Famous People:
Alzheimer’s Disease
&
Parkinson’s Disease
The Schizies:
Becky Guiler, Misty Mahan,
Renee Pittman, and Keima Thomas
Rita Hayworth
And Alzheimer’s Disease
Who was Rita Hayworth?
Background and Interesting Facts
•Born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17,1918 in
Brooklyn, New York
•Father was Spanish flamenco dancer Eduardo Cansino Sr.
•Mother was English/Irish American Ziegfeld girl Volga
Haworth (one of Florenz Ziegfeld’s chorus girls or showgirls)
•In Barbara Leaming’s Rita Hayworth biography "If This Was
Happiness“, Learning claims that as a child and teenager,
Rita’s father sexually and physically abused Rita.
•Father pushed her into dancing, even though she did not
enjoy it.
•Performed with parents in New York bars and nightclubs
and then in California and Mexican resorts and nightclubs
•Father would lock her in her dressing room to keep her from
crowds between shows.
•In 1946 her image and the name Gilda were painted onto
the first atomic bomb that was tested after World War II.
According to Steve Starrfrom Entertainment Magazine, “Rita
was furious”.
Rita Hayworth’s Acting Career
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Famous for being an American actress and dancer
Involved in acting from 1926 - 1972
In 1937 she took her mother’s maiden name and added a “y”.
(Rita Cansino from 1926 – 1937 / Rita Hayworth from 1937 – 1972)
Columbia pictures studio told her to lose weight, dye her dark brown
hair auburn, and raise her hairline with electrolysis.
Most famous film – Gilda (legendary one-glove striptease)
1940’s sex symbol known as the “Great American Love Goddess”
Her 1941 Life magazine photograph became one of the most
requested wartime pinups (over 5 million copies sold by the end of the
war)
Interestingly, was said to actually be very shy with “great insecurities”
Rita Hayworth’s Acting Career
•Some of other well known films include Dante’s Inferno
(1935), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Susan and God
(1940), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), You Were Never
Lovelier (1942), the musical Cover Girl (1944), Affair In
Trinidad (1952), Salome (1953), Pal Joey (1957), and
Separate Tables (1958).
•Some of the actors that Rita Hayworth worked with include
Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, James Cagney, Fred Astaire,
Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra, and John Wayne.
•Made an appearance on The Carol Burnett Show in 1971.
•Her last film was in 1972 – The Wrath of God
Rita Hayworth:
5 Husbands and 2 Daughters
Spouses:
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Edward C. Judson (1937-1943) promoter / 22 years older than Rita / helped
with career, but demanding and temperamental
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Orson Welles (1943-1948) director / had never met Rita, but he told the press
he was coming back to America from filming to marry her, and he did on the
same day that her divorce was finalized / near end of marriage, he had her cut
off her hair and dye it blonde for a film
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Prince Aly Khan (1949-1953) Muslim leader – Vice President of the United
Nations General Assemblly representing Pakistan / both were married when
affair started / with Rita being Catholic, the Vatican declared the marriage to be
“illicit”, she was condemned by the Pope
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Dick Haymes (1953-1955) Argentinian singer / financial problems due to owing
alimony to 3 previous wives / faced deportation because he gave up
citizsenship to aviod draft during WWII
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James Hill (1958-1961) producer
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Once told press that “every man I knew fell in love with Gilda, and woke up
with me” in reference to her many unsuccessful relationships.
Also has been quoted as saying “Basically, I am a good, gentle person, but I am
attracted to mean personalities.”
Children:
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Rebecca Welles
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Princess Yasmin Aga Khan (born 7 months after marriage to the Prince)
Rita Hayworth and Alzheimer’s Disease
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Onset is believed to have begun in 1960, though
she was not diagnosed until 1980.
Was suspected of severe alcoholism due to
sometimes erractic behavior, causing her film
career to decline
1972 – when making her last film The Wrath of
God, she had trouble remembering her lines
1976 – thought to have been drunk when exiting
an airplane (received really bad publicity for this)
1977 – was hospitalized due to extreme confusion
and bewilderment at art gallery opening (the same
year that she was the recipient for the National
Screen Heritage Award)
Doctors diagnosed impairment as being due to
chronic alcoholism – sent to sanitarium to “dry
out”
Daughter Yasmin was appointed as her gaurdian.
Rita Hayworth and Alzheimer’s Disease
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1980 – doctors realized she did not suffer from alcoholism, but
from Alzheimer’s disease (at this time disease was not very well
known)
In her small New York City apartment, next to daughter
Yasmin’s, it was said that she “stared in a mirror not recognising
herself, sometimes spoke in a strange language, and later, took
to her bed from where she was afraid to move to her living
room chair.”
Yasmin became a spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Disease and
Related Disorders Association helping to educate the world
about the disease.
Yasmin has been hosting the annual Rita Hayworth Gala (a fund
raiser for the Alzheimer’s Association) since 1985, which has
raised more than $42 million.
Rita Hayworth helped to bring awareness of this not well
known disease.
Died May 14, 1987 at the age of 68.
After her death, she was praised by President Ronald Reagan
for bringing public attention to the disease Alzheimer’s (he
himself had not been diagnosed yet)
Background of Ronald Reagan
• He was born in 1911 in Illinois.
• A screen test in 1937 won him a contract in
Hollywood. He appeared in 53 films throughout the
next two decades and became president of the
Screen Actors Guild.
