Rita Moreno - Biography - IMDb
Rita Moreno
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Overview (3)
5' 2½" (1.59 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Rita Moreno has had a thriving acting career for the better part of six decades. One of the very few (and very first) performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, she was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on December 11, 1931, to seamstress Rosa María (Marcano) and farmer Francisco José "Paco" Alverío. She and her mother moved to New York City in 1937, where she began a professional career before reaching adolescence. The 11-year-old Rosita got her first movie experience dubbing Spanish-language versions of US films. Less than a month before her 14th birthday on November 22, 1945, she made her Broadway debut in the play "Skydrift" at the Belasco Theatre, costarring with Arthur Keegan and s young Eli Wallach . Although she would not appear again on Broadway for almost two decades, Rita Moreno, as she was billed in the play, had arrived professionally.
The cover of the March 1, 1954, edition of "Life Magazine" featured a three-quarters, over-the-left-shoulder profile of the young Puerto Rican actress/entertainer with the provocative title "Rita Moreno: An Actresses' Catalog of Sex and Innocence". It was sexpot time, a stereotype that would plague her throughout the decade. If not cast as a Hispanic pepper pot, she could rely on being cast as another "exotic", such as her appearance on Father Knows Best (1954) as an exchange student from India. Because of a dearth of decent material, Moreno had to play roles in movies that she considered degrading. Among the better pictures she appeared in were the classic Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The King and I (1956).
Director Robert Wise , who was chosen to co-direct West Side Story (1961) (the film version of the smash Broadway musical, a retelling of William Shakespeare 's "Romeo & Juliet" with the warring Venetian clans the Montagues and Capulets re-envisioned as Irish/Polish and Puerto Rican adolescent street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks), cast Moreno as "Anita", the Puerto Rican girlfriend of Sharks' leader Bernardo, whose sister Maria is the piece's Juliet.
However, despite her talent, roles commensurate with that talent were not forthcoming in the 1960s. The following decade would prove kinder, possibly because the beautiful Moreno had aged gracefully and could now be seen by filmmakers, TV producers and casting directors as something other than the spitfire/sexpot that Hispanic women were supposed to conform to. Ironically, it was in two vastly diverging roles--that of a $100 hooker in director Mike Nichols ' brilliant realization of Jules Feiffer 's acerbic look at male sexuality, Carnal Knowledge (1971) (1971), and Milly the Helper in the children's TV show The Electric Company (1971) (1971)--that signaled a career renaissance.
Moreno won a 1972 Grammy Award for her contribution to "The Electric Company"'s soundtrack album, following it up three years later with a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for "The Ritz" (a role she would reprise in the film version, The Ritz (1976)). She then won Emmy Awards for The Muppet Show (1976) and The Rockford Files (1974).
She has continued to work steadily on screen (both large and small) and on stage, solidifying her reputation as a national treasure, a status that was officially ratified with the award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in June 2004.
( 18 June  1965            - 30 June  2010) (his death) (1 child)
Trivia (26)
Cites Citizen Kane (1941) as her all-time favorite film.
Is one of the only 12 people who are an EGOT, which means that she won at least one of all of the four major entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. The other ones in chronological order are Richard Rodgers , Barbra Streisand , Helen Hayes , Liza Minnelli , John Gielgud , Audrey Hepburn , Marvin Hamlisch , Jonathan Tunick , Mel Brooks , Mike Nichols , Whoopi Goldberg and James Earl Jones . Liza Minnelli won a Special Grammy, and James Earl Jones won an Honorary Academy Award.
Has appeared in the pilot for the sitcom Empty Nest (1988), which was an episode of The Golden Girls (1985). The premise was changed in the final version of Empty Nest (1988), in which she did not appear.
When her star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she fell on top of it, openly and uncontrollably weeping. She later commented, "I had been dreaming of this day since I was six!".
In June 2004 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush .
During the first season (episode 19) of The Electric Company (1971), she was in a sketch in which she shouted "Hey, you guys!" repeatedly. It became so popular with the show's producers that they decided to use it as the catchphrase in their opening, starting with season two.
In 1977, she became the ninth performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting: (Oscar: Best Supporting Actress in West Side Story (1961), Tony, Best Featured Actress, The Ritz (1975) and Emmy 1977 ( The Muppet Show (1976)) and 1978 ( The Rockford Files (1974)).
