All language subtitles for Rita.Moreno.Just.A.Girl.Who.Decided.To.Go.For.It.2021.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-LAMA

[claps]

[birds tweeting]

[crinkling]

Boy, I hate doing this.
I really hate this.

-[laughs]
-No, they have people to do this.

You can tell I'm not a real star 'cause
somebody else would be doing this.

Exactly.

[lively jazz music]

[Rita] How interesting when you begin
to get a… a glow about you

because things are going so well.

Show business, that's why you must
never really believe anything.

I mean, about your fame
and all that kind of bullshit.

Yeah, it goes up and down.
Right now, it's up.

Whoo-hoo!
[laughs]

Ai, shit!
[chuckles]

Oh, a diamond's on the floor.

It started with my 77th
and it was so much fun and so good.

For my birthday parties,
I always do a theme

and I demand costumes.
[laughs]

People love to wear costumes,
you know that? They love it.

This year, it was Cuba.

[Fernanda] This is like a kids' party.
[laughs]

I'm not sure how it relates to Cuba,
but it's cool.

-You know how it relates? It's festive.
-[Fernanda chuckles]

That's exactly how it relates.

Come look at the baby bananas.

Sort of looks like an elephant penis.

Aren't they darling? Hey, love.
They're like my little babies.

-[lively music]
-[indistinct chatter]

Rita, she's like… She is a diva girl…
[laughs]

…in the best sense of the word.

She comes with, like, history.

[Norman] I can't think of anybody
I've ever met in the business

who lived the American dream
more than Rita Moreno.

[Rita] Being a natural performer…

I mean, I just think I was born that way.
I was wired that way.

I wanted to be a movie star
from the time I saw my first picture.

[all singing in Spanish]

[Rita]
And I always think, what a journey.

[singing in Spanish]

I got a message for your American buddy.

You tell that murderer
that Maria's never going to meet him.

You tell him
that Chino found out about them

and shot her!

She's dead!

[woman] Some might view Rita Moreno
as the embodiment of the American dream.

Eight decades after Rita Moreno
first laid eyes on the Statue of Liberty,

she continues to personify its promise.

That here, in America,

no matter what you look like
or where you come from

or what your last name is,
you can make it if you try.

[woman] What she was able to achieve

coming from a colonial-migrant
background into stardom.

Some people might see it that way.

But to me, I see more the limitations,
the obstacles put in her way

simply because of her perceived origin

and the associations
that people had with that.

When Rita Moreno came into the scene,
she was following very few people.

Uh, Rita Hayworth being the obvious one.

Rita Hayworth, you know, masking
in some ways, her Latina identity.

And Rita Moreno,
I think, faces that challenge, too.

What is the possibility
for someone like her to play herself?

[Rita] My mommy used to call me
her little doll,

her muñequita.

And that was a role I learned to play.

-Hello, cutie.
-[indistinct laughter]

I talk out loud to myself.

I've done this since I was a little girl.

My mother muttered constantly in Spanish.

[mutters in Spanish]

[laughs]

I even tell myself jokes sometimes.

Not tell jokes,
but I'll say something in a funny voice

and I'll laugh at myself.
[laughs]

[Rita] I was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico.

Humacao is the one town
that had the hospital.

That was in 1931.

I had my little brother, Francisco,
and my father, Paco Alverío.

I was barefoot most of the time.
We didn't need shoes for anything.

I remember my mamma going to
the local creek to wash clothing.

And all of the women there would sing

and yell across at each other
and tell stories and…

[speaks Spanish]

You know?
[chuckles]

And the kids would play in the creek.

It's, um… It's a very happy memory.

When my mother got her divorce,

we moved in with Grandfather
who used to make me dance to records.

Not make me. I loved it.

Very early on, I realized that getting
attention was a very nice thing.

What really changed all that
was moving to the United States for a…

"better life."

Si, and Chino makes half
of what the Pollack makes.

-The Pollack is in America--
-Oh, here comes the whole commercial.

-Hey, your mother's a Pole.
-…a Pole.

[both] Your father's a Swede.

-[George] But you were born--
-[Rita] You were born here,

that's all that you need.
You're an American. But us?

-Foreigners!
-[all] Lice! Cockroaches!

[Rita] My mommy and I took a ship
called the SS Carabobo.

Which is really a hilarious name

because in English
it simply means "stupid face."

Which is not a good omen, by the way…
[chuckles]

…because we immediately ran into a storm.

We were throwing up, we were sick,
people were very frightened.

So that was our entry
into this so-called better life.

It didn't take me long
before I figured out

my mom was leaving Puerto Rico for good.

And she was leaving my papi
and my little brother Francisco.

I never saw my brother again.

Coming from Puerto Rico to New York
was like experiencing a reverse Oz.

To go from that glorious place,
green and colorful, to this.

I looked at this lady way up there,
this green lady.

And she seemed
to be holding a giant ice cream cone.

I thought she was
the President of the United States.

[Frances] People arriving in the '30s
are coming during the Depression.

That's one of the reasons that
Puerto Ricans encountered certain…

uh, or had certain tensions
with other groups

that were also competing for the limited
a-amount of jobs that were available.

[Rita] When we arrived there,
I think it was probably February.

Freezing, freezing cold.

[Hector] Things were very tough
economically in Puerto Rico.

So they arrived without clothes
on their back, literally.

But they always had
a certain style, a certain cachet.

They were just, "Oh, miro."

[Rita] And my mom would sew for me a lot

because she dressed me up
like a little doll.

There was so much abuse and, for real,

to segregate shit
in New York at that time.

[Rita] I had to be very careful
about walking on certain streets

because these boy gangs would hang out
and they would call me names

that nowadays
a lot of people don't recognize.

Spic, which was one of the worst things
you could call somebody in those days.

You can walk on this block
with your people, but not on that block.

Um, you know, it was, uh… That was real.

That was real
and… and the discrimination you faced

based on what block
you were walking down, uh, was very real.

[Rita] And I grew up in New York City
learning and believing

that I didn't have much worth.

If you feel that you have no value,
that's a very, very serious illness.

And I went through
that kind of feeling of unworthiness

for years and years and years.

Dancing lessons was
the perfect panacea for me at the time.

And so I started doing Spanish dance.

I made my professional debut
when I was six

at a Greenwich Village nightclub.

A lot of the formative years of her life
are spent figuring out how to survive,

and at an early age, she figures out
that she can survive by dancing.

[Rita] I dropped out of school
when I was 15, something like that.

And I started to work right away
in nightclubs.

[Tony] At the age of 16 years old,

she was the sole breadwinner
for her family.

[Rita] I remember
doing one show at a waterfront

where the young men were waiting to leave.

I remember I sang "Rum and Coca-Cola"

♪ Drinking rum and Coca-Cola ♪

in my Carmen Miranda getup
that my mom made for me.

She made all my costumes.

And this big bell went off
like a school bell

and it was time
for some of those boys to leave.

And, you know, I didn't get
the poignance of a moment like that.

I didn't understand that maybe at least
half of them were not coming back.

Entertaining for her was a form of
surviving some very tough experiences.

[Rita] I wanted to be in movies
from the time I could say movies.

That was my goal,

that eventually somehow or other
I would get into movies.

And when a talent scout did spot me
at a dance recital

and he was from MGM,
I was crazy with joy and happiness.

He went backstage
and gave my mother his business card.

And he said, "Louis B. Mayer is in town."

He was the head of MGM Studios

and responsible for, among other things,
The Wizard of Oz.

