2013, 72-percent majority
Rita Hayworth grew up in a family of dancers, and grew into Hollywood stardom in the years around World War II. While any dancer can face a challenge keeping hair in line, executives at Columbia Pictures and one of Hayworth's husbands came up with a trick to ensure strong control. Years of electrolysis raised her hairline, to keep her forehead clear.
That treatment combined with pincurls to give Hayworth "sex symbol" hair many young
women of the era wanted to copy. It also provided plenty of room for her style to move and bounce, during movie dance
routines with Fred Astaire. Teasing at the crown was common at the time, which added to the hair's overall strength. At
times the curl seemed to be the only thing keeping Hayworth's hair out of her eyes -- but it held reliably.
Hayworth continued to act in her later years, and only then did wind seem to push
her more common-looking hair across her eyes. Yet her film track record is what Hair Fans recall and admire most. One
supporter recalled a scene from The Shawshank Redemption where prison inmates watch a classic Hayworth movie -- and
when she flips her hair perfectly, the group hollers with delight. That scene proves great awe-inspiring hairstyles have been
around far beyond the 21st century.
FOR DETAILS ABOUT HAYWORTH'S ELECROLYSIS: An interview with her hairdresser
FOR A COLLECTION OF PICTURES AND VIDEOS: A Hayworth blog
FOR HAYWORTH'S SCENE IN "THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION": A YouTube clip (contains strong language)
© 2013 Super-Hair.Net, All Rights Reserved.
