Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. She is noted for her work on stage and screen in a career spanning over seven decades. Moreno is one of the last remaining stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Rita Moreno, (born December 11, 1931, Humacao, Puerto Rico), Puerto Rican-born American actress, dancer, and singer who accomplished the rare feat of winning the four major North American entertainment awards (EGOT): Emmy (1977, 1978), Grammy (1972), Oscar (1962), and Tony (1975).
But in what would be her first clear experience of how little power she had in that era, the teenager known as Rosa Dolores Alverio was forced to change her name. "They didn't know what to do with me because of my name," she says. "I didn't like the name Rita but they chose it because I liked the actress Rita Hayworth.
Rita Hayworth HORRIFIC tragedy.. lN€EST, surgeries, powerful men & worse..
What ethnicity is Rita Moreno?
Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. She is noted for her work on stage and screen in a career spanning over seven decades. Moreno is one of the last remaining stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The West Side Story star shares daughter Fernanda Luisa Gordon with her late husband Leonard Gordon. Moreno and Leonard, a former doctor who later managed Moreno's career, got married in 1965 and welcomed Fernanda a year later. Leonard died in June 2010 at 90 years old.
But offstage, her night was only getting started: After accepting the award from Hudson, she ran into Joan Crawford backstage, who was there to present the best actor award and, as Moreno put it, “drunk as a skunk on vodka.” “She hugged me so hard she covered my face entirely,” Moreno said.
Given the nickname “Rosita,” when she was young, Moreno's birth name was Rosa Dolores Alverío. She spent much of her childhood on a Puerto Rican farm until she was five years old. Her mother saved enough money for them to move to New York, but Moreno's little brother Francisco had to be left behind.
Rita Moreno does not currently have a husband. Her late husband, her only husband, was Leonard Gordon. Gordon was a cardiologist and internist before retiring from medicine to become his wife's manager.
When Rita Moreno was filming the 1961 movie “West Side Story,” her skin color — as well as that of the numerous white actors playing Puerto Rican characters — was darkened with makeup. Moreno, who is Puerto Rican, questioned the makeup artist on set about the practice.
Born into poverty on a Puerto Rican farm, Moreno and her seamstress mother immigrated to New York City when Moreno was five years old. After studying dance and performing on Broadway, Moreno was cast as any ethnic minority the Hollywood studios needed filled: Polynesian, Native American, Egyptian and more.
Family is very important to Moreno; she also loves cooking, especially Puerto Rican and Cuban food. Her go-to dish is rice and beans with sweet plantains.
Until the age of 5, Moreno lived in Juncos, Puerto Rico on the edge of the El Yunque rainforest. Moreno's mother, Rosa Maria, took 5-year-old Moreno to New York City via the S.S. Carabobo, leaving behind her younger brother Francisco.
With a career spanning nearly 80 years in the entertainment industry, Moreno is one of a few individuals to have won the four major annual American entertainment awards: an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony.
Rita Moreno was hooked when she was tapped to play a ghost in the television comedy "Lopez vs. Lopez," starring comedian George Lopez and his daughter, Mayan Lopez.