He said, "He's going to be in town.
I want you to meet him."

We met him in the penthouse
at the Waldorf-Astoria,

but we had a hard time getting up there

because we didn't know
what a penthouse was.

We didn't know what elevator.

My mom says, "I don't know what to do."
So, we go to the desk.

She said, "We have to see Louis B. Major.

And, uh, we don't know what to do."
And the lady says,

"You just press the button that says PH."

In that manner she said it. "PH."

"Oh, okay."

So my mom presses PH and we go
straight up to his penthouse apartment.

We'd never even been to a hotel.

I mean, this was all absolute… I was 16.

We dressed me up to look as much
like Elizabeth Taylor as possible.

It was really fun.
We got me a… a corselete

to make my waist small
because she had a tiny, tiny waist.

And, uh, we did some help up here.

And I did my hair like her,
I did my eyebrows like her.

I did everything I can to look like her.
She was my role model.

Because there were no role models
for someone like me in those days. Nobody!

There was nobody.
So, she was all I could look up to

because she was young, she was a teenager.

And I went in there and we met,
and he sized me up.

And he says, "My God," he said,

"She looks like
a Spanish Elizabeth Taylor."

I was so thrilled.

And I got a contract from that,
from not doing anything.

Here's the funny thing,
you work your ass off all your life

and then something like this happens

and it didn't take anything
but a connection with somebody.

It's so… it's bizarre.

[train announcer]
Union Pacific going west.

Train No.103, streamliner,
City of Los Angeles.

[Rita] And about six months later,
my mom and I took the train to Hollywood.

And we found a little cottage

in Culver City very close to the studio
so I could walk there

because we didn't know how to drive,
we didn't have a car.

[light music]

I mean, think little Puerto Rican girl

who nobody thought much of
at MGM with a contract.

It was unspeakably exciting.

And I have to tell you
that I was there every day.

Good morning.

Thank you.

People were not nice to me at MGM.

I mean, I would say hello

and people would just
sort of look the other way.

You know, I instantly took it to mean

that because I was Latina,
that's inevitable, right?

When you're not treated well
and you have that problem, uh…

or that fear,
that's always what you think of first.

Oh, blintzes? Seriously?

Wow.

Oh, my.

-Yum, yum, good for the tum.
-[man laughs]

-[Rita] Hey, good morning.
-[man] Hey, good morning. How are you?

[Rita] Do you like blintzes?

[man] No, I do eggs
and bacon every morning.

-[Rita] Oh, okay.
-[man] I like my cholesterol high.

Exact… Oh! No higher
than sour cream, dear.

-[man] See you out there.
-[Rita] Okay.

Good morning, Dr. Ford.
Thank you for coming forward

and being willing
to share your story with us.

I know this wasn't easy for you.

Sexual violence is a serious problem.

In the United States, it's estimated
one in three women and one in six men

will experience some form
of sexual violence in their lifetime.

I really was very often treated
like a sex object.

One of the things the publicity
department would do sometimes

is fix you up on a date with somebody
who actually wanted arm candy.

The studio would ask contract players
to go out on pretend dates.

And every time
your picture was in a magazine,

they mentioned 20th Century Fox
and your next picture.

When you're in a contract to a studio,
they own you.

I think Rita and I
and most of the girls then expected it.

[Rita] I was in my early 20s.

They said, "Go to this cocktail party

because there's going to be
a lot of important people there.

And, uh, this fellow
that we… we'd like to fix you up with

is kind of well known
and, uh… it might do you some good."

I thought, "Oh, okay,
we'll go to the cocktail party."

The host,
the man who ran a big whiskey distillery

comes over to me, he says, "Come on,
I'll introduce you to… to people."

And he introduced me to Harry Cohn,
the head of Columbia Studios,

a distinctly vulgar and crude man.

And before I knew it,
he actually said to me,

"You know, I'd like to fuck you."

I mean, that may have been the third time
in my life I heard that word used.

And what did I do?

I giggled like an idiot,

and-and just backed away.

The host of the evening,

Mr. Distillery, Mr. Whiskey,
comes over to me and he said,

"Why don't you dance with me?"
I said, "Sure."

So, we started to dance
and he began to press against me

very, very hard.

And before I knew it,
he started to get a little bit of

sweat beads on his upper lip

and he started to breathe heavily
and he was really…

He wasn't pressing against me.
He was grinding against me.

And he actually said,

"You're a sexy little bitch, aren't you?"

I went out into the garden

where I found Mexican gardeners,
because this was an afternoon party.

Tears again, started to say,
"I need your help. I have to go home."

They didn't need an explanation,
they kind of knew.

And they put one
of their jackets on me and took me home

to my little cottage in Culver City.

And those were the first gentlemen
I had seen that whole afternoon.

♪ Tina-Lina, prepare to lose your heart ♪

♪ When you do the Tina-Lina
All you need's a concertina ♪

♪ And a bit of dance space on the floor ♪

[Rita] I was this young actress
trying to make my way.

Hollywood in those days was a place

where people like me played native girls.

An accent was always necessary.

The native's bad.
Must you say it over and over again?

They were dark-skinned.
They were nothing like me.

And all of these characters were
always treated like illiterate, immoral.

They were always
men's, uh, uh… little island girls.

[man] What are you reading?

A book of magic.

Now, what does a girl like you
want with a book like that?

I will prepare a great love spell

and then I will work the magic
on Tonio and he will love me.

But, you know, that's… I'm an actress.
I'm supposed to be able to do anything.

So at first, I accepted all that,
I thought it was fine.

But then it got to the point
where I was doing nothing but that.

An island girl.

It was an Esther Williams swimming movie.

They used to call her
Esther "The Backstroke" Williams.

So I got a feature role in that,
but it was again makeup the color of mud.

-I'm right here.
-[men laugh]

Okay, come along.

That's all I ever got.

And it began to really hurt.

Hey, Pepe!

Hey, how are you?

We're given a lot less space to identify
with ourselves, to grow into ourselves.

You know, our business is
predominantly built and funded by men.

And so, when they do
make things for us to be in

it is in a very, very limited scope.

A woman, she wants a man.
Hey, Pierre, catch.

As an actress,
there were so many other things

that you're holding down
because it would not be understood.

It would be too much.

She was deciding
that her story and who she was,

was more important
than how they viewed her.

You know, I knew her iconically
from West Side Story,

but one of my other favorite movie
musicals is Singin' in the Rain.

And she's in Singin' in the Rain.

♪ Singin' in the rain
Just singin' in the rain ♪

[woman] The darling of the flapper set,
Zelda Zanders!

[crowd scream]

Zelda! Oh, Zelda!

[Karen] In Singin' in the Rain,
she has sentences

and has a character that we remember.

Zelda's had so much unhappiness.
I hope this time it's really love.

And she is not known as a Latin actress.

She sort of…
She fits into this scope of showgirls.

And when I got old enough
to look back and I noticed that,

I thought, "Oh, my gosh.
She was a trailblazer."

I thought, "Okay,

I'm not going to have
to do those parts anymore."

I was so thrilled.

♪ I'm singin' in the rain
Just singin' in the rain ♪

[Rita] I was there when
Gene Kelly sang to "Singin' in the Rain".

So, it was one of the great experiences
of my life. I loved it.

It was such fun.

♪ And the sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love ♪

[Rita] And… and you know
it had to happen with Gene Kelly.

Of course, it would happen with Gene Kelly
'cause he was a smart man, all that…

P.S. It all went right back
to the, uh, the dusky maiden roles.

