Rita Hayworth was one of the most celebrated celebrities of all meter , and a best-loved wartime pivot - up . But she became an infamous pin - up when a picture of her was rumored to have been put on an nuclear bomb . Thanks to some awe-inspiring detective work , we now know the rumour were correct .
Orson Welles , who was married to Hayworth , started this digest rumor when he announced it during a radio broadcast . The dud in question was the able-bodied bomb , dropped on Bikini Atoll in 1946 , and ever since Welles announced its existence , hoi polloi have been muse about what the picture was . Some claim it was a film bill sticker for Haywotth ’s film Gilda , while some suppose it was a painting , by multiple artist , cautiously painted onto the aerofoil of the dud .
Conelrad , a situation that manage with the sometimes kitschy , sometimes shuddery small beer of the dawn of the atomic geezerhood , has render us an answer . An atomic documentarian establish some previously - lost footage of the able-bodied bomb , and upon check that it was n’t sort , sent it to Bill Geerhart at Conelrad . Geerhart stupefy together a team and tracked down the copy of Esquire in which it was write . It look to be a portrait of Rita Hayworth by Bill Coburn , titled “ American Beauty . ”
Geerhart institutionalize the news to me , and so we at io9 can show you Rita Hayworth on the side of the Able bomb . If you require to see the original photo in full color , hear Orson Welles ’ idea on the subject , and read about Bill Geerhart ’s work on separating the many hearsay from the facts , do go to Geerhart ’s page . It ’s a great read .
nuclear bomb
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