Rita Hayworth, Prince Aly Khan--Champagne Safari, 1954 Honeymoon Trip
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2021
- "Champagne Safari," a rare 1954 documentary that covers the honeymoon travels of Rita Hayworth through the ruins of Pompeii, Athens, Cairo, and deeper parts of Africa. The marriage lasted two years and Rita returned to Hollywood.
Prince Aly Khan died in a car crash near Paris, on 12th May 1960, aged 48. His fiance, model Bettina, was in the passenger seat, and survived with a minor injury to her forehead, but miscarried their child.
Khan's chauffeur, who was in the back seat, also survived, as did the driver of the other vehicle involved.
A great souvenir, Rita always looked lovely and humble,
What an amazing life Rita lived! Some of it not very kind of course, especially later in life, but she always seemed to have her lovely smile. She was beautiful, a great actress and dancer, and was said to have been a sweet, kind person. My favourite actress!
I'm confused about the chronology here - the marriage between Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan was over, by the time this documentary was released in 1954.
Towards the end of the film the couple's split is mentioned, and the fact Rita had two children (Rebecca Welles and Princess Yasmin Khan). Could you perhaps explain and provide some context in the video description regarding the timing of this extended trip? I will try to do so here - I got the following info from Wikipedia:
Rita Hayworth married the Prince Aly Khan on May 27th 1949, and travelled to France with him, breaking her movie contract. Guess that isn't the honeymoon trip depicted here.
She gave birth to their only child, daughter Princess Yasmin, on December 28 1949 (her second daughter, the first, Rebecca, was by second husband Orson Welles), so was presumably pregnant during the first honeymoon.
The marriage to Khan was in trouble very quickly. She struggled to get on with his friends, and to learn French. He didn't give up his playboy ways, and there are suspicions he was unfaithful - he was romantically linked with actress Joan Fontaine, among others.
The lack of chemistry between the recently married couple was pretty obvious in the documentary. Rita was conspicuously alone, for so many of the native tributes to the 'beloved' Prince and Princess! (@16:40).
Rita returned to New York with her two daughters and filed for divorce from Khan on September 2nd 1951, on the grounds of his extreme mental cruelty. The divorce was finalised in January 1953. It seems strange to me this documentary, with its gushing commentary suggesting the couple were a perfect match, was released a year after that divorce. It's actually a record of a failed marriage - that failed, pretty damned fast!
I feel Rita should have paid attention to the fact her Prince was a spoiled playboy, whose every whim was catered to by obedient servants. How can any wife keep a man like that happy? His penchant for shooting wild animals dead from the safety of a vehicle, didn't bode well for his character either.
There was an ugly, extended custody battle over their daughter Yasmin, during which Khan offered Hayworth $1 million if she would raise her a Muslim from age seven, and let her spend part of the year living with him. She refused, saying:
"Nothing will make me give up Yasmin's chance to live here in America among our precious freedoms and habits. There isn't any amount of money in the entire world for which is worth sacrificing this child's privilege of living as a normal Christian girl here in the United States". After the divorce she lived in fear Khan would have Yasmin kidnapped - and she received death threats against both her children from an unknown source, which put her under intense stress and meant she periodically hid them away at secret locations with a nanny.
Poor Rita had terrible luck with men. Married and divorced five times, she had confided in Orson Welles that her father sexually abused her as a child, which she believed drew her to partners who mistreated her.
Her next marriage to Argentinian singer and actor Dick Haymes was another disaster. Haymes was deeply in debt, being chased by two ex wives for unpaid child support, and owed thousands in back taxes. Rita paid off all his debts - while bemoaning the fact Aly Khan was not meeting his alimony payments for Yasmin, and Orson Welles was another deadbeat dad who failed to support Rebecca.
Two years later she left Haymes after he struck her in the face in public, in a nightclub. That relationship had cost her dear, and she left it with the worst financial pressures of her life. In February 1958 she married the abusive film director James Hill, a union that lasted two years. Charlton Heston recalled once joining them for dinner at a restaurant with his wife, and Hill 'obscenely' and viciously insulting Hayworth at the table, reducing her to humiliated tears. Heston said he had considered punching Hill, but instead he and his wife abruptly left the table and went home. He never saw her again.