[man] He bring present to King.
Her name is Tuptim.

Mrs. Anna? Please, you have
some English books I can read?

Yes, of course, my dear,
but they're not unpacked yet.

[women chatter, laugh]

[Rita] In the King and I,
I was under contract to 20th Century Fox.

And this girl is present to me
from a Burma prince.

[Rita] He called me up one day
on the phone. He said,

"This is Yul Brynner."

My name is Tuptim.
I already speak English.

[Rita] He said, "You know,

your part is very boring
because you're just a soubrette."

He says, "All you do is pine and look sad

because you can't have your lover
and that's boring."

And of course, I agreed with him.
Those parts were impossible to play.

At least to play them interestingly.
There was nothing.

You… You know, you always
just go around looking like this.

♪ Behold and believe what you see ♪

And I just, you know,
tried to do the best I could

with what… with what was a boring part.

"We Kiss In The Shadows", lovely song.

But she was always like,

♪ We kiss in the shadows ♪

If it could only be.

It will be. I swear this.

When all is arranged,
I will get word to you.

[Rita] That is what
I was being trained for.

For the rest of my life,
that is what I was going to do.

[Tony] She made herself
into somebody she wasn't

in order to please other people
for a very long time.

As an entertainer and as a woman.

[Hector] At the time,
many of us were not recognized

or not given opportunities
to… to do the work we could do.

Fortunately for me,
it was three times easier.

It was three times harder for women.

Let go of me, I tell you!

[announcer] And love hits her
as it has never hit her before.

I remember her saying
it… it really hurt her soul

to have to play
those characters in that way.

And we have to remember

when our community only sees that
in media and television and in film,

when you only see those characters
portrayed in that negative way,

it's not only educating
other communities about us,

but it's also teaching us
how we see ourselves.

♪ Two ladies in the shade
Of a banana tree ♪

♪ How delectable desires… ♪

[Rita] I hated being Hispanic
because I learned very early

that it was not a good thing.

You were looked down upon
or you were thought of as a sex object.

Hello.

This is just like a movie I saw.

The girl lived upstairs

and used to come down
and visit the man downstairs

and air-condition herself off
with his air conditioner.

[Eva] When you move to Hollywood,

you get a very fast education
about what box you belong in.

I remember encountering the same
struggles that Rita encountered,

which was, "Can you do it with an accent?
Can you… Can you make it more Latin?

Can you do it a little more spicy?"
What is… What does that mean, spicy?

[Tony] She's on this set
and she's playing a Polynesian girl.

And she's aware
that there's an accent involved,

but nobody on the set seems concerned
about what kind of accent to use.

No one's helping her,
so she comes up with what she calls

the universal ethnic accent.

You know, she was auditioning
for the Russian girl…

[with accent]
…and she would talk like this.

And then they go, "Okay,
could you audition for the Cuban girl?"…

[with accent]
…and she would talk like this.

And then they go, "Okay, can you… can you,
you know, do the Hungarian girl?"…

[with accent]
…and she would talk like this.

Nobody even knew the difference.

Those are very different countries.
[laughs]

She had to have
a lot of staying power, um…

because there wasn't
a whole lot for her to do.

If you're artistic-minded,
you do what you have to do.

[Rita] I wanted to turn the parts down,
but what happened is

that's all that was offered
and I had to make a living.

So I was kind of stuck.

And I just made the best of it
and did all those kind of roles,

but I did a lot of those…

[with accent]
…where I talked like this all the time.

"Why you no love me no more?"

And here's her sense of humor, she said,

"I got so tired of having to say,
'Why you like white girl?'

Or 'Why you take gold from my people?'"
[chuckles]

I think that's funny.

[Rita] I was doing a film
called Seven Cities of Gold.

I was once again the Indian girl
who was the mistress of a white man.

And he tells her
that he doesn't want her anymore.

You don't want me.

[man] Now, Ula, wait!
Ula, stop! Now, wait!

I didn't mean it, Ula.
Really, I didn't. Ula!

-Ula!
-[Ula screams]

[Rita] Ula is lying amongst the waves.
And it just so happened on that day

that millions of little stinging jellyfish
were in the water.

Needless to say, I was twitching.

And the director said,

"For Christ's sake, will you stop moving?
You're supposed to be dead, you know!"

And I said, "I-I-I'm really sorry but,
um, uh, there's a lot of jellyfish here

and they're stinging me."
He says, "Shut up and do as I say!"

Yeah, that's what he said
in front of the crew, everybody.

There you have it.

He didn't see me as a young actress
trying to make her way in Hollywood.

Rosita Moreno, now Rita Moreno.
He saw me… as Ula.

And I get the message loud and clear:
shut up and be sexy.

…uh, stated she doesn't know
Judge Kavanaugh,

and doesn't recall
ever attending a party with him.

My staff has made repeated requests…

The FBI explicitly does not
in this or any other case

reach a conclusion. Period.

Oh, bullshit! Jesus. Unbelievable! FBI!

[man continues speaking on TV]

Actually, my agent raped me,

and I didn't even realize
that he had done that, uh…

I was in his apartment
because we were going to go somewhere.

He was going to take me somewhere.

Maybe it was even to dinner or something.

And I was all dressed up
and he said something about

how pretty I was
and how I looked beautiful.

And before I know it,
he's, uh, kissing me,

forcing himself on me, actually.
I'm not kissing him.

And he pushes me, because it was a couch.

And he actually…

Um, he actually raped me.

And, um…

It was a terrible story
because I was also menstruating.

[clicks tongue]

And I pushed him away
and I ran out of there.

[woman on TV]
Because how women are treated for…

Here's what's terrible.
I still let him be my agent.

Because he was the only one
I knew who was helping me

in my, uh, so-called career.

That's what astonishes me,
that I thought so little of myself.

[man on TV] Well, then let's
go back to the incident.

What is the strongest memory you have?

The strongest memory of the incident,
something that you cannot forget.

It's the laughter,
the uproarious laughter between the two.

-[Rita] Their raucous, raucous laughter.
-[woman] Hideous! Hideous!

[Rita] As he mounted her.

She was just asked if, uh,
she can one hundred percent identify

who was on top of her and she said,

"One hundred percent," without hesitation.

I am so glad she came out.

Hey, this is Lucia.

Lucia does magic with hair.

I-I had to deal with it in some way,
so I just…

took everything out of my mind,
and I was like that for a long time.

Everything out of my mind.

Until somebody said to me,
"You-You-You really need therapy."

It was Marlon Brando.

From what I understand, uh,
Rita Moreno wasn't just

dating Marlon Brando.
They had an affair that lasted years.

[Rita] We were together almost,
on and off, for seven, eight years.

He was anathema to my life.

Marlon Brando was the single
greatest movie star of his generation,

especially in the 1950s.

It began with A Streetcar Named Desire.

He was the king.
I mean, he was a huge star.

Like very few eras have seen, actually.
And he loved me.

♪ Be careful ♪

♪ It's my heart ♪

He was the daddy that I couldn't please.

I didn't know that.
I wasn't aware of that at all.

But he was the one I needed to please.

He was the one I wanted to be married to.

Have you ever been so obsessed by somebody

that you feel as if
you can't breathe without them?

-[audience] Whoo!
-Yeah.

[chuckles]

That's how Marlon felt about himself.

[laughter]

[cheering, applause]

[Rita] You know,
I… I think of it now, I think…

[exhales]

…what was to love?

But there were certain things
that just thrilled me.

