With an open heart, Rita Moreno talks about her new film ‘The Prank’, where she plays a villain, and her loves.
The iconic and fabulous Rita Moreno visited the People en Español offices in New York today and spoke with our writer Mayra Mangal about her life and projects. The star of the film West Side Story and the series One Day at a Time talked about her new film De ella The Prank, where she plays the role of an untraditional teacher.
“She’s so evil, I loved it,” she says of this villainous role. Without mentioning names, she said she was inspired by women in Hollywood who were mean to her in real life. Later she will record another horror film with Roselyn Sánchez.
The winner of the Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy awards is already preparing her dress for the Oscars, where she will present an award. Moreno confessed that she hopes América Ferrera wins the award for her role in Barbie.
The Puerto Rican actress, whose real name is Rosa Dolores Alberío, says that she always carries ‘Rosita’, the girl she was, in her soul. Although everyone sees her as an empowered and successful woman, Moreno confesses “there is a little Rosita that lives inside me.” Her inner child says that she laughs at her when she fails at something about herself and that she has learned to say “go to your room” to that voice inside her that sometimes sabotages her.
His mother was a great example of strength. “She was the most incredible woman,” he remembers about Rosa María, who left her island looking for new horizons in the United States, where she worked in a factory cooking and as a cook in an Italian restaurant, among other jobs, to raise her children. children. Something Rita remembers about her mother is that he sewed clothes for her and her doll when she was a child. He inherited her tireless work ethic from her.
The role of Anita in West Side Story made her an Oscar winner in 1962. “I loved playing her. I loved the idea that she was strong, something I wasn’t for a long time,” she confesses. “She was my icon, my role model.”
Ariana De Bose also won the Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for the same role as Anita in 2022 in the modern version of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story , where Rita Moreno played the role of Valentina, Doc’s wife, reprising this iconic story six decades later. He writes of De Bose as “beautiful, talented, a good person.”
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Asked to describe her ex Marlon Brando in one word, what came to mind was “wow.” With Brando she lived a love story that lasted about eight years. The actor from A Streetcar Named Desire and Her Godfather was the one who advised her to seek psychological help, something for which she is grateful.
“Here’s this crazy man telling this crazy woman that she needs therapy,” he joked. Without a doubt Marlon Brando left a mark on his heart. “She adored him. She was madly in love with him,” she confessed about the actor.
Moreno said he once became enraged when he found another woman’s underwear at Marlon Brando’s house. “I went home crying and so hurt and angry,” she said. “I was absolutely destroyed. I was his slave. I adored him, I idolized him,” she added of Brando.
The day after suffering that disappointment, her phone rang and Elvis Presley’s manager called her to tell her that the King of Rock & Roll was very impressed with her and wanted to see her. “I thought about the underwear and said yes,” she laughingly confessed about the perfect plan to get revenge on her and make Brando jealous.
He describes the “Burning Love” singer as “sweet.” He had several romantic dates with Elvis and the news of their romance made headlines. “When Marlon found out he threw chairs, he was so upset, he was furious,” he said.
Marlon Brando and Rita Moreno on the set of the film ‘Desiree’ in 1954.
After that she reconciled with Brando. “We stayed together until he tried to take my life,” Moreno said. “I almost made it, and I’m so glad it didn’t work,” she added of his suicide attempt. At 92 years old, she is grateful for how fulfilled she feels in her career and her personal life. “I have the most beautiful daughter,” she said about Luisa Fernanda, the result of her marriage to Dr. Leonard Gordon. “On every red carpet she is always my companion.”
