Rita played the role of Anita with great emotion and the song 'America' became a highlight because of her. West Side Story was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including Best Picture. The romantic musical drama became the second highest-grossing film of the year in the United States. Moreno was cast as Anita, the Puerto Rican girlfriend of Sharks' leader Bernardo ( George Chakiris), whose sister Maria ( Natalie Wood) is the piece's Juliet. West Side Story is 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. Rita Moreno was finally cast by director Robert Wise in West Side Story (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 1961), the film version of the smash 1957 Broadway musical. Rita Moreno and Carlos Rivas in The King and I (Walter Lang, 1956).Ī retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet Photo: 20th Century Fox.īritish postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. Photo: United Artists.īritish postcard in the Greetings Series. Among the better pictures, she appeared in were the classics Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952) and The King and I (Walter Lang, 1956) starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. The sexpot stereotype would plague her throughout the decade and Moreno had to play roles in films that she considered degrading.
The young Puerto Rican actress/entertainer was featured on the cover of the 1 March 1954, edition of 'Life Magazine' with the provocative title "Rita Moreno: An Actresses' Catalog of Sex and Innocence".
#RITA MORENO YOUNG SKYDRIFT SERIES#
She was often cast as a Hispanic pepper pot or as another 'exotic' such as in the TV series Father Knows Best (1954) as an exchange student from India. In 1950, she was signed by MGM, but the studio dropped her option after just one year. In 1945, the 13-year-old made her Broadway debut in the play 'Skydrift' at the Belasco Theatre, costarring with Arthur Keegan and a young Eli Wallach.Īlthough she would not appear again on Broadway for almost two decades, Rita Moreno, as she was billed in the play, had arrived professionally. At age 11, she landed her first film experience, dubbing Spanish-language versions of US films.
#RITA MORENO YOUNG SKYDRIFT PROFESSIONAL#
From the age of nine, she performed as a professional dancer in New York nightclubs.
Her mother moved to New York City in 1937, taking Rita with her while leaving her reportedly unfaithful husband and Rita's younger brother behind. Her parents were seamstress Rosa María (Marcano) and farmer Francisco José "Paco" Alverío. She was raised in nearby, smaller Juncos, which had no hospital. Rita Moreno was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in 1931 in a hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico. Photo: Rita Moreno in West Side Story (Robert Wise, 1961).
Rita Moreno, as Burmese character Tuptim, in The King and I (Walter Lang, 1956).ĭutch postcard. Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. Rita Moreno in The Toast of New Orleans (Norman Taurog, 1950). Sent by mail in 1971.īelgian collectors card by Kwatta. She was the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar when she received the Academy Award for best female supporting actor for this film.įrench postcard by E.D.U.G., no. Moreno is best known for her role as Anita, the girl of the leader of the Puerto Rican street gang the Sharks in the classic musical West Side Story (1961). Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno (1931) is one of the very few performers to win the Oscar in 1962, the Grammy in 1972, the Tony in 1975 and her first of two Emmys in 1977.
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