Eduardo Cansino

Eduardo Cansino Reina[1] (March 2, 1895 – December 24, 1968) was a Spanish-born American dancer and actor of Roma/Gitano descent.[2][3][4] He was the father of actress Rita Hayworth.[5]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cansino and the second or maternal family name is Reina.
Eduardo Cansino
Eduardo Cansino with daughter and dancing partner Margarita Cansino (Rita Hayworth) (1933)
Born
Eduardo Cansino Reina

(1895-03-02)March 2, 1895
Castilleja de la Cuesta, Andalusia, Spain
DiedDecember 24, 1968(1968-12-24) (aged 73)
Pompano Beach, Florida, U.S.
Occupation(s)Dancer, actor
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1917; died 1945)​
Children3, including Rita Hayworth

Biography

Eduardo Cansino was born on March 2, 1895, in Castilleja de la Cuesta, Andalusia, Spain. His sister, Elisa, was also a dancer.

His father, Antonio Cansino, combined classical flamenco dancing with Roma flamenco. Antonio was known worldwide for dancing the bolero.

Eduardo's immigration to the United States was sponsored by the Stuyvesant family.[6] In New York he performed for, instructed, and integrated into high society.

Cansino, Edwardo immigration index card

There, he joined the Ziegfeld Follies where he met Volga Hayworth. They married in 1917.[7] They had three children: Margarita Carmen (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), Eduardo Jr. (October 13, 1919 – March 11, 1974), and Vernon (May 21, 1922 – March 23, 1974). After she began making films in Hollywood, Margarita Carmen Cansino took her mother's maiden name as her professional surname, becoming Rita Hayworth.[7]

Eduardo was a violent alcoholic, who raped his own daughter Rita Hayworth on several occasions.

Hayworth confided in her husband, Orson Welles that her father began to sexually abuse her as a child, when they were touring together as the Dancing Cansinos.[8] Her biographer, Barbara Leaming, wrote that her mother may have been the only person to know; she slept in the same bed as her daughter to try to protect her. Leaming wrote that the abuse experienced by Hayworth as a young girl contributed to her difficulty in relationships as an adult.[9][10]

Death

Eduardo Cansino Sr. died in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1968, aged 73, and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale).[11]

Selected filmography
Rita and Eduardo Cansino in 1935

References
  1. "El abuelo flamenco de Rita Hayworth". Archived from the original on 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2013-09-29.
  2. Hancock, Ian (2002). We are the Romani People. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press. p. 129. ISBN 9781902806198.
  3. Kendrick, Donald (2007). Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies). United States: Scarecrow Press (Rowman & Littlefield). p. 108. ISBN 9780810864405.
  4. Leaming, Barbara (1989). If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth. New York: Viking Press. p. 2. ISBN 9780670819782. Although in America Eduardo liked to claim that his father was descended from the Moorish kings of Grenada, in Spain others called Padre [Antonio Cansino] a Gypsy.
  5. Márquez Reviriego, Víctor (March 24, 1984). "Del firmamento al limbo". ABC. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  6. Milazzo, Kathy (2019). "Marking Your Territory: The Struggle to Work in Flamenco". In Dodds, Sherril (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition. Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 9780190639082.
  7. "Mrs. Eduardo Cansino. Mother of Rita Hayworth, Film Actress. In Dancing Team". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 27, 1945. Retrieved 2014-12-09. Mrs. Volga Cansino, mother of Rita Hayworth, film actress, died at St. John's Hospital last night after an illness of a week....
  8. Kleiman, Carol. "Behind Glamor are Scars of Incest". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  9. Braudy, Susan (1989-11-19). "What We Have Here is a Very Sad Story". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  10. "BEHIND GLAMOR ARE SCARS OF INCEST". Chicago Tribune. 1989-11-14. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  11. Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2. McFarland & Company (2016) ISBN 0786479922
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