The fact that he was in fact ungettable,

that made me extremely attracted to him.

He looked like a Greek god
for heaven's sake, he really did.

And he was probably one
of the funniest people I've ever known.

And he really did care for me.

♪ Be careful ♪

♪ Be careful ♪

[Rita] I was pregnant.

Uh… Marlon had made me pregnant,

but I can't say I blame him entirely
because I let it happen.

I think I had some hopes
that, uh, he would say,

"Oh, well, in that case,
let's get married."

But it wasn't that way,
it didn't happen that way.

He asked somebody
and somebody found a doctor for me

who would do it.

Obviously, sub rosa.

And I had to bring cash with me.
And he put me to sleep and did the deed.

Well, he actually didn't
really do the deed.

He disturbed the pregnancy
is what I found out

when for days and days, I kept bleeding.

And I remember my…
my roommate, my girlfriend,

very close friend, said,
"This is not supposed to happen."

[hesitates]

Very scary because I could have died.

It's being made harder and harder
for women to have abortions.

They're closing a lot of clinics
and it-it's terrible.

And I believe very firmly

that a woman should have the right
to an abortion if she needs it.

-[Rita] Women matter.
-We are America.

[crowd cheer]

And we are here to stay.

I remember her speaking out at marches
in New York City when I was young.

Any time any kind
of women's cause came to her,

she would be there for them.

There is a gender imbalance
and there is an abuse of power

that continues to happen
in-in many industries.

Because I had my experiences at a time
when it was just par for the course.

It was so rampant.

[reporter] It's just accepted,
you're saying, back then?

Of course. Particularly then.
I mean, who were you going to go to?

Nobody was going to do anything about it.

I think I knew
one female music executive at the time

throughout my music career.

But I know of everything that happens.

The abuses of power
that happen with beautiful women,

and it still happens and it's still
going to continue to happen.

And it's up to all of us to change it.

When Rita was talking about it so loudly
and clearly in her lifetime, um…

we didn't pay attention
and w-we didn't appreciate

the whistleblowing
she was doing at that moment.

[Annette] One of the things that brought
Brando and Rita Moreno together

was that he was deeply involved
in the Civil Rights movement.

So he shared with Rita Moreno
a social consciousness

which was not as typical of actors

in the late '50s, early '60s
as it is today.

To her mind,
he was involved with the world,

he was a student of the world,

he wanted to talk about many, many, many
things that she loved being exposed to,

and then steeping herself
in trying to educate herself.

In some ways,
she becomes a conscious activist.

[Rita] I got up in front of a microphone
for the first time in my life

and I talked about how we had to
organize to stop these atom bomb tests

because of stuff that was in atom bombs

that would get into the grass
of meadows all over the place.

My first major experience
was on the march on Washington

when I sat no less than 15 feet
from Dr. Martin Luther King.

[applause]

One hundred years later,

the Negro still is not free.

[Rita] I was there when he uttered
the "I have a dream" speech.

[Martin Luther King]
We can never be satisfied

as long as the Negro is the vic-victim

of the unspeakable horrors
of police brutality.

I loved being listened to

when I was saying
very, very important things

that I had never thought of before.

To the Negro kids,
to the Puerto Rican kids,

to the Chinese kids,
to every nationality, listen to this.

Wear your nationality like a flag.
Be proud of it.

Be proud you're Puerto Rican,
be proud you're Negro.

[cheering]

For the very first time in my life,
I felt very useful.

I loved it.

Number one, I was getting attention.
[laughs]

Always and ever the actress, right?

[Jackie]
She is very uncommon in Hollywood.

She really cares about issues.
I mean, I'll talk to her from time to time

and she is as knowledgeable
on current issues

that I may be debating
as someone on my staff.

And then she is just full of
you-know-what and vinegar.

[laughs]

Hello.

Oh, Rita, you're here. My God.

I didn't know you were coming.
[laughs]

-How are you?
-Hi. Look at this joint.

This joint. That's, uh… That's precisely
what Rita would call this, a joint.

-Oh, this is fantas--
-You know.

-Why are those teddy bears priced?
-Oh, because

-that pink teddy bear is more expensive…
-[Rita chuckles]

…than the blue teddy bear.

-Because it's a girl?
-Yes.

-Are you serious?
-I'll show you.

[Jackie] The same, um, company,
the exact same teddy bear.

From the same company?

[Jackie] Same company. Look at it.
I mean, they're identical.

-Twenty-eight.
-[Jackie] Thirty-one.

Thirty-one for the girl!

[Jackie] I've been working on it
for about six months.

We're introducing the bill
for National Women's History Month.

-What's the bill?
-It's going to repeal the gender tax.

-There's a gender tax?
-[Jackie] The Pink Tax.

The Pink Tax Repeal Act
is what we're calling it.

Anyway, that's why they're in here.

But I have more,
do you want to see more items?

-Yeah.
-[laughs]

-Chin up. And now eyes open.
-[Rita] Okay.

[photographer] Yes. Yes. Gorgeous. Yes.

The struggles involving being a female
in the industry of making art…

[laughs]
…are many.

If you look at cinema,
most of the movies include one woman.

At least one.

But they all include men.

It really has to do with the people
who call the shots

deciding that they're going
to go out on a limb

and tell a different story
in a different lens.

So…
[chuckles]

…you know, in so many ways,

we always have to prove we're worthwhile.

That's a lot of work. It's exhausting.

[Eva] It's very disappointing
because what happens is,

you don't get our perspective

and you don't get to see
stories through our lens.

We're not a special interest group,
we're half the population of this globe.

[Rita hums]

This is a rehearsal, this picture,
during the filming of West Side Story.

And as you can see,
the boys are dancing in this direction.

They're doing a rehearsal.

I am doing a rehearsal
going in the other direction.

This is not posed.
I was constantly rehearsing

because I felt that I wasn't up
to the talents of the young dancers.

So, I was constantly like this.
I never took a break.

Whenever there was a ten-minute break,
I'd get up and do this again.

I'd just rehearse
and rehearse and rehearse.

So, rehearsal pays.

You know, she has a mother. Also a father.

They do not know this country
any better than she does.

And you do not know it at all.

Girls here are free to have fun.
She is in America now.

Puerto Rico is in America now.

Ugh!

Sometimes I don't know which is thicker,
your skull or your accent.

[Rita] What was different
about Anita in West Side Story

is that she was a girl
who respected herself,

who had a certain amount of dignity.

Actually, she became my role model,
I… since I never had one.

She had a… a sense of herself.

She was proud of herself and she spoke up.

First, settle your stomach.

Never mind my stomach.

Well, I mind
your nose and your head broken.

-Broken?
-Sure.

They use Maria for an excuse
to start World War III.

She did not cower as I did
so many times so many years ago.

So, I loved her. She was wonderful.
I loved playing her.

When you look and you think, "Oh, yeah,
you are your own heroine, you know.

You are the woman that you are playing

that you want to be
to… to guide you to go forward."

You know, that's not easy to do,
but she did it.

She was only dancing.

With an American who's really a Pollack.

-Says the spic.
-[ensemble] Ooh!

Anita is fiercely independent.
Her relationship with Bernardo

has to do with control.

There are all these power dynamics
between men and women

in that culture at that time.

Once an immigrant, always an immigrant.

Hey, look. Instead of a shampoo,
she's been brainwashed.

-Stop it.
-She has given up Puerto Rico,

-and now she's queer for Uncle Sam.
-Oh, no. That's not true.

