If This Was Happiness

A Biography of Rita Hayworth

By: Barbara Leaming

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Rita Hayworth was the epitome of 1940s glamour. A legendary "Love Goddess", she was a huge box-office star, and her sultry beauty and sensational figure made her into one of Hollywood's greatest sex-symbols: a pin-up so incendiary that GIs pasted it on to the first atom bomb ever detonated.

Yet behind the smoldering image lay a tragic secret that wrecked her private life. A pathologically shy child, she was thrust at an early age into a sordid limelight as her vaudevillian father's dancing partner, and suffered sexual and physical abuse at his hands. A desperate need for protection led her into five marriages, including nuptials with Orson Welles and Prince Aly Khan. All of them resulted in exploitation and disaster, as did affairs with some of the world's most glamorous men.

©1989 Barbara Leaming (P)1996 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Hayworth fans will learn much from this biography by the author of Orson Welles. The surprising story of the acutely shy Margarita Carmen Cansino, who was dubbed the 'Love Goddess', contains more melodrama than most romance novels." (Publishers Weekly)

Love the golden era stars

Well told with a sad end that lots of families can relate to. I would recommend

Exciting yet Sad

A true definition of the meaning, "All that glitters is not gold!" Entertaining and informative about the so - called glamour days of Hollywood!

Fabulous!

Love it! Haven't read a bad Leaning book yet!
The narrator was perfect for this story.

Great read but very sad.

If you are looking for a happy-go-lucky story with a happy ending, this is not the book for you. It was a very interesting read, though. I liked how the author explained Rita's psychological reasons for doing things, due to things that had happened in her life.

Sad story of a sad life.

This book as Rita life was very sad. It is sad that she never really found true love and even if she did could not believe it was. I found the book interesting and easy to listen to.

Excellent

Enjoyed this very much. From the first Chapter I didn’t want to stop listening. Worth the time.

So much detail

So much detail in this story. Felt like the only thing not discussed were bathroom habits. I can see the enormous efforts expended to craft this into a highly defined explanation of one person's trail through this life. Certainly it provides pre-birth to Rita's end. It makes the reader recognize how many stages to life there really are and how they can affect each other.

Beauty, money, fame... none of these mean anything if you can't find a deep meaning in life. It's hard to read about someone so ill-fated, but reminds one to find that meaning or face a similar, potentially very full while also empty life.

Rita Hayworth a life worth reading about….

I heard of Rita Hayworth from my mom…one of her favorite movie stars of the forties. This is one of the truly gifted movie stars of that era. It was fascinating to hear of her insecurities, and how she endured the feelings of not feeling loved. One sometimes assumes these stars have it all when actually they suffer the same feelings of loneliness, and abandonment that we all do. Being a movie star isn’t always the glamorous life we think it is…Rita’s life story is worth listening to, and one I found quite interesting! Very well narrated too.

Sad Life for Such a Troubled Person

This was a really good book. It was well written and narrated. Her life had so much sadness in it. and to not know really WHY some things were so bad just added to her suffering.
I didn't really know much about her, but this book seemed to be quite thorough. It was easy to listen to, for me. Very good job.

In-depth study

much better than the usual hollywood biography.