Rita Hayworth

Born: October 17 1918
Where: New York, USA
Died: May 14 1987

The World War Two pin-up and former dancer is probably best known for her role as the vulnerable femme fatale in Hitchcock's The Lady from Shanghai.

She began dancing professionally with her father from childhood and in 1935 she was "discovered" and made her Hollywood debut the same year.

She appeared in mostly small parts in some 25 films before giving her first substantial performance in Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings in 1939).

In the following decade she became one of Hollywood's great stars, dubbed the "Love Goddess", a genuinely talented actress and dancer as well as a celebrated forces sweetheart.

Hayworth played a femme fatale in the memorable Gilda in 1946 and delivered a superbly ruthless variation on the same theme in second husband Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai.

Most of her later films were unexceptional, though both Pal Joey and, particularly, "Separate Tables demonstrated a mature talent.

Hayworth died of Alzheimer's disease at age 68 and for the last six years of her life was cared for by Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, her daughter by third husband, international playboy, Prince Aly Khan.