Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's leading sex symbols.Margarita Carmen Cansino, better known as Rita Hayworth, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Spanish flamenco dancer Eduardo Cansino (Sr.) and English/Irish-American Ziegfeld girl Volga Hayworth.Hayworth was on stage by the age of six as a member of The Cansinos, a famous family of Spanish dancers working in vaudeville. Also, her father had performed in a dancing duo with his sister, and later revived the duo with his daughter Rita as his dancing partner, performing in nightclubs in California and the Foreign Club in Tijuana, Mexico. At age sixteen, she attracted the attention of film producers as part of "The Dancing Cansinos" and was signed by Fox Studios in 1935.
Page was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the second child of Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle. During Bettie's early years, the Page family traveled around the country in search of economic stability.[2] At a tender age, Bettie had to face the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings. Her parents divorced when Betty was 10 years old. Following the divorce, Page and her sister lived in an orphanage for a year. During this time, Bettie's mother worked two jobs, one as a hairdresser during the day and washed laundry at night.[2] As a teenager, Bettie and her sisters tried different makeup styles and hairdos imitating their favorite movie stars. Bettie also learned to sew. These skills proved useful years later for her pin-up photography when Bettie did her own makeup and hair and made her own bikinis and costumes. A strong student and debate team member at Hume-Fogg High School, Bettie was voted "Most Likely to Succeed."As the Salutatorian of her class, on June 6, 1940, Bettie Page graduated from high school with a trust fund of $10,000 and enrolled at George Peabody College with the intention of becoming a teacher. However, the next fall she began studying acting, hoping to become a movie star. At the same time, she began her first job, typing for author Alfred Leland Crab. Page graduated from Peabody with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944. In 1943, she married Billy Neal (with whom she had attended high school) shortly before he left for active duty in World War II. For the next few years, Bettie moved from San Francisco to Nashville to Miami and to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where she felt a special affinity with the country and its culture. In November 1947, while back in the United States, Bettie filed for divorce from Neal.
