Status
Publication
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. HTML:In this luminous memoir, Rita Moreno shares her remarkable journey from a young girl with simple beginnings in Puerto Rico to Hollywood legendand one of the few performers, and the only Hispanic, to win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and two Emmys. Born Rosita Dolores Alverio in the idyll of Puerto Rico, Moreno, at age five, embarked on a harrowing sea voyage with her mother and wound up in the harsh barrios of the Bronx, where she discovered dancing, singing, and acting as ways to escape a tumultuous childhood. Making her Broadway debut by age thirteenand moving on to Hollywood in its Golden Age just a few years latershe worked alongside such stars as Gary Cooper, Yul Brynner, and Ann Miller. When discovered by Louis B. Mayer of MGM, the wizard himself declared: She looks like a Spanish Elizabeth Taylor. Cast by Gene Kelly as Zelda Zanders in Singin in the Rain and then on to her Oscar-winning performance in West Side Story, she catapulted to fameyet found herself repeatedly typecast as the utility ethnic, a role she found almost impossible to elude. Here, for the first time, Rita reflects on her struggles to break through Hollywoods racial and sexual barriers. She explores the wounded little girl behind the glamorous façadeand what it took to find her place in the world. She talks candidly about her relationship with Elvis Presley, her encounters with Howard Hughes, and the passionate romance with Marlon Brando that drove her to attempt suicide. And she shares the illusiveness of a perfect marriage and the incomparable joys of motherhood. Infused with Rita Morenos quick wit and deep insight, this memoir is the dazzling portrait of a stage and screen star who longed to become who she really isand triumphed.… (more)
Similar in this library
User reviews
Or it could be I have idolized since I saw her as Anita on West Side Story. I was mesmorized by her performance. Maria who?
Either way, I really enjoyed her memoir. It was short, my only
I felt like it was a love song or an ode to the places and people who cared, loved or shaped Rita Moreno to who she is. Juncos, where she spent the first five years of her life, her Mami, Marlon Brando, I cannot believe Anita and Jor-El got in on!, her husband of nearly half a century, Lenny.
It felt like Rita Moreno was talking to me about me. It was that organic.
Or it could be I have idolized since I saw her as Anita on West Side Story. I was mesmorized by her performance. Maria who?
Either way, I really enjoyed her memoir. It was short, my only
I felt like it was a love song or an ode to the places and people who cared, loved or shaped Rita Moreno to who she is. Juncos, where she spent the first five years of her life, her Mami, Marlon Brando, I cannot believe Anita and Jor-El got in on!, her husband of nearly half a century, Lenny.
It felt like Rita Moreno was talking to me about me. It was that organic.
Or it could be I have idolized since I saw her as Anita on West Side Story. I was mesmorized by her performance. Maria who?
Either way, I really enjoyed her memoir. It was short, my only
I felt like it was a love song or an ode to the places and people who cared, loved or shaped Rita Moreno to who she is. Juncos, where she spent the first five years of her life, her Mami, Marlon Brando, I cannot believe Anita and Jor-El got in on!, her husband of nearly half a century, Lenny.
It felt like Rita Moreno was talking to me about me. It was that organic.
In
She remembered, âNo one spoke Spanish. I didnât see a single Hispanic face....Because my mami was in such a rush to migrate, she was ahead of the curve.â Instead of coming to work and send money home, her mother came to make a new life.
Rosita worked from the time she was a child, making tissue paper flowers to sell at the five and dime. When they moved to their own apartment, she âspun around the apartment in a spontaneous twirl.â Applause by mother and her friends potent her future career.
Her first theatrical professional engagement at age nine in a Greenwich Village nightclub.
While barely in her teens, she dubbed movies in Spanish for English-speaking films in Spanish neighborhoods and in radio plays.
First Broadway play was Skydrift, starring Eli Wallach. As young and inexperienced as she was, she realized play was bombing so she added actions to enliven in. The leading lady very angry having this child steal scenes. The show closed after one performance.
As she became more involved in theater, she dropped out of school. Eventually she became one of the few people to win Oscar, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Awards because of her talent and dedication to her profession
RITA MORENO: A MEMOIR talks about her motherâs multiple marriages, her own inferiority complex (partially because of her skin color), the way women were treated by movie moguls and her name change. She discusses her personal relationships, particularly her long-term affair with Marlon Brando and her husband. Brando encouraged her to read more widely, especially Art of Loving by Erich Fromm, history (particularly Civil War, slavery, Native Americans.â Eventually, his other affairs and the way he treated her led her to attempt suicide. Seeing her mother and brother Dennis at the hospital afterwards made her realize how âwhen you kill yourselfâor try toâyou wound those who love you.â
Through her sixties, she was offered degrading racist, sexist roles. For West Side Story, all the Puerto Rican characters wore the same color makeup even though the people of Puerto Rico had widely varying skin colors. She was delighted when she was able to portray a woman who wasnât racially ethnic.
She provides behind the scenes information about the way the studios were run, several of the actors with whom she worked, and tidbits about some of the films. Debbie Reynolds had not danced until Singing in the Rain. Donald OâConnell had to go to hospital after filming âMake âEm Laugh.â Gene Kelly had 103 fever when filming title song and dancing in the ice-cold rain.
Her description of how she landed the role of Anita in West Side Story is wonderful.
Well-written and interesting, RITA MORENO: A MEMOIR is a very pleasant visit with a remarkable woman.