Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. She has performed on stage and screen in a career spanning over eight decades. Moreno is one of the last remaining stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Among her numerous accolades, she is one of the few actors to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT) and the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy, and Tony awards. Additional accolades include the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2015, and a Peabody Award in 2019.
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Moreno's early work included supporting roles in the classic musical films Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The King and I (1956), before her breakout role as Anita in West Side Story (1961), which earned her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first Latin American woman to win an Academy Award.[5] Her other films include Popi (1969), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Four Seasons (1981), I Like It Like That (1994) and the cult film Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). Moreno portrayed Valentina in the 2021 remake of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg.
In theater, she starred as Googie Gomez in the 1975 Terrence McNally musical The Ritz earning her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She reprised her role in the 1976 film directed by Richard Lester which earned her a BAFTA Award for Best Actress nomination. She also acted in Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window in 1964 and in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple in 1985.
She was a cast member on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971-1977), and played Sister Peter Marie Reimondo on the HBO series Oz (1997-2003). She received two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for her roles on The Muppet Show in 1977 and The Rockford Files in 1978. She gained acclaim for her roles in Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (1994-1999), The CW series Jane the Virgin (2015–2019), and the Netflix revival of One Day at a Time (2017–2020). Her life was profiled in Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (2021).
Early years
Moreno was born in a Humacao, Puerto Rico hospital to Rosa María (née Marcano), a seamstress who was born in 1912, and Francisco José "Paco" Alverío, a farmer who was born in 1908. She was nicknamed "Rosita" and raised in nearby Juncos. Her maternal grandparents were Justino Marcano (b. Puerto Rico) and Trinidad from Spain. Moreno's mother moved to New York City in 1936, taking her daughter, but not her son, Moreno's younger brother, Francisco, whom Moreno would not see again until 2021. Moreno adopted the surname of her first stepfather, Edward Moreno, Rosa Maria's second husband. She spent her teenage years living in the NYC suburb of Valley Stream on Long Island.
1945–1959: Theater debut and early films
Moreno began her first dancing lessons soon after arriving in New York with a Spanish dancer known as "Paco Cansino", who was a paternal uncle of film star Rita Hayworth. When she was 11 years old, she lent her voice to Spanish-language versions of American films. She had her first Broadway role, as "Angelina" in the 1945 production of Skydrift, by the age of 13, which caught the attention of Hollywood talent scouts. Moreno said she was raped by her agent while she was a teen actor.
Moreno's film career began in the later years of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Moreno and her mother moved to a Culver City "cottage" within walking distance of MGM. She acted steadily in films throughout the 1950s, usually in small roles, including in The Toast of New Orleans (1950) In 1952, she appeared in Stanley Donen's musical comedy film Singin' in the Rain alongside Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor. In the film she played silent film star Zelda Zanders. She described having gotten the role by Gene Kelly "wanting her in the movie" and that she "seemed to fit the role for him". Moreno praised Kelly for casting her in a non-stereotypical Hispanic role playing Zelda saying, "he never said 'Oh she's too Latina', he just thought I'd be fine for it". She called the experience working in the film as an "amazing experience" and a "privilege".
Personal life
From 1954 to 1962, Moreno was in an on-and-off relationship with Marlon Brando. She revealed in her memoir that she became pregnant by Brando and he arranged for an abortion. The abortion was botched, she went home and bled as the fetus died inside her and she had to be rushed to the hospital to have it surgically removed. Soon after, Brando fell in love with his co-star on Mutiny on the Bounty, yet returned to her; Moreno attempted suicide by overdosing on Brando's sleeping pills.
In 1965, Moreno married cardiologist and internist Leonard Gordon, who became her manager after he retired from medicine. In 1995, they relocated to Berkeley, California. They remained together until his death in 2010. Moreno and Gordon have one daughter, Fernanda Gordon Fisher, and two grandsons. Moreno said she once considered leaving her husband, but did not to avoid breaking up the family.
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- SERVES
- 4
- COOK TIME
- 8 Min
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- 1 stick butter, melted
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- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
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- 1/2 teaspoon salt
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- Community services to help the needy
- Communications services and comfort for military members and their families
- The collection, processing, and distribution of blood and blood products
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HOW TO OBSERVE
- A Story of the Red Cross by Clara Barton
- Clara Barton by Elizabeth Brown Pryor
- Blood, Sweat, and Tears: An Oral History of the American Red Cross by Michele Turk
- www.redcross.org/