♪ Puerto Rico, my heart's devotion ♪

♪ Let it sink back in the ocean ♪

[Rita]
The verse originally went like this.

♪ Puerto Rico, you ugly island ♪

♪ Island of tropic diseases ♪

I'll stop there because

that's a… that's a…
[gasps]

♪ Always the hurricanes blowing ♪

♪ Always the population growing ♪

[ensemble exclaims]

♪ And the money owing ♪

♪ And the sunlight streaming ♪

♪ And the natives steaming ♪

♪ I like the island Manhattan ♪

I know you do.

I remember that when I got the part
and I worked so hard to get that part,

the first thing that came to my mind was,

"Oh, my God. She sings that.

I can't do that."

In the "America" number,

there were some Puerto Ricans
that feel some lines of that number

are particularly denigrating
for Puerto Ricans.

Everything is great in the United States

and everything is terrible
in Puerto Rico, that dichotomy.

I think there's a lot of Puerto Ricans
that don't share that view,

uh, and feel that that is
a… a denigrating picture of Puerto Rico.

♪ Life can be bright in America ♪

♪ If you can fight in America ♪

♪ Life is all right in America ♪

♪ If you're all white in America ♪

Here's what people miss.
That's Anita's view.

That is not the director
or the playwright,

it's not Rita Moreno either.
It's Rita Moreno playing Anita,

who doesn't want any part of Puerto Rico
'cause she's in America now.

That's what she says.

♪ America! ♪

♪ America! ♪

Some people that watched
West Side Story during the '60s

felt ashamed of being Puerto Rican
and… and also angry

that they would be portrayed
in the big screen

for everybody to see
as criminals and oversexualized people.

At its core, it is a well-meaning show,

but the effect of it
being such a worldwide success,

particularly the movie,

is that that was many people's
first exposure to Puerto Rican people

and it's not one
that we created ourselves.

[Frances] So on the one hand,
you might have a pull

towards, uh, feeling uncomfortable
with that scene.

On the other hand, Rita Moreno's
performance is so exceptional.

She takes that role
that's limited to begin with

and in… in overcoming
the limitations of the role

and demonstrating, uh, the power
of a Puerto Rican woman's performance,

she challenges the stereotype.

[Julia] In West Side Story, she takes us
through the joy and the tragedy

of living as a Puerto Rican woman
in the United States at that time.

And she plays it so well

that it's very hard
to think of West Side Story

without thinking of her as Anita.

♪ Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha! Cha-cha! ♪

[Rita] When I did the scene
in the candy store,

I used to call it the rape scene

[man 1] Get her!

…where the boys attack Anita.

[men shout]
Come on! Come on!

[Anita screams]

[man] Stop it!

[Rita]
We did that scene many, many times.

And they kept calling me Bernardo's…
Bernardo's pig and-and-and, uh…

And all kinds of…
all kinds of terrible, terrible names.

And I just suddenly, I left the scene,

I pushed the boys away
and just started to cry and cry and cry.

I could not stop crying.

And all of the wounds
that I thought had closed,

all the scars opened all over again.

It was just astonishing.

Bernardo was right.
[sobs]

If one of you was lying
in the street bleeding,

I'd walk by and spit on you.

[man 3] Don't let her go. She'll tell
Chino that Tony's hiding in the cellar.

Don't you touch me!

After she pulls herself together
and… and then she says, "Don't you…"

Four words, but she says it with such…

depth and… and… and power,
it's so fantastic.

Because of the breadth of Rita's career,
one project or another will resonate.

For some people, it's West Side Story.

But for me, the breakthrough for Rita,

I believe, is when
after her attempted suicide,…

she said, "I'm going to live.

I am not going to quit.
I'm not going to give up."

When I tried to do away with myself,

I wanted to do it
because I couldn't take the pain anymore

of the relationship
I had with Marlon Brando.

It was humiliating
and I was letting him step all over me.

And I hated myself so much,
it was a very strange reason.

Most people I don't think do this.

I wanted to get rid of myself
because I didn't think I deserved to live.

And I took the pills.

When I got home from the hospital
and I survived the attempt,

I went back into therapy

and stayed in therapy
for about another month.

And then I said,
"I think it's time for me to go,

I think I've done what I had to do.

I have exorcised this man from my life."

There are things about me
that I… that still hurt.

And it takes me back
to being a little girl again

and being, um, maligned.

But I can't seem
to get rid of that… that hurt.

But I think sometimes there are wounds
that simply don't heal well.

The insanity!
[chuckles]

Seven years after I attempted
to end my life over Marlon,

I'm making a movie with Marlon.

I just wanted to know
where you were last night.

Where do you think I was?

You talked to my brother
until six o'clock in the morning?

We do the scene and we do our dialogue.

Oh, no. We… I went down
to the whorehouse first

and then we had a lot of girls downstairs

-drinking beer.
-Ugh! Oh, oh, I see. Which whorehouse?

And I haul off and smack him on the face.

-Liar!
-And he hauls off and smacks me back.

Don't you hit me!

That opened an old scar

of when he would take advantage of me,
when he had other women.

Pond scum came to the surface.

And I started screaming at him.

-I'll just go to the other bedroom!
-Oh, shut up.

Damn it!
[screams]

And they never stopped filming.
The director loved it,

knowing that those were
very personal tears,

hav-having nothing to do with the scene.

I think it gave me closure,
really, because I at least

was able to get even
with him in my very childish way.

[Tony]
I think her breakthrough is post-Brando.

And she's coming out of that darkness.

And she's…

facing a crisis in her life.

Having to examine yourself

and finding value in yourself

is the only way to become a whole person.

It's the only way.

And I think that
the only way is, uh, therapy.

And I think
she chooses the road less traveled.

And I think
it's why she's got all these awards.

[announcer] Show you what it's like
in Hollywood on Oscar night.

The stars arriving
and the general feeling of excitement

that is here on this biggest of all nights
for the motion picture industry.

[George] The car came to pick me up first
and then we went and we picked up Rita.

And she said,
"I'm practicing my loser's face."

[laughs]

We made all kinds of sour grapes speeches

in the big limousine
that Goldwyn Studios had hired for us

on the way to the theater
because we were so sure we wouldn't win,

and we made up these hilarious speeches.

"I didn't want it anyway and it's
a lousy movie" and all that kind of stuff.

[announcer]
Natalie Wood making her entrance.

[Rita] On Oscar night,

my friend told me, who lived
in the Hispanic ghetto, the barrio,

she said all the windows were open
because it was very, very hot

and you could hear
the Oscars on all the television sets.

And when Rock Hudson came on and said,

"The nominees for Best Featured Actress…"

Judy Garland in Judgment at Nuremberg.

…the place went stone quiet.

And Rita Moreno in West Side Story.
May I have the envelope, please?

[exhales]

-Rita Moreno in West Side Story.
-[applause]

[Rita] And when he called my name out,
the place went crazy.

Latinos were sticking their heads
out the windows screaming,

"She did it! She did it!"

All I remember thinking was,
I mustn't run to the stage.

I must have dignity.

And it was so hard
not to just run up there

and grab it out
of the arms of Rock Hudson,

who was the fellow who gave it to me.

[applause continues]

-I can't believe it!
-[laughter]

Good Lord. I'll leave you with that.

-[laughter]
-[applause]

[reporter] Rita,
what's on your mind at this moment?

Absolute awe. I can't believe it.

I really can't.
Well, I… I guess I can now.

-But at the moment, I couldn't.
-[reporter] George?

