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