Still from the 1947 film noir “Lady from Shanghai,” directed by Orson Welles, starring Welles and his then-wife, Rita Hayworth. Here, Welles (as seaman Michael O’Hara) is escaping into the heart of San Fransisco’s Chinatown, a stone’s throw away from the courthouse where he is standing trial for the murder of his employer, a prominent lawyer whose wife (Elsa) Michael is attracted to.
Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles behind the scenes of The Lady From Shanghai, c. 1947.
Rita Hayworth as Elsa Bannister in The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
“Everybody is somebody’s fool.The only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old, so I guess I’ll concentrate on that. Maybe I’ll live so long that I’ll forget her. Maybe I’ll die trying.”
“If I’d known where it would end, I’d never let anything start…”
The Lady From Shanghai, 1947, directed by Orson Welles.
If I’d known where it would end, I’d never let anything start. If I’d been in my right mind, that is. But once I’d seen her — once I’d seen her — I was not in my right mind for quite some time.
I directed him in a scene in The Lady of Shanghai. He said, ‘Why don’t you watch me and you direct me in this scene?’ so I said ‘Oh fine,’ So I sat in the chair and he said, ‘Now watch me and tell me what I do whether it is right or wrong’ so I watched it and he finished the scene and he says, ‘Well mama what did you think of it?’ and I said ‘You overacted it,’ imagine me telling him that, but he wanted the truth and I told him. And he was very pleased that I was honest with him.
-Rita Hayworth
