Tony Bennett and Rita Hayworth: Their Struggle With Alzheimer's

What can we learn when we reflect on the suffering of Tony Bennett and
Rita Hayworth as they suffered decline from Alzheimer’s?
How was Tony Bennett able to perform, and Rita Hayworth to act, long
after they had developed the symptoms of Alzheimer’s?
Tony Bennett collaborated with Lady Gaga, cutting several albums and
touring, when he was suffering from Alzheimer’s, they were very close.
Rita Hayworth, sadly, was not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s until long after
she showed symptoms. Her odd behavior and inability to memorize her
lines was blamed on her drinking rather than on Alzheimer’s.

Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
We will discuss sources we used at the end of the video.
Feel free to follow along in the PowerPoint script we
uploaded to SlideShare.

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The stories of Tony Bennett and Rita Hayworth are similar to the story of
another celebrity who suffered from Alzheimer’s, Glen Campbell. Both
Tony Bennett and Glen Campbell released albums and toured when they
were in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s. Music is often beneficial to
Alzheimer’s patients. Their doctors encouraged them to tour, these
mental challenges may have slowed the progression of their Alzheimer’s.
Like many celebrities, all of them had substance abuse problems in their
careers.

To clarify, there are many types of dementia, but
Alzheimer's patients comprise over seventy percent of
dementia cases. How many people suffer from dementia?
About seven percent of the elderly over sixty will suffer
from dementia in their lifetimes.

Odds of Developing Dementia
What are the odds of
developing dementia? Over
65, one in fourteen; over
80, one in six, average of
seven percent over 65.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Jazz Duets
Tony Bennett and his wife Susan, 2008 / Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, duet for Cheek To Cheek album.

Tony Bennett passed away in July 2023, after battling Alzheimer’s for many years.
His last collaboration was singing jazz songs with Lady Gaga, releasing a duet album
together and performing together in the Cheek to Cheek Tour in 2015. He
performed a final concert with her in August 2021 when he was 94 years old.
Tony Bennett began his singing career after serving in World War II, he was
successful through the Sixties when musical tastes changed. The studios wanted
him to sing contemporary rock songs without success. He struggled financially, fell
behind in his income taxes, and developed a drug problem. In 1979 his son Danny,
whose band was not successful, agreed to become his business partner and
manager. They toured the college circuit singing from his old material, the Great
American Songbook, Tony performed duets with many newer singers, including John
Mayer, K.D. Lang, James Taylor, Sting, the late Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, and
was booked on many late-night talk shows and venues. His second career took off.

https://www.alz.org/news/2021/tony-bennett-keep-the-music-playing

“In 2014 Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett recorded
Cheek to Cheek,” which includes many jazz songs.
This album hit “Number One on Billboard's Top 200
pop and rock chart,” which led to more collaboration.
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett live in apartments a
block apart near Central Park, she enjoys singing
duets with Tony. Her film and recording career were
packed, so they recorded songs between 2018 and
early 2020 for a new album.

Tony Bennett only had significant cognitive issues when he was in
his eighties. After he confided to Susan, his wife, that he could
not remember the names of his bandmates, they consulted a
doctor, who diagnosed him with Alzheimer’s in 2017. Fortunately,
up through 2021, his family was “spared the disorientation that
can prompt patients to wander from home, as well as the
episodes of terror, rage or depression that can accompany
Alzheimer's frightening detachment from reality.” After that we
do not know, as his family has kept him sequestered in the
advanced stage of his condition.

https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/info-2021/tony-bennett-alzheimers.html

Like Glen Campbell, “after receiving the
diagnosis, Tony Bennett insisted on
continuing to perform,” with his doctor’s
blessing. “Tony has always had a very positive
attitude,” Susan said. “When he found out
about the disease, he immediately said he
wanted to keep singing. He was going to keep
going straight ahead as he always has.”
“In February 2021, Bennett publicly shared
that he was living with Alzheimer’s in an
interview with the AARP Magazine. Shortly
after the news was announced, Tony Bennett,
a charismatic optimist, tweeted ‘Life is a gift:
even with Alzheimer’s.’”

“Tony was already showing
clear signs of the disease,
Susan said, when he and
Gaga started recording the
new LP at New York's
Electric Lady Studios two
years after his diagnosis.
Indeed, Susan was not
entirely sure that Tony was
up to the task. ‘We'll try,’
she recalled telling Danny.
‘That's all I can tell you.
We'll try.’”

“Tony Bennett was a considerably more
muted presence during the recording of
the new album with Gaga. In raw
documentary footage of the sessions, he
speaks rarely, and when he does his words
are halting; at times, he seems lost and
bewildered. Lady Gaga, clearly aware of his
condition, keeps her utterances short and
simple (as is recommended by experts in
the disease when talking to Alzheimer's
patients). ‘You sound so good, Tony,’ she
tells him at one point. ‘Thanks,’ is his one-
word response.”

“Lady Gaga says that she thinks all the
time about their 2015 tour. Tony looks at
her wordlessly. ‘Wasn't that fun every
night?’ she prompts him. ‘Yeah,’ he says,
uncertainly. The pain and sadness in Lady
Gaga's face is clear at such moments, but
never more so than in an extraordinarily
moving sequence in which Tony, a man she
calls ‘an incredible mentor, and friend, and
father figure’, sings a solo passage of a
love song. Lady Gaga looks on, from
behind her mic, her smile breaking into a
quiver, her eyes brimming, before she puts
her hands over her face and sobs.”

