From Sexy Senorita to Nun
By Teresa Burney

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During her long career, Rita Moreno has played in dozens of movies, television shows, and plays, and has won some of the most prestigious awards in show business.

An Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, two Tonys, a Sarah Siddons, three ALMAS and a Cable Ace are all hers.

But before the awards started coming, Moreno spent more than a decade paying her dues, acting in nearly two dozen mostly B-grade films cranked out by studios in the 1940s and '50s. Many were forgettable movies with titles like Cattle Town, Fort Vengeance, The Yellow Tomahawk, and The Deerslayer. During those years she was often typecast-the sexy senorita in westerns, for instance.

"I felt very bad about those kinds of parts," Moreno says. "I wasn't doing something I loved."

Still, she had to make a living.

"When I wasn't working, I was hankering to work. And then when I would get a part I would be thrilled then it would be one of those parts and I would quickly be unthrilled."

But there were bright spots, even in those early years.

In 1952's Singin' in the Rain she played Zelda Zanders. "Now that is a part where the character had absolutely no nationality," she says.

Her role in the King and I, 1956, was another noteworthy moment as was a little-known movie that same year called The Lieutenant Wore Skirts. "It was a take on Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. I basically imitated her," she says. "I think that was the first time that people realized I had a talent for comedy."

But it was 1961's musical drama West Side Story that boosted Moreno to stardom. The role of Anita brought her the Oscar and the Golden Globe, for best supporting actress.

Her film work became sparser in the 1960s and '70s but she is particularly proud of her role as Marlon Brando's junkie girlfriend in 1968's The Night of the Following Day. She is also proud to have been a part of Carnal Knowledge, 1971, where she played the role of a stripper, and of The Four Seasons, 1981, the story of three couples.

During the 1970s Moreno was seen more on television, where she was part of the pioneering cast of the children's show Electric Company. In 1972 she won a Grammy for her performance on the Electric Company Album, a spin-off from the show.

Her two Emmys arrived for a variety appearance on The Muppets in 1976 and in 1978 for a dramatic performance on The Rockford Files.

At the same time, she was giving award-winning performances on stage. She picked up a Tony in 1976 for her hilarious portrayal of completely untalented bathhouse performer Googie Gomez in The Ritz. She later played the same part in the film version.

Moreno earned her Sarah Siddons award for the role of Olive Madison in the female version of The Odd Couple in 1985.

Most recently, Moreno's role as a nun on the television series Oz drew her three ALMA awards and a Cable Ace.

"It took me a while to get here," says Moreno.

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