[Fernanda] My mother really
makes no secret of the fact

that she still is under the influence
of the little girl that she was,

the Rosita who was insecure

and felt like had to kind of gird herself
to try to be what she wanted to be.

[reporter] West Side Story
seems to be the big one.

What are you going to do
for an encore now?

-It's hard to follow.
-Yeah, you can't follow it.

Then I see that juxtaposition
with what she's become

with such, so much self-assurance
and confidence.

I was handed this beautiful golden man.

-And I just said, "I don't believe it!"
-The shortest speech ever.

Well, you do believe
that I wasn't prepared for it, right?

I've been trying
to make up for it since then

with long acceptance speeches.
That's all I could come up with.

Really thrilling and touching speech.

-"I don't believe it!"
-[laughter]

You also have one of the shortest
Oscar speeches on record, correct?

I did not expect to win.
I thought Judy Garland would.

Had you, um, spent more time
up there at the podium,

what… who would you thank,
what would you have said?

-Glad you asked.
-[laughter]

But I know that she still goes
through stage fright sometimes

and still feels inadequate.
So, yeah, there's a dichotomy.

The beauty of Rita is
how she is in touch with who she is,

the integrity of the person.

The joy of Rosita.

But the curse of Rosita.

And here she is, Miss Rita Moreno.

[applause]

You know, now that you've won
an Academy Award,

I imagine you're sort of anxious
to do more pictures, aren't you?

Well, yes,
there's several I'm considering,

but I have to be careful
to find the right part.

Oh, I know. I know what you mean.
I have the same problem.

[laughter]

Jack, you haven't made
a picture for 20 years.

-Do you see how careful I am?
-[laughter]

[Rita] After West Side Story,
believe it or not, I could not find work.

-[woman] What?
-[indistinct laughter]

-That's what I say.
-[laughter]

I was offered some things,

but they were all
these Latina characters in gang movies.

So I just said no.

You know, I tucked my little gold man
under my arm, I said,

"Uh-uh. I'm not going to do
that stuff anymore with the accents."

I did some television.
I did summer theater, that kind of thing.

So I was working, but I didn't do
one bloody movie for seven years.

After London, I got my very first
leading lady part on Broadway.

And I was so excited.
Broadway was really big stuff.

The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
didn't even last a week.

[chuckles]

But that's when I met Lenny.

[Fernanda] My father had
a patient in his practice

who was this Jewish psychologist
named Leah.

She got them both
to a dinner at her house.

My father was completely entranced.
So he asked her out for New Year's Eve.

He's like this normal, stable guy,
so she's immediately suspicious.

[laughs]

Like, "What? This can't be good."

She's not attracted to guys like that,
she's attracted to, like, wild men

who were self-destructive geniuses.

She said, "Okay, pick me up
at the theater at 10:30."

And he didn't really ask questions. So…
[chuckles]

he goes to the theater
all dressed up on New Year's Eve.

And people start to trickle out
and he's looking for her.

She stood him up.

He's furious, like,
"How could she stand me up?"

Rita's in her dressing room,
"Where's Lenny? He stood me up."

[laughs]

-"How could I be stood up by this guy?"
-It's now, like, 11 o'clock at night

and he starts to walk away
kind of dejected,

walking down the street and he looks back

and he sees "Rita Moreno in
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window"

and he's thinking, "Oh, my God."

So he runs back into the theater,
he runs backstage,

and he knocks on her dressing room door
and he opens it and he says,

"Are you the Rita Moreno?"
[laughs]

He has no idea it's Rita Moreno.
Like, that Rita Moreno.

And she's so charmed

that he was so innocent
and he didn't know and that was it.

So they got married six months later.

He liked her for who she was as a person,
not because she was Rita Moreno.

♪ Skies ain't gonna cloud no more ♪

[Tony] She was herself.

♪ Crops ain't gonna fail ♪

["Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe"
by Rita Moreno]

♪ It seems like happiness ♪

♪ Is just a thing called ♪

♪ Joe ♪

♪ He's got a smile ♪

[Tony] Lenny was a really,
really caring, smart, sweet man.

[Fernanda] My mother and father
were a lot of fun together.

My father made my mother laugh so much,

which I think is such a great basis
for a relationship.

My father was very witty.

We would do things
like go out to dinner together

and we would play that game
where you see sort of an odd couple

and we would all make up stories
about how they were together

and why they were there
and what were they hiding.

And we were a pretty creative family.
[chuckles]

[laughs]

How are you, sweetie?
Oh, it's so good to see you.

-Tell me about Alexa. How is she?
-She's really good.

Is she good?

Have you gotten used
to not being with her?

Yeah, it's hard. Um, but we're like…

For the situation
we're doing really good, actually.

We've kind of established that, like,

we're not going anywhere
for each other any time soon.

You really actually…
you really sort of made a pact?

Yeah, well, it's like, kind of,
like, an unspoken, like,

-we're not… we're not fooling around.
-Right.

If your show gets picked up
for a fourth season,

which it should, ob-obviously…

[Rita] Oh, did you see it at all yet?

-Did you see the…
-I saw the first episode. It's really…

[Rita] Is that hilarious
with Gloria Estefan?

-So funny.
-[Rita] Oh, I'm so glad you saw it.

Did you see The Jimmy Kimmel Show
that I was on?

-[Justin] It's really good. Really.
-Wasn't that fun?

-Yeah. And he's really nice.
-[Justin] Yeah.

[upbeat music]

[applause]

[audience cheering]

Wow. That was a…
that was a fantastic entrance.

-How are you?
-What a band!

-Thank you. Thank you very much. They're…
-What a show!

Yeah, so I taught them all
to play their instruments.

I wonder if you have any idea

what a major figure you are
in my life and my childhood.

-In your life?
-Yes, in my life.

I mean, first of all,
West Side Story the album

was one of, like, only six albums
we had in our house

and we'd just play it over
and over and over again.

And The Electric Company, you know, was…

I mean, that was… that was it for me
as a kid in New York.

-Wasn't that a great show?
-That was a great show.

♪ We're gonna light up the dark of night
Like the brightest day ♪

Oh! And Gladys giggled,
Ooh! "Let me glow."

[Eva] I didn't know her name,
I didn't know anything about her.

I just knew there was somebody
who looked like me

on one of my favorite shows.

[upbeat music]

[Rita] Those were my bliss years.

I'd never been so happy
at home and in my career.

Well, you… would you do your phrase
from Electric Company?

[shouts]
Hey, you guys!

[applause]

[whistle blows]
Hey, you guys!

"Hey, you guys!"

"Hey, you guys!" is how we would
call out to each other in the house.

The grown-ups were doing
children's stuff, you know, so…

Is that heavy?

We did a lot of off-the-wall stuff
just playing around.

Watch. Hello.

I mean, she had this character.
She was a film director.

And she would always be smacking herself.

Stop!

But we were obviously enjoying ourselves.

-You got salad?
-We got salad.

-What kind of salad?
-All kinds of salad.

We got green salad, sardine salad,
tangerine salad, magazine salad,

jelly bean salad, blue jean salad,
and special today gasoline salad.

[Rita] I won a Grammy
for the album of the Electric Company.

I always loved to visit The Muppets set.

That was one of
the great experiences of my life.

Jim was…

It was… it was a chance
to work with a genius.

I gave him some ideas
that he loved and we used.

♪ Never know how much I love you ♪

♪ Never know how much I care ♪

♪ When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear ♪

♪ You give me fever ♪

This gives you a sense of the diversity
of Rita Moreno's career.