(REPEAT) “In August, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga teamed up for
two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in
celebration of his 95th birthday. The duo didn’t stop there: in
October, they released what is billed as Bennett’s final studio
album: Love for Sale.”
There are many YouTube videos with snippets of his last
performance, one touching video shows how Lady Gaga was
overwhelmed on stage when he called her out by name.
“The fact that Tony saw me as a natural-born jazz singer is still
something that I haven't gotten over,” Gaga recently said.

“In August, Tony Bennett and
Lady Gaga teamed up for two
sold-out shows at Radio City
Music Hall in New York City in
celebration of his 95th
birthday. The duo didn’t stop
there: in October, Bennett
and Lady Gaga released what
is billed as Bennett’s final
studio album: Love for Sale.”
“The fact that Tony saw me
as a natural-born jazz singer
is still something that I
haven't gotten over,” Gaga
recently said.

Rita Hayworth: Early Onset Dementia
Rita Hayworth, 1947 Film Gilda / Rita Hayworth and Tyrone Power, the film Blood and Sand, 1941

Rita Hayworth was the first celebrity who publicly
confessed that she was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Like
many actors and singers, Rita Hayworth also had problems
with alcohol and drugs during her long career. Like Glen
Campbell and Tony Bennett, she was able to act
professionally at a high level well after the onset of her
undiagnosed Alzheimer’s condition. At the end of her
career, she had trouble remembering her lines, which was
blamed on her alcoholism, but was rather due to her
dementia.

https://www.alz.org/news/2023/rita-hayworth-a-bombshell-diagnosis

Rita Hayworth’s career spanned more than four decades, starting in the
thirties. She was called the Love Goddess, the pinup girl for many World
War II GI’s, she was one of the top stars in the golden years of Hollywood,
she acted in dozens of movies and danced with Fred Astaire.
Rita Hayworth was unlucky in love, she had five husbands, and divorced
her fifth husband in 1961, long before she was suffering from
Alzheimer’s. She started showing cognitive decline when she was in her
late fifties, much sooner than is typical. She was only sixty-eight when
she passed away.
The youngest of Hayworth's two children, Yasmin Aga Khan, was only in
high school when her mom began exhibiting odd behavior. She was the
daughter of Rita and her third husband Prince Aly Aga Khan, a French and
Pakistani diplomat.

The
elderly
Rita
Hayworth
suffered
from
dementia.
Dancing
with Fred
Astaire.

"I would have phone conversations
with her once a week while at
boarding school, and she started
asking me the same questions and
seemed very confused," Yasmin says.
"I became very concerned but really
had no control or idea what to do."
Yasmin graduated from college in
1973 and moved to New York City.
“In 1975, Rita Hayworth suffered a
collapse in Los Angeles. Yasmin
successfully filed for conservatorship
of her mother and relocated her to
New York.”
Rita Hayworth and choreographer Jack Cole in Tonight and Every Night, 1945

"The transition was really difficult, and
witnessing her behavior was such a
challenge because I had no idea what was
happening," Yasmin says. "I didn't have
any answers."
“Hayworth's diagnosis was made public
almost immediately, and Yasmin used the
opportunity to call for more awareness
around the disease. ‘I did an interview
with Barbara Walters about my mother,
and shortly after was contacted by a
miracle man, Jerome Stone,’ Yasmin says.”
Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan, father of Yasmin, at their wedding reception, 1949

“Jerome Stone, who was a caregiver for his wife
who was living with Alzheimer's, had started a
small organization for families facing the disease:
the Alzheimer's Association. ‘He asked if I wanted
to join as a board member and help start an event
in New York to raise awareness and funds,’ Yasmin
recalls. ‘I was terrified at the time: What did I
know about raising money? But he gave me the
strength and always believed we could do it, and
we did.’” They organized the annual Hollywood
Rita Hayworth Gala Ball to raise funds and raise
public awareness for both Alzheimer’s and the
Alzheimer’s Association.

Reviewing our other videos on dementia: Although my condominium
association now actively seeks to assist those dementia patients in our
community, their initial opposition illustrates how difficult it is for people
to accept that those who suffer from dementia are really not responsible
for their actions, nor are they responsible for their neglect in handling
their financial affairs.
We reflect on how the police departments around the country are trying
to deal with mental illness, though they should receive more training on
how to deal with dementia patients. We have a video that examines the
challenges caretakers face when they care for their loved ones who suffer
from dementia. Plus, we plan videos on the book, The Man Who Mistook
His Wife for a Hat, Learning to Speak Alzheimer’s, plus a video exploring
what we know about dementia.

https://youtu.be/_uAJPCCRNQ8
https://youtu.be/z_SlPLARCxU

We read the last portion of this biography of Rita Hayworth, about thirty
of three hundred pages discuss her struggles with Alzheimer’s, these are
mostly sad stories of sad incidents in her fifties and sixties where she was
drinking to cope with her Alzheimer’s. In turn, her behavior and memory
problems were blamed by everyone on her drinking. The author is a fan,
and this book is written from public sources, and includes extensive
footnotes and a bibliography, but he did not able to include any
interviews with her daughter and caretaker Yasmin. You would enjoy
reading this book if you are a Rita Hayworth fan.
Our primary sources were the magazine and website articles from the
AARP organization and the Alzheimer’s Association.

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
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Tony Bennett and Rita Hayworth: Their Struggle With Alzheimer's

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