The news sent photogs rushing to the Santa Monica Courthouse on Sept. 7, 1943. “I’m going to marry Orson Welles!,” Rita Hayworth had announced that morning on the set of the musical Cover Girl, in which she was starring with Gene Kelly.
Sneaking away during her lunch hour, Hayworth, 24, first stood in line with Welles, 28, to apply for a marriage license and then they were married by Superior Court Judge Orlando Rhodes. “Both were visibly nervous in the marriage license bureau,” the United Press reported. “After filling out the application they started to leave, and Welles went back sheepishly...