Rita Moreno, First Latina to Earn an EGOT, Is Celebrated by SAG
"I am breathless, I am so bloody happy," said the vivacious, 82-year-old, Rita Moreno, upon accepting The Screen Actors Guild's 50th SAG Life Achievement Award on Saturday.
But the truth is the Puerto Rican actress, singer and dancer has left audiences breathless for decades.
Moreno continued to wow the crowd as she broke into song with: "As I approach the prime of my life... I find I have the time of my life."
"The show-business veteran and a SAG member for more than six decades, is one of only 11 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony - a feat known as the EGOT," The Los Angeles Times points out.
Her lively approach to life as well as her spunk and humor can, in part, be credited to her Latin roots -- and quite possibly great Latin coffee!
She says her philosophy for how she's managed to look so good for so long is: "Living in the moment. Smell the roses. Smell the coffee. Whatever it is that makes you happy."
While her life hasn't always been roses and sunshine, she admitted in her memoir last year that a eight-year affair with the late actor Marlon Brando almost cost her her life, but from that experience she gained strength and took back control of her life.
Moreno was born Rosa Dolores Alverio in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx, N.Y. When she broke into show business, she took on her step-father's surname as well as Rita, based on American actress and dancer, Rita Hayworth.
Best known for her work in West Side Story (1961), "a modern musical inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet," for which she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Anita, "the tough but vulnerable girlfriend to the Sharks's gang leader-becoming the first Hispanic actress to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar," Biography reports.
"After her success with West Side Story, Moreno took on a range of interesting roles on stage and in films. She performed with the likes of Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson and James Garner. Her career took another interesting turn in the 1970s, when joined the cast of The Electric Company, a children's television program. She stayed with the program for six seasons and became known for her trademark catchphrase: 'Hey, you guys.' She and the rest of the cast won a Grammy Award in 1972 for the show's soundtrack."
Shortly after, Moreno won a Tony Award (best featured actress in a play) for her work in Broadway's The Ritz (1975). She then went on to win two Emmy awards for guest appearances on The Muppet Show (1977) and The Rockford Files (1978).
Moreno continued to impress with her "turn as a no-nonsense nun" on the cable television series Oz from 1997 to 2003.
She just finished a run as Fran Drescher's mother in the TV Land comedy Happily Divorced. She will appear next in the upcoming indie drama Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks with Gena Rowlands, the LA Times adds.
According to Variety, Moreno, who "has long been a pioneer among Latina performers on stage, TV and film," credited her "perseverance" for her success, quoting her old friend, Mexican radio/TV/theater and film actor Ricardo Montalban, on the subject of how to increase diversity in Hollywood.
"The door is ajar," she said. "We have to open that door. We'll get there."
Watch Moreno's acceptance speech, she's definitely one of a kind and a class act!