Daughter, Fernanda Luisa Gordon ( Fernanda Gordon ), was born in 1967. A successful jewelry designer, she founded Nandiz Design. She is married to David Fisher and they have two children named Justin and Cameron.
When filming her final scene in West Side Story (1961) in which her character "Anita" is harassed and nearly raped by New York street gang members "the Jets", she was reduced to tears, as it brought flashbacks of similar real-life childhood experiences. When she broke down, the other actors nobly stopped and comforted her, helping her to get through the scene, pointing out that the audience was going to hate the gang members for what they were doing, as "Anita" was well meaning in what she was doing and the sequence set up a critical plot element.
Of the nine people who won all four major entertainment awards (Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy), Moreno won all four awards in the shortest amount of time, within a 16-year time frame--the Oscar in 1962, the Grammy in 1972, the Tony in 1975 and her first of two Emmys in 1977. Composer Richard Rodgers is second, winning his four awards within a 17-year time frame.
Husband Dr. Lenny Gordon was an internist and cardiologist.
Mother of Fernanda Gordon .
She was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts on February 25, 2010 at the White House in Washington D.C. for her services and contributions to the arts.
Is one of 15 actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others--in chronological order--are Helen Hayes , Ingrid Bergman , Shirley Booth , Liza Minnelli , Maureen Stapleton , Jessica Tandy , Audrey Hepburn , Anne Bancroft , Vanessa Redgrave , Maggie Smith , Ellen Burstyn , Helen Mirren , Frances McDormand and Jessica Lange .
Was the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar when she won for West Side Story (1961). However, she was not the first Hispanic entertainer to win an Oscar. That was fellow Puerto Rican José Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950).
Was dancing professionally in a Greenwich Village nightclub at age 9, as arranged by her dance teacher, Rita Hayworth 's uncle.
In her memoir she describes how stunned she was when a handsome stranger, with his wife on his arm, very brazenly flirted with her. It was the 1950s and the man was then-Sen. John F. Kennedy . Moreno also described her disappointment about one-time lover Elvis Presley being much more like "a baby brother" than a stud.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on July 20, 2005.
Has two grandsons: Justin Gordon Fisher (born 2002) and Cameron David Fisher (born 2004).
Was the 54th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for West Side Story (1961) at The 34th Annual Academy Awards (1962) on April 9, 1962.
As of April 2002 was living in Berkeley, CA.
Is one of 26 actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination for their performance in a musical; hers being West Side Story (1961). The others, in chronological order, are: Bessie Love ( The Broadway Melody (1929)), Grace Moore ( One Night of Love (1934)), Jean Hagen ( Singin' in the Rain (1952)), Marjorie Rambeau ( Torch Song (1953)), Dorothy Dandridge ( Carmen Jones (1954)), Deborah Kerr ( The King and I (1956)), Gladys Cooper ( My Fair Lady (1964)), Julie Andrews ( Mary Poppins (1964), The Sound of Music (1965) and Victor Victoria (1982)), Debbie Reynolds ( The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)), Peggy Wood ( The Sound of Music (1965)), Carol Channing ( Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)), Kay Medford ( Funny Girl (1968)), Barbra Streisand ( Funny Girl (1968)), Liza Minnelli ( Cabaret (1972)), Ronee Blakley ( Nashville (1975)), Lily Tomlin ( Nashville (1975)), Ann-Margret ( Tommy (1975)), Lesley Ann Warren ( Victor Victoria (1982)), Amy Irving ( Yentl (1983)), Nicole Kidman ( Moulin Rouge! (2001)), Queen Latifah ( Chicago (2002)), Catherine Zeta-Jones ( Chicago (2002)), Renée Zellweger ( Chicago (2002)), Jennifer Hudson ( Dreamgirls (2006)), Penelope Cruz ( Nine (2009)), Anne Hathaway ( Les Misérables (2012)), and Meryl Streep ( Into the Woods (2014)).
Gave birth to her only child at age 34, a daughter Fernanda Luisa Gordon (aka Fernanda Gordon ), on September 26, 1966. Child's father was her husband, Lenny Gordon .