Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Cansino. The studio changed her name, dyed her hair, raised her hairline with electrolysis, and manufactured a persona so completely that the woman inside disappeared. “Every man I knew fell in love with Gilda,” she said, “and woke up with me.” The love goddess was an invention, and the inventor was never credited.

This episode traces Hayworth from her childhood dancing in her father’s nightclub act through the studio transformation, Gilda, her marriages to Orson Welles and Prince Aly Khan, and the Alzheimer’s disease that ended her life.

• The studio changed her name from Margarita Cansino, dyed her hair red, and altered her hairline with painful electrolysis treatments
• Gilda made her the most famous woman in America, but she felt trapped by the character for the rest of her career
• She was married five times, including to Orson Welles and Prince Aly Khan
• She was one of the first major public figures to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which was initially mistaken for alcoholism