Rita Moreno was born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano on December 11, 1931. Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer.
Rita Moreno 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. Among her numerous accolades, she is one of a few performers to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT), and the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy, and Tony awards.
Additional accolades include the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2015, and a Peabody Award in 2019.
Moreno’s early work included supporting roles in the classic musical films Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and The King and I (1956), before her breakout role as Anita in West Side Story (1961), which earned her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first Latin American woman to win an Academy Award. Her other notable films include Popi (1969), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Four Seasons (1981), I Like It Like That (1994), and the cult film Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). Moreno portrayed Valentina in the 2021 remake of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg.
What did Rita Moreno say about her husband?
“My husband was a terrific man, just not a good husband. He was a controller.” Moreno added that she would never have shared these feelings publicly while Gordon was alive — much less in a documentary. “I would never have talked about him without his permission.