Family Life
• His first marriage was to actress Jean Wyman
and they had two children: Maureen and
Michael.
• He married actress Nancy Davis in 1952 and
had two more children: Patricia and Ronald.
President Reagan
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In 1981 he became the fortieth President of the United States of America.
He was shot only 69 days after he took office, but he made a full recovery.
He was re-elected in 1985 and served his second term.
His ideas of “peace through strength” made him one of our most popular
Presidents.
Alzheimer’s
• In the late 80’s and early 90’s, he began to
slowly lose his grasp on ordinary function.
• He knew what was coming, and even made
several jokes about it.
• His mother and brother had Alzheimer’s.
• Three years after leaving the White House, his
symptoms became impossible to ignore.
Did Reagan Have Alzheimer’s While in
Office?
• He was definitely on his way to getting it.
• There wasn’t nearly enough of a decline in function for a
diagnosis.
• 1/3 - 1/2 of all humans experience some mild decline in
memory as they get older, so friends and relatives didn’t
worry about it very much.
Alzheimer's
• At the conclusion of a physical in 1992 he asked
his doctor: “What am I supposed to do next?”
That is when his doctor knew something was very
wrong.
• 16 months later, he flew to Washington D.C. to
attend a dinner celebrating his 83rd birthday, and
he didn’t recognize a few people that he had
known for years.
• He forgot where he was later that night when he
was in his hotel room.
Alzheimer’s
• The former President announced to the world
that he had Alzheimer’s in 1994.
• Early in the disease, he took frequent walks,
played golf, and went to his office everyday.
• As his memory decreased, these activities
stopped.
• He eventually lost his ability to articulate words
or remember who people were.
• Ronald Reagan died from pneumonia and
Alzheimer’s disease on June 5, 2004.
Parkinson’s Disease
• Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder of the
central nervous system, characterised by tremors,
stiffness in limbs and joints, speech impediments and
difficulty in initiating physical movements. Late in the
course of the disease, some people may develop
dementia. Drugs may improve the physical
symptoms, but can have side effects including
hallucinations, delusions and a temporary worsening
of confusion and abnormal movements.
Ali and Fox
• http://www.veotag.com/player/?u=ldyoexeaij
Muhammad Ali,
• Muhammad Ali, one of the most famous boxers of all time,
had humble beginnings. He was born Cassius Clay, Jr., on
January 17, 1942, in Louisville , Kentucky. He began boxing at
the age of 12, winning various Golden Glove titles, both
locally and nationally. In 1960, he attended the Olympics in
Rome and came away with the gold medal in the light
heavyweight division at the age of 18. Ali was then sponsored
by a Kentucky organization to begin his professional career.
Besides this sponsorship, it was Muhammad Ali's own selfpromoting wise cracks that got him noticed as a great boxer.
• As Muhammad Ali's boxing career started to
wind down in the early 80's, he began to show
signs of a neurological disorder. He had
evident signs of decreasing motor skills during
a fight against Larry Holmes in 1980.
Parkinson's disease was diagnosed soon after,
and it was noted that his illness was probably
brought on by repetitive head trauma.
• In more recent years, Ali has lost his ability to
speak. He was able to attend the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta, GA, and he lit the
Olympic torch at the opening ceremony. Ali
just celebrated his 65th birthday this past
January and his children say he still has great,
meaningful moments. He now leads a more
placid life, and since his Parkinson's diagnosis,
he has stated that he regrets nothing.
Parkinson’s Disease
Michael J. Fox
• Was born as Michael Andrew Fox
on June 9, 1961. He is a
Canadian/ American film and
television star. His roles include
Marty McFly from the Back to the
Future trilogy (1985-1990); Alex P.
Keaton from the Family Ties
(1982-1989), for which he won
three Emmy Awards and a Golden
Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty
from Spin City (1996-2000), for
which he won an Emmy, three
Golden Globes, and two Screen
Actors Guild Awards.
Diagnosed
• Fox started displaying symptoms of earlyonset Parkinson’s disease in 1990 while
shooting the movie Doc Hollywood. He was
not properly diagnosed until 1991. In 1998, he
decided to go public with his condition, and
since then he has been a strong advocate of
Parkinson’s disease research. As the
symptoms of his disease worsened, he retired
from full-time acting in 2000.
Stem Cell Research
• In 2006, Fox interviewed with Katie Couric explaining
his political advocacy.
• Katie Couric Interview
• On July 18, 2006, Fox appeared in a taped interview
on ABC’s Good Morning America, defending a Senate
bill (Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act) that
would have expanded federal funding for stem cell
research. The bill was not enacted, however, being
vetoed by President W. Bush.
Michael J. Fox Foundation
• The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding
a cure for Parkinson’s disease within the decade
through aggressively funded research agenda and to
ensuring the development of improved therapies for
those living with Parkinson’s today.
• The Michael J. Fox foundation has funded over 120
million dollars in research that can lead to the
creation of better Parkinson’s treatment.
References
• http://www.leninimports.com/rita_hayworth.html
• http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/haywo
rth/index.html
• http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/aa101401a.htm
• http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/aa101401b.htm
• http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/aa101401c.htm
• http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/aa101401d.htm
• http://www.kipaddotta.com/rita-hayworth.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Hayworth
• http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html
References
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001654/bio
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/147/story_14713_1.html
www.thefreelibrary.com
www.infoplease.com/spot/mali1.html
www.ali.com
www.veotag.com
http://www.michaeljfox.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Fox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8lsjfjgAA8