Now ninety years old with a career spanning more than three quarters of a century, Rita Moreno defied her humble upbringing, relentless racism and rampant sexism to become a celebrated and award-winning actor.
From show off to show girl to show stopper, she was determined from an early age to fulfill her dream of being a movie star, and that journey is candidly mapped out in the appropriately named film, RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT.
Born into poverty on a Puerto Rican farm, Moreno and her seamstress mother immigrated to New York City when Moreno was five years old. Eleven years later, after studying dance and becoming a paid performer, Moreno scored an interview with Louis B. Mayer who proclaimed her a Latin Elizabeth Taylor and signed the 16 year old to an MGM contract. She was cast as any ethnic minority needed: Polynesian, Native American, Egyptian, Thai.
Many of the early films were forgettable, but she did score a number of high profile and classic films such as Singing in the Rain and The King and I before becoming the first Latina actress to win an Academy Award for her role as Anita in “West Side Story” in 1961.
Her acceptance speech on Oscar night was one of the shortest on record and the Award did nothing to catapult her career as the studios continued to offer Moreno lesser roles as stereotypical ethnic minorities, ignoring her proven talent. Television roles became her staple and she went on to win Emmy Awards for The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files. For her stage work, she won a Tony for The Ritz and she scored a Grammy for The Electric Company.
RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT examines the toxic and tumultuous relationship she had with Marlon Brando, the positive outcome from which came her political activism, and her forty-five year marriage to Leonard Gordon which produced a daughter, and subsequently two grandsons.
Still working – she stars and executive produces the latest cinematic incarnation of West Side Story – Rita Moreno is an inspiration, busting down barriers of ageism, racism, and sexism.
ON DIGITAL DOWNLOAD DECEMBER 15, 2021
Including interviews with
EVA LONGORIA | GLORIA ESTEFAN | MORGAN FREEMAN |WHOOPI GOLDBERG
Richard Cotter