![]() ![]() ![]() For Moreno, that meant being relegated to “Island Girl roles”-ethnic supporting characters often devoid of substance or purpose. “When you’re in a contract with a studio, they own you,” says Moreno’s friend and fellow Golden Age film star Mitzi Gaynor in the documentary. Mayer (who determined that Moreno looked like a “Spanish Elizabeth Taylor”) to Golden Age Hollywood actress locked in the studio system. Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It details Moreno’s ascent from 15-year-old night club dancer who dropped out of high school to help support her family to her discovery by MGM’s Louis B. She has an abortion at the behest of her long time, on-and-off again lover Marlon Brando, and survives rape at the hands of her agent, whom she continued to work with after the fact. Professionally, she confronts the racism and misogyny of Hollywood, toiling away in underwritten and offensive bit parts and going long stretches without work despite critical acclaim. Over the course of the doc, we watch as Moreno leaves Puerto Rico with her mother for New York City-never to see her younger brother again-and, seemingly against all odds, make it big in Hollywood, earning the coveted EGOT status by winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony in competitive competition, and becoming a living legend in the process. ![]() By Wednesday evening, Moreno had issued an apology on Twitter saying she was “incredibly disappointed” in herself for her comments.Īfter watching Moreno’s documentary, Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, which premieres on June 18, it’s clear that Moreno has faced worse over the course of her 89 years than an angry Twitter mob. “I’m simply saying, can’t you just wait a while and leave it alone?” Moreno said, regarding the discourse surrounding representation in In The Heights. On Wednesday, she trended on Twitter for comments she made on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert regarding criticism of the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights for its lack of Afro-Latino and darker-skinned characters in central roles. “He was the lust of my life.Rita Moreno is no stranger to adversity. “This one, it’s almost seems like a vignette out of a movie, so that’s why it’s there,” she said. That’s why his photo gets a place in her bedroom. The actress, who now stars in Netflix’s reboot of “One Day at a Time,” has made peace with her past with Brando. She’s also become beloved in the Bay Area for her performances in acclaimed Berkeley Repertory Theatre productions, including a one-woman show based on her memoir. She was the first Latina to win an Oscar and she’s one of the few performers to also win an Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. Moreno devoted a sizable chunk of her book to Brando, who won two Academy Awards for “On the Waterfront” and “The Godfather” and who died in 2004.Ĭertainly, Moreno has enjoyed a storied life and career apart from Brando. The actress said she attempted suicide after he returned from shooting 1962’s “Mutiny on the Bounty” in Tahiti, where he had fallen in love with his Tahitian co-star. Moreno, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for 1961 “West Side Story,” has previously written in her memoir, “Rita Moreno,” about how her obsessive love for the Method-trained Brando “almost proved fatal.”īrando also married two other women and fathered children with these wives while carrying on with Moreno. “Why that picture of Marlon Brando? Because he was a big love of mine in my life,” Moreno explained. Moreno refers to Gordon as the “love” of her life and to Brando as the “lust” of her life. Promotional portrait of American actor Marlon Brando with his arms folded, circa 1951. The 85-year-old Academy Award winning actress met Brando at age 22 on the set of the 1954 Napoleon biopic “Désirée.” A black-and-white photo of Brando in his prime is displayed in Moreno’s bedroom, along with photos of Gordon, who died in 2010. Moreno opens up her home for a tour with People magazine, which notes the 5,500-square-foot home is decorated in colorful ways that reflect her Puerto Rican heritage, world travels and family. If you were to visit Rita Moreno’s multilevel contemporary home in the Berkeley Hills, you’d find photos in her bedroom of Leonard Gordon, who late husband of 45 years, along with Marlon Brando, with whom she had a torrid eight-year affair that almost killed her. ![]()
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