Rita Moreno ventures into the dark for memoir
Years after she won the Oscar for her work in “West Side Story,” Rita Moreno heard another perspective about the night she collected the trophy in 1962.
Actress Liz Torres told her that in New York’s Spanish Harlem, there was silence as the award for best supporting actress was presented during the Academy Awards telecast on ABC. When Moreno was announced as the winner, windows flew open and cheers filled the neighborhood.
“I wept when she told me,” Moreno recalls. “Before then, I had never really felt any connection to the Hispanic community. We don’t have a history of writing fan letters — it’s not in our culture. But hearing that gave me a huge sense of pride and connection.”
Moreno was the first Hispanic actress to win an Oscar. Before her victory, Katy Jurado and Susan Kohner were the only Hispanic women to even be nominated.
“Right now, the door is ajar for Hispanics,” says Moreno, 81, who often hears from young Hispanic performers who consider her a role model. “It’s important, particularly for performers that sing and dance, to refer to someone who has won all these awards. That’s really major, and it will remain major until some other performers get some of these accolades.”
She writes about “these awards” — Moreno also has won an Emmy, Tony and Grammy — in her memoir, titled simply “Rita Moreno.” The book isn’t merely a look at a triumphant show-biz career; there are several dark passages, and she deals with them headon.
“Sometimes it was hard to write, but sometimes it was sheer bliss,” Moreno says. “That’s what life is all about. When you write a book that is this detailed, you actually get to experience revelations. Some things are answered, but other things will always remain unanswered.”
Among the mysteries in her life: Her mother brought her to New York from Puerto Rico at age 5, leaving behind the actress’ younger brother, Francisco. The siblings were never reunited, leaving Moreno heartbroken and uncertain about her mother’s connection to her son.
“My mother’s feeling about men in general were always a bit of a mystery to me,” Moreno says. “She had difficulties in Puerto Rico with the men in her life. Her brothers abused her. It’s very easy to be judgmental, but more often than not there are mitigating circumstances, and children are not usually aware of those.”
She casts an equally glaring spotlight on her own relationships. There was a turbulent off-and-on romance with Marlon Brando that ended in 1961 when she attempted suicide with a bottle of pills.
“I was a sick little girl and it was an obsessive relationship,” she says. “We were both obsessed with each other, but he was my drug. I was high (on him), and that is so hard to break from.”
Moreno gleefully reports that Brando was as charismatic off-screen as on.
“The man looked like a Roman coin, for Pete’s sake,” she says, laughing. “He had that kind of profile. He was larger than life, and that was part of what was so intriguing about him. When you’re in the presence of someone very unique and powerful and you’re feeling like a little piece of nothing — it’s very nice to hang out with somebody like that.”
More lighthearted was a short-lived fling with Elvis Presley that ended after he wouldn’t consummate the relationship.
“I had a relationship with the two kings,” Moreno says, laughing again. “Elvis was really sweet and kind of bashful, but he didn’t have a whole lot to say. He was really quite beautiful and worshiped Marlon, but of course he was nothing like Marlon. Elvis may have been the king, but he was sort of like the puppet king to Marlon.”
She also writes about her 45-year marriage to physician Leonard Gordon, who died in 2010. Although the two often were portrayed in the press as a successful Hollywood couple, Moreno calls the marriage bumpy and says Gordon could be controlling. She told their daughter, Fernanda, about the chapters discussing her parents’ relationship.
“I warned her well in advance that it was going to be something she didn’t want to hear, but it wouldn’t surprise her,” Moreno says. “She knew there was a lot of conflict, but she loves her daddy. But none of the things I wrote was hurtful.”
She says there’s a reason she revealed so much in the book.
“If you’re going to write about your life, you must write about your life,” she says, stretching out the final words. “I was as objective as I could be, but at the same time, I had to state my case. And for me, it was important for women to hear about this supposedly very strong person who allowed herself to be at the mercy of one man.”
There are plenty of show-business stories in the book. Her film career includes such high spots as “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Carnal Knowledge,” but nothing can rival 1961’s
EC I“West Side Story,” which still stands as a motion-picture landmark.
“I thought it was going to be a failure,” Moreno says. “Not that there was anything wrong with the film, but they were charging $5 a ticket. I thought, ‘Five dollars for operatic voices and costumes without one sequin in sight: Are they crazy?’ ”
She says the role of Anita — girlfriend of Bernardo, leader of the Sharks gang — is so good that anyone would have had success with it. It didn’t hurt that she played against George Chakiris, who also won an Oscar for “West Side Story,” based on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” “Anita is just a scene stealer,” she says. “Whoever played it would have gotten the same attention. And George ... Oh, such a gorgeous man and such an elegant dancer. Oh my goodness!”
Moreno remains busy with a role on the Fran Drescher sitcom “Happily Divorced.” The show keeps her so busy, she has been unable to appear in “Life Without Makeup,” an autobiographical show that premiered in 2011 and led to the
I CEEach month, and azcentral.com pick one title, fiction or non-fiction, that we think will entertain and shed light on who we are or where we've been. Selection for April: “Rita Moreno,” by Rita Moreno (Celebra, $26.95). Why we picked it: The revealing and candid memoir expresses the same spirit and fire that the actress, dancer and singer consistently displays on-screen.
MIKE LAMONICA book.
She lives in Southern California and keeps her awards in the living room. She treasures all the trophies but acknowledges that if there were a fire, the Oscar would be the one she’d grab before running out the door. “It’s the pinnacle,” she says. “Honestly, I normally don’t spend too much time looking at them,” she says, giggling. “Sometimes, though, I look at the shelf and think, ‘Not too shabby, Puerto Rican girl. Not too shabby.’ ”