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As Smithsonian Magazine explains, both Hayworth and the general public knew she was a Hollywood invention. In fact, many believe that was what made the actor so alluring and liked by the people.

Changing her identity from Margarita Carmen Cansino to Rita Hayworth was anything but easy. According to Film Daddy, the actress had two years of electrolysis to alter her hairline, then dyed her hair red and adopted her mother’s last name. Hayworth underwent more physical transformations, including a change in diet and an intensive exercise routine.

First up is Raquel Welch. Despite her fame as a Hollywood actress and sex icon in the 1960s and 1970s, few people realize that Welch was actually half Bolivian. According to the New York Times, her father was obsessed with assimilation and forbade the family from speaking Spanish.

Other celebrities whitewashed in Hollywood

Several Hollywood stars had Latin American ancestry, although they never fully discussed it. Whitewashed by studios and given Anglicanized names, you would never suspect that these icons were at least largely from Latin American nations.

Believe it or not, Gladys Pearl Baker, Marilyn Monroe‘s mother, was born in Mexico in the little town of Piedras Negras. And even though Marilyn herself was fluent in Spanish and frequently traveled to Mexico during her childhood, her Mexican ancestry is hardly ever mentioned. So, Rita Hayworth was not the only star whitewashed by Hollywood.

Next is Anthony Quinn, famous in the 1940s and beyond. Quinn was born in Mexico as Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn to parents of Mexican and Irish heritage. Even Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman in 1975, was born to a Mexican mother.

RELATED: ‘The Carol Burnett Show’: Why Carol Burnett Thought ‘Something Was Terribly Wrong’ With Guest Star Rita Hayworth
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