For Lovely Rita

Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles in 1945.

(Source: forlovelyritahayworth)

Lenore Kipp, Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, 1940s

Rita Hayworth in The Lady From Shanghai (1947).   (submitted to forlovelyritahayworth.tumblr.com by: autotech.usa@hotmail.com)

Rita in promotional shot for The lady from Shanghai (1947).

(Source: forlovelyritahayworth)

The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

(Source: forlovelyritahayworth)

Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles, c. 1945.

(Source: forlovelyritahayworth)

Dearest Angel Girl:

…I suppose most of us are lonely in this big world, but we must fall tremendously in love to find it out. The cure is the discovery of our need for company — I mean company in the very special sense we’ve come to understand since we happened to each other — you and I. The pleasures of human experience are emptied away without that companionship — now that I’ve known it; without it joy is just an unendurable as sorrow. You are my life — my very life. Never imagine your hope approximates what you are to me. Beautiful, precious little baby — hurry up the sun! — make the days shorter till we meet. I love you, that’s all there is to it.

Your boy,

Orson

Dearest Baby:

I knew it would be lonely — but this is even lonelier that I let myself fear …I’m too blue for anything but the sonorous repetition of my love for you – Oh how much there is of it …I worked ’till midnight …and what happened to me …Ms. Parsons (NY gossip columnist) sat at a table by the door so I made Lennie (Leonard Lyons – columnist for The N.Y. Post) write an avadavat to my innocence – in case she prints I’m out on the town without you.

- Excerpts from letters by Orson Welles to Rita Hayworth (x)

(Source: forlovelyritahayworth)

I told you, you know nothing about wickedness.

- The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

Rita Hayworth and daughter Rebecca Welles behind the scenes of The Lady From Shanghai, c. 1947.

Rita’s surprise elopement in the middle of shooting Cover Girl to marry Orson Welles.The press had a field day describing it as the marriage of Beauty and the Brain. (September 9, 1943.)

According to co-star Lee Bowman:

‘Rita arrived on the set the day we were shooting the film’s wedding scene. She looked very lovely sitting there in her wedding dress while the crew were setting up. Rita sat there with her hands in her lap, her eyes very big and a lovely big pussy smile on her face. When any of us asked, “What is it, Rita?” she’d just shake her head and say, “Mmm, I’ve got a secret.” Wouldn’t say anything else. The first we knew what it was came during the lunch break when somebody brought us the papers with the headlines.’

Rita and Orson, c. 1945.

Rita Hayworth as Elsa Bannister in Orson Welles’ The Lady From Shanghai (1947).

Rita Hayworth : The Actress

(Source: forlovelyritahayworth)

unafodenss:

“That’s one of the dearest, sweetest women that ever lived… I was in, uh, South America and I saw that picture and vowed that, uh, I was gonna see that girl. It was awfully hard to get her on the phone… We were a long time together. I think, I was lucky enough to be with her longer than any of the other men in her life. And uh, she is a dear person, she was a wonderful wife and an extraordinary girl in every way.”  -Orson Welles

(on why she divorced Orson) “I can’t take his genius anymore.” -Rita Hayworth

Top 50 Real Life Pairings | Orson Welles & Rita Hayworth
Time together: 1943 - 1948