8/25/2023 0 Comments Rita moreno young west side story![]() This at my age! How does that happen? And it happens to people even at my age and older … Oh, we are so fragile, it’s ridiculous!” she smiles. ![]() ![]() “I’m terrified that I’ll disappoint everybody. She debuted her one-woman show, “Life Without Makeup” at Berkeley Rep in 2011 after developing stage fright. Meanwhile, she was appearing in PBS’s “The Electric Company” (1971-77), ABC’s sitcom “9 to 5” (1982-83), voicing the title character in Fox Kids’ “Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego” (1994-1999) and then in HBO’s gritty prison series “Oz,” as Sister Pete (1997-2003). She re-created the role of Googie Gomez in the 1976 film version of “The Ritz,” directed by Richard Lester. Playwright Terrence McNally wrote the role in “The Ritz” specifically for her, based on a character she created at parties, of a singer-dancer whose confidence and thick accent outweigh her talent. She won three-fourths of her EGOT quartet in the 1970s, with a Grammy for the album of “The Electric Company” (1973), a Tony in 1975 for “The Ritz” and two Emmys: first for her guest appearance on a 1976 segment of “The Muppet Show” and then in a 1978 episode of “The Rockford Files.” 27, 1961, said she “presents a fiery characterization and scores hugely.” It happened with the 1961 “West Side Story,” for directors Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. I was determined that, with perseverance and faith, at some point someone would say ‘This girl has talent’ and would cast me in something meaningful.” But I had to make a living and I had to be an actress. It dismayed me I began to feel demeaned, that my dignity was on the line. The characters all sounded the same, because I had no idea how these nationalities sounded, but nobody else did either. “I always had to have an accent, even though I spoke better English than many of the people (who hired me). I could play a Polynesian, East Indian princess, whatever.” She also played Native Americans, Southeast Asians, and of course the Latin spitfire. Any character who had dark skin, I got all those parts. It taught me that I had to find value in myself.” There were occasional career highlights, like a small part in “Singin’ in the Rain,” which gave her the chance to observe Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen in action, and as Tuptim in 1956’s “The King and I,” which she says was “lovely role.”īut most of the parts were “embarrassing,” she said. It sent me into psychotherapy, which is one of the smartest things I ever did. She told Variety: “I was not treated like a serious young actress and that was very hard.
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