Her career did not take off
after West Side Story

rising with bigger and better parts.

Her career widened to encompass
a diversity of roles and media.

She won her first Emmy
for The Muppet Show.

[laughter]

Now that's my kind of woman.

[Annette] But then a year later, she won
her second Emmy for The Rockford Files.

[announcer]
The Rockford Files: The Paper Palace.

[applause]

[Rita] I mean, oh, my gracious!

I want to say only…

I don't know what the hell
I want to say, I'm so excited.

But simply this.

I can only wish for you that you were me.

-[laughter, applause]
-Thank you.

The Rita I wrote a part for
was a character she created at a party.

This ridiculously untalented young actress
who didn't know how bad she was.

And so I started writing this character
called Googie Gomez.

And this just came out.

[with accent]
♪ I had a dream ♪

♪ A dream about your baby ♪

♪ It's gonna come true, baby! ♪

♪ They think that we're through, but! ♪

[Frances] She's challenged stereotypes
by actually creating a character,

Googie Gomez,
whose job pretty much is to expose

the absurdity of these stereotypes.

♪ Things look swell ♪

[Frances] The exaggerated accent,

uh, the assumptions
about people's intelligence.

It's an overt critique through art
or an artful critique of stereotypes.

[singing continues]

It is a stereotype in a loving sense.

And I loved her and I got a Tony.

[applause]

Finally, I'd like to say,
Miss Supporting Actress,

who-um-ever you might have been,

I'm a little bit regretful because
I am the leading lady of The Ritz,

I'm not a supporting actress. I mean…

[applause]

If it was, uh,
if it was up to Googie Gomez,

who is the character I play in The Ritz,
she would say, "Listen, honey…

[laughter]

…the only thing
I support in that show is my beads."

[laughter, applause]

[Annette] Rita Moreno was certainly
the very first Latino performer

to win what is called the EGOT.

The Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.

Pssh! I mean, that's quite
a-an-an amazing achievement.

Now it seems to be a much bigger deal
and… and a very competitive thing.

People are like, "I gotta get it."
You know it's like…

We just were working.

We didn't know
we could get an EGOT, you know.

So, we did the work and…

People saw it and said,
"We… We, uh, we like what you did,

you know, we like what you did."

[man] W-W-W-Wait, wait, wait!

We proudly welcome
to the Hollywood Walk of Fame,

Miss Rita Moreno.

-[Rita yelps]
-[applause, cheering]

[Rita] I'm 64 and for a woman
in my business at that time,

you were history.

But that's when I got my star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

So, I'm thinking,
um, maybe with all this publicity,

something might come up and, uh…

a couple of years later, I'm playing
a nun working in a prison on Oz.

Do you enjoy sex with men?

I enjoy sex, don't you?

You told me you were married
before you became a nun.

-You and your husband had great sex.
-Chris.

I can tell you did.

[chuckles]
I bet you were wild.

Lint.

[Tom] The role Rita played on the show

was one of the basic f-foundations
of the show.

The reason that I wanted Rita to do it

was because she just brings
such authority and such honesty

to whatever's she playing.

And I thought it would be great amongst
all these rough-and-tumble prisoners

to have this strong and powerful woman
uh, telling them that they can have sex.

And so I can't imagine the show
without her now.

I mean, it… it's inconceivable.

[indistinct chatter]

You missed our last two sessions. Why?

On Oz, she was sort of amazing
because she got to use all of herself

and use more of the Rita I know,
knowing her as a friend.

She got to be self-righteous,
she got to be flawed,

she got to be really fucking smart.

[knocking on door]

-Everything all right in there, Sister?
-I'm fine.

[Tom] Rita says to me that
Oz brought her back, but the truth is,

uh, I don't think she ever went anywhere.

I think maybe she wasn't getting
the kind of parts she wanted to get.

I mean, she certainly was great in it,
but she's convinced

that she… that somehow
Oz brought her back.

Maybe it did, I don't know.

When I was in Boston
for the Fourth of July Boston Pops,

I saw a little T-shirt that said
something I love that was so me.

And I spent a lot of money
on a gown for tonight's event.

The critics, you know.

And then I looked
at that T-shirt and I thought,

"I love what it says
and it is so who I am."

So it's the first time
I will not be wearing a gown

to one of these fancy things.
[laughs]

Okay, putting on the famous Moreno face
that we all know and love.

[clears throat]

It's so funny because there's a song
going through my head that makes me laugh.

♪ I've got to be me ♪

[chuckles]
♪ I've got to be me ♪

While she's putting on makeup
and hiding her me-ness.

[soft music]

Yay.

[Fernanda] My mom and I are very close.

As an only child, I am so lucky
because I had a cool mom.

-Wait, do you mean this? This one?
-That one, yeah.

[reporter] Well, everyone hears so much
about, like, stage mothers

and mothers in show business.
But what it's like for you?

-I'm dying to hear all this.
-[reporter, Fernanda chuckle]

[Fernanda] We love our makeup and
we love our shoes, particularly shoes.

So, she's Big Imelda

and I'm Little Imelda.
[chuckles]

Her closet is massive and mine is,

um, in training.
[chuckles]

I've also been on the road with her
as her backup singer and dancer,

traveling like gypsies.

My mother had a road manager

and at that time we were doing big shows
like in Vegas and Atlantic City.

And this road manager one day got sick
on the road and couldn't do the lights.

And my father, the doctor, said,

"I can figure this out. I'm a smart guy."

And he loved it because
he was kind of a control freak.

He became a show biz/ doctor person.
[laughs]

You know, every so often they would
get really irritated with each other…

[chuckles]
…like most married people.

Um… But for the most part,
they were a pretty amazing couple.

But you got married
and you got a very romantic husband

who obviously is like a leg man
or something, you know.

[laughter]

She's got great legs.

Did you end up more Jewish
or did he end up more Puerto Rican?

I've been… really,
I… I call myself an honorary Jewette.

-Which is very sweet.
-Yeah.

But you have a good marriage. It's…

-Terrific.
-Everybody absolutely gets it.

We celebrate… just celebrated our nine--

-our 19th anniversary.
-[Joan] God bless you.

-That's it.
-[applause]

Uh, we were really not a good couple,
although everybody thought we were.

And we played the role.

In public, we were always
holding hands and nuzzling.

And, uh, indeed he was sincere.

I wasn't.

He was a wonderful, loving person.

But boy, oh, boy, oh, boy,
did we have problems.

He was a person who just took over.
He was a controller.

And of course, that's why I married him.

Until the day when I wanted
to grow up in our relationship

and it wasn't working.

I'm a raucous person. I love to laugh.

And I can get loud.

And that part of me, he really disliked
that part of me very, very much.

And I love that part of me.

That's the child in me that I… I think
is just neat and… and fun and swell.

And, uh, it really bothered him.
He felt embarrassed.

This is a hell of a subject
when you're trying to do your eyeballs.

Jesus Christ.
Are we sure we want to do this?

I don't regret ever having married him.
I mean, look what happened. Fernanda.

And look what happened,
grandsons whom I just adore.

So, no, not… I don't regret that,

but I regret that I stayed
way past the time I should have.

I was surprised by that
because I knew Lenny.

And she never shared that with me
when-when-when he was alive.

Um, so when he passed away

and-and she got, again,
self-awareness, what…

She's processing.
She's going back into therapy.

She's trying to figure out
who she is in this thing.

And she understands
that some of the patterns

that have been with her her whole life
are inside of her… of her marriage.