The rest of Rita's life was blighted by alcoholism and sudden rages brought about by booze and undiagnosed, worsening Alzheimers. By the early 'seventies she wanted to retire from acting, but needed money. She made her final film, the Western 'The Wrath of God' in 1972, at the urging of friend and co-star Robert Mitchum, but it was an ordeal as by now she struggled to remember her lines.
In 1981 a judge ordered her daughter Yasmin should take care of her, and to the end of her life, mother and daughter lived in adjoining apartments in New York.
Around this time she attended a tribute to Frank Sinatra hosted by her old friend, President Ronald Reagan, and bumped into Orson Welles one final time. Welles said he came to her table to say hello, and she didn't recognise him immediately. After he had been speaking to her for a few minutes she realised who he was, and started softly crying.
She always said Orson Welles was the love of her life. In his final interview, given the evening before his death, Welles described Rita Hayworth as "One of the dearest and sweetest women that ever lived". How sad he could not have been the great husband and father for her children, Rita was always searching for.
After lapsing into a three month, semi-coma, Rita Hayworth died at her Manhattan home on May 14th 1987 from Alzheimers, aged 68. Her headstone at California's Holy Cross Cemetery bears an inscription from her daughter Yasmin:
'To yesterday's companionship and tomorrow's reunion'.
Thank you for sharing this! Jack was my great-uncle but I've never seen the entire film. He told me all kinds of great stories, he was an amazing guy. He raised partly raised by grandmother for several years from about 1940 to 1945 and Rita babysat her during that time, so Rita became a sort of mother figure to her.
What?
Your words seem a mess. Did you even proof read before posting?
Take a look and tell me it makes sense.
@@AMEER-114- oh I'm sorry, I accidentally included a single extra word and didn't notice - "raised". Apart from that it is all correct and anyone with the smallest amount of intelligence will have no problem understanding it. Do you have issues with reading comprehension?
@@dalesheldon5324 you surely took offense...
Not intended...
Still..no matter which "raised" you remove it still doesnt work.....and there is more wrong than just that.
..also my main point comes down to you posting without caring enough to make sure its clear....so why bother?
..but you are among many in that respect.
@@AMEER-114- Yes, your statements are condescending and rude, so I understandably took offense. You clearly are not very good with English, or you would understand my original comment without a problem. If you're still learning a language, it is understandable, but your arrogance toward a native speaker is beyond ridiculous. You stated "but you are among many in that respect". No, they are not the problem - you clearly are. Do better, and don't be such an ass.
This is amazing Dale. Why did they take this trip if they were divorced. I've been to Pompeii too.
Thank you so much!
WHEN GLAMOUR WAS IN FASHION
Unreal.
I think I saw my grandfather. I know he was referred to in the narration.
Who was he
@@aeichler Count Jindani of Zanzibar but also owned properties in Mombasa and Nairobi. He played bridge a lot. ; )
He walks in at 33.41 behind the tall gent in a hat. He's wearing sunglasses, robes and tie. He exits frame at 34.04
Historic footage. Were Rita and the Prince still married ❣️ I think they divorced in 1953.
After Rita his next near Miss was Gene Tierney
Why does it says "Color by Eastman" when it's in b/w?!
It's a black and white kine.
THE DATES ARE WRONG
1954 is the year the film was released.
@@aeichler , sad , by the time it was released the marriage was over ! BUT WOW , THEY WERE THE DEFINITION OF JET SET ! WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT NEITHER OF THEM EVER HAD A CHANCE !
@@XX-gy7ue Yes, Rita was back at work at Columbia. Dick Haymes would be next.
@@aeichler , the men in her life really ran from a to z ! although he did have a beautiful voice -
@@XX-gy7ue But he was a drunken has-been at the time, though he was supposedly well-endowed.
Ongar
He was the richest prince in the world untill Arabs found the oil wealth
So much money looted from Aga Khani disciples by Aga Khan and his family to experience life that Aly Khan enjoyed. The Aga Khan family call themselves muslims yet they have been found drinking and selling alcohol at their hotels. Hotels built from free money received from the disciples. Life is unfair for so many people
Get your facts right mister!!
The corruption of the privileged - alas a story as old as time.
They are Shia ,,, not Muslim this is another religion