Rita Moreno is Miss Puerto Rico: Triple Threat. Singer, dancer, actress, and EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) recipient. Her resume is extensive in the entertainment industry; most notably for capturing roles in musical films Singin’ in the Rain (1952), The King and I (1956), West Side Story (1961).
Speaking about Singin’ in the Rain, Moreno has said that Gene Kelly wanted her in the movie and she seemed to fit the role he had in mind for her: silent film star Zelda Zanders. “He (Kelly) never said ‘Oh, she’s too Latina,’ he just thought I’d be fine for it.” Her most notable role? Anita in the original West Side Story. “What was important about Anita to me — and still is — is that Anita, believe it or not, was the only part I ever remember where I represented Hispanics in a dignified and positive way.”
She almost didn’t take the role that made her a huge star after hearing the original lyrics she’d have to sing in “America”: “Puerto Rico. You ugly island, island of tropic diseases.” She threatened to turn down the role, but Stephen Sondheim ended up changing the lyric to: “Puerto Rico, my heart’s devotion, let it sink back in the ocean.”
West Side Story is making a comeback on the silver screen December 10th, 2021 and a role was written specifically with Rita Moreno in mind. She’s also an executive producer. After all, she did win the Oscar for her portrayal of Anita in the 1961 movie. The day before the movie premieres, December 9th 2021, Moreno will turn 90 years old.
After her Oscar win, Moreno thought more was to come for her. She thought she’d be met with offers to play more big roles or even roles written with her in mind. I mean, this happens for actresses that typically win Oscars, right? An Oscar usually propels an actresses’ career, right? Unfortunately, not for Rita Moreno.
After the thrill was gone, Moreno’s life slowly returned to her reality: as a Latina actress. She was offered stereotyped roles as housewives of gang members and of the like. She cites this time as “the heartbreak of her life”. She turned these offers down, and rightfully so, since they were often offensive or insignificant. She didn’t make another movie for seven years after winning her Oscar.
In 1975, she won a Tony for her role in The Ritz. For most of the 70’s, Moreno was a cast member of the children’s show The Electric Company for which she earned a Grammy award for the show’s album. Cue the phrase: Hey, you guys! She also snagged a role in The Muppet Show, another children’s program, and earned an Emmy. Thus, in 1977, she was then an EGOT recipient.
In more recent history, she’s been featured in series like The Golden Girls, Miami Vice, Murphy Brown, Ugly Betty, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? and Oz. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.
A new PBS documentary based upon her memoir, Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, narrates her life and career. Coming up in the “Golden Age” of Hollywood, she experienced her fair share of sexism, racism, and sexual assault.
She described Buddy Adler, former Fox Studio Chief and extremely powerful in Moreno’s professional world at the time, as someone she would try desperately not to be alone with. She added her experience in light of the Me Too movement sparked by the disgusting actions of Harvey Weinstein. Unfortunately, men like this exist, and Moreno wanted to shed light on her experience as a woman being hounded for over a year by a man who had the power to sidetrack her career.
Love Life
As for her love life, Moreno has caught quite a few big fish in her lifetime. She dated big names like Marlon Brando and “The King” himself, Elvis Presley.
“I dated Elvis to make Marlon jealous. So for a short while there, I had the two kings of different things, show business royalty.”
She and Brando had a tumultuous relationship that caused her to attempt suicide. After the attempt, Brando sent her a letter giving her closure, an apology, and a final goodbye. Six months later, he called her up and they became friends.
Moreno married Leonard Gordon in 1965. They had one child together, a girl named Fernanda. Gordon died in 2010. Despite being together for 45 years, Moreno describes herself as “blossoming” after Gordon’s death. She felt like she could finally be her “raucous” self, which he often described as her “show business-self”.
“I really did love him, but what happened was … sometimes people make contracts with each other that are never verbalized or spoken. In my case, it was, ‘I’ll be a wonderful little girl and amuse you and make you happy if you will be my daddy and my protector and take care of me.’ That’s what our contract really was, and the day that I decided I wanted to start growing up is when the marriage got into trouble, and that literally started in our seventh year. I remember talking divorce with him at that time. And of course, we didn’t, and I didn’t and that as that. But I was unhappy for a very, very, very long time.”
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