[Rita] Now I have tears in my eyes.

Let's stop for a second so I can put
some drops in my eyes, okay?

I'll tell you what happened when he died.

For one thing, I was
in the hospital room with him

for… about a month and a half.

And one day, the… a nurse came in
and she said in the most…

[exhales]

…casual way,

"Mrs. Gordon, Mrs. Gordon,
your husband's stopped breathing."

Just like that. It was…

And I looked at this thin, frail…

little body

that could cause me such angst

and sadness and joy

because he was one
of the funniest people in the world

and who loved me so deeply.

You know, when Lenny died,

I gave that needy little Rosita
permission to leave.

And to answer your question,
which was "Were you relieved?"

Yes, I was.

When I came back to California
to this house,

I asked my assistant
to get me a big glass of wine

and I sat out in my beautiful courtyard

and just drank a lot of wine.

And I thought, "It's over.

I don't have
to answer to anybody anymore."

Living alone is really pretty neat.

Especially when you like
who you're living with.

No. That does not look good.

Well, because it's just fighting.
It's fighting this.

Actually, they probably don't…
shouldn't be long.

No, you know what it is?
It's too… They're too close together.

You need, like, a stud. More of a…

-Is this one okay? It's shorter.
-I don't love that.

You don't love that either. Okay.

[Rita] What about…

that?

[Fernanda]
That's… oh, that's pretty good.

-That's pretty good.
-[Rita] Okay.

You've got a geometric thing going
on there. That kind of works, I think.

I just love that.
I think it's just such a great idea.

[Fernanda chuckles]

Don't you? Makes me laugh.

[laughs]
It's such a '70s pant.

[Rita] But something interesting happened.
My career began to take off.

Now, how do you figure that?

It probably had something to do
with my attitude

and my… profound happiness
at just being me.

[Norman] Here's your
Television Critics Association

2018 Lifetime Achievement Honoree,

the unforgettable Rita Moreno.

-[applause, cheering]
-[upbeat music]

-[Rita] Come in.
-Hi. Five minutes.

-[Rita] Oh, I'm ready. Thank you.
-Okay, perfect. Thank you.

The role that I love the most
that Rita's played, Lydia.

Oh!
[chuckles]

Oh, my gosh.

I love that character
because you get every bit of her.

[director] Okay, here we go, guys.

-[announcer] Rita Moreno!
-[audience cheering]

[Norman]
We were looking for a grandmother

and the mother of a glorious actress,
Justina Machado.

And there's only one Rita Moreno.

Oh, Rosito, papi.

Oh, he was so sad because
he asked Chloe out and she said no.

But what did I tell you?
I said you keep trying. Wear her down.

[laughter]

-Don't take no for an answer.
-[laughter]

Lydia is my mom. She is my mom.
That is my mom's accent.

But there's a big caveat here.

It's easy to fall into caricature
with her because she's so big.

-It is never over.
-[cheering]

But I'm big. I'm as big as you get.

I may be petite, but I am big, that's me.

But you have to be so careful
with a character like that.

The stereotype comes from
how others tell our story.

I'm interested in how we tell our story.

We're always… They're…
They're going to tell our story

however they're going to tell it,
and that's what it is.

Um, but when we tell our story,

who are we choosing
to… to put up on that screen?

I think that's another part
of the conversation.

One of the great secrets of Rita Moreno
is that five-year-old never went anywhere.

Okay, four, take…

-Ohh, kichi-kichi-kichi.
-[laughter]

[Rita] Okay.

[laughs]

Oh, ya caught me.

[Justina] She loves to shock.
Yeah, she just loves it.

We were at a fundraiser and people
were not donating enough money,

and nobody was doing anything.
Finally, she got up there.

She auctioned off a dinner
for her and four people.

She would cook for 10,000 dollars
and she flashed her boobs.

And she got that 10,000 dollars.

[laughs]

Well, I'm just a dirty old lady.

I asked the writers.
I said, "Make her sexual.

Why should, you know, people be…
who are older not be sexual?"

You don't forget.
And they did that for me.

Here it goes again.
I will not be able to hear my name.

Who the… who the, uh, uh,
who, uh, who am I?

[cheering]

[Norman] She is an original.

And she can't help
but be that every minute of her life.

[cheering]

So, one gets lost
in her personality happily

and feels better for being with her.

When I'm coming home now
with all this crap on my face

and I have to wash it off,

and nine o'clock might
as well be 12 midnight right now.

I'm really, really exhausted.

[Sonia] At 87 with a hit show on Netflix

and a movie in the works,
it's a remake of West Side Story,

she shows no signs of quitting.

-I love this.
-Yeah, the people walk up there.

-[Rita] Right.
-[man] You'll see all the shadows.

This time
with Latino actors in the lead roles.

[applause. cheering]

-Not too bad.
-Uh-uh.

-Not too shabby.
-Not too shabby.

[Rita]
You want to talk about full circle.

This is crazy. It is cuckoo.

What is going on here?

The gods, the… the stars
and the planets are aligned.

-I danced with Rita Moreno!
-[laughter]

[man] One more time.

[Rita] You know, you think that once
you felt the warm glow of recognition

you wouldn't fear
the shadows anymore, but…

You know what? A lot of us still do.

It's interesting how we keep
dragging our past into the present.

I am so blessed.

Damn the shadows and here's to the light.

Thank you.

[applause, cheering]

She ends up becoming Rita Moreno
who is a truth seeker for the work.

For three or four generations,
if we thought there was no place for us

in this world of the arts
that we wanted to get into,

we could look up and see
Rita waving that flag from the moon

and say, "Okay, well, she could do it.
How close can I get?"

[Frances] It is her talent
that made her overcome

all these limitations and challenges.

One of the questions we could ask is,

how could she have been
if she hadn't had those limits?

♪ I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free ♪

♪ I wish I could break ♪

♪ All the chains holding me ♪

♪ I wish I could say ♪

♪ All the things that I should say ♪

♪ Say 'em loud, oh, say 'em clear ♪

♪ For the whole round world to hear ♪

[Eva] Rita's about breaking down barriers.

[announcer] And the winner is Rita Moreno.

[cheering]

[Rock Hudson]
Rita Moreno in West Side Story.

The Screen Actors Guild
Life Achievement Award,

Rita Moreno.

[cheering]

♪ I wish you could know ♪

♪ What it means to be me ♪

[Gloria] I was really drawn to her

and she made me feel like
women could do anything because she did.

She was a Latina like me.

♪ I wish you could know what it means… ♪

[Gina] Dear Rita Moreno,

how do you tell your idol
how much you love her?

You gave me hope, you gave me
a reason to fight and to speak up.

You gave me a voice
and when you followed your dreams, Rita,

you gave me the allowance to follow mine.

[sobs]
Rita, this is my love letter to you.

[applause]

["I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel
To Be Free" continues playing]

[Morgan] If you feel like you're always
being discriminated against,

you're always angry
and who you're gonna be angry at?

Everybody?

That's poison. You can't do it, you know.

So, life is what it is. On the one hand.

On the other hand,
it's what you make of it.

Did having to struggle so much take
something out of me?

Not me.

[chuckles]
Not I.

♪ Then I'd sing 'cause I'd know, yeah ♪

♪ Then I'd sing 'cause I'd know ♪

Hi, honey.

[laughs]

♪ I know how it feels ♪

I love it. Isn't that fun?

It is. It's just amazing.

["Preciosa" by Rita Moreno]