Eight Decades of Greatness

Actor Rita Moreno overcame prejudice to become a legend of stage and screen.

Rita Morena attends the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Los Angeles, California.

When Rita Moreno first arrived in Hollywood in the 1950s, there were few Latina movie stars. But despite limited opportunities, Moreno persevered, becoming a bright light of stage and screen. Today, the multi-talented Moreno is a legend with a rare achievement called an EGOT.

Moreno was born Rosa Dolores Alverío in 1931 in Puerto Rico. When she was 5, young “Rosita” and her mother moved to New York City, where the little girl began to take dance classes. At age 11 she started dubbing voices for American child stars in films that were to be released in Spanish-speaking countries. Two years later, she acted in her first stage play, and in 1950, while still a teenager, she made her movie debut.

At the time, most movie roles were offered to white actors. Movie studio executives often cast Moreno in small roles that were ethnic stereotypes with little regard to her own background. During her early career, she played Native Americans, Egyptians, and more.

Rita Moreno poses with an Emmy Award she won in 1978.

In 1962, Moreno won an Academy Award, or Oscar, for her performance as Anita in the musical film West Side Story. The movie highlighted her singing and dancing talents. Moreno would go on to appear in many other movies, TV shows, and plays.

Moreno is one of fewer than 30 people in the world who are known as EGOT winners—people who have won at least one of each of the four major entertainment awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). Moreno won Emmy Awards for appearances on the TV shows The Rockford Files and The Muppet Show. She earned a Grammy as part of the cast recording of music for the 1970s children’s TV show The Electric Company. And she won a Tony in 1975 for her performance in a play called The Ritz. More recently, Moreno played the matriarch of a Hispanic American family in the reboot of the TV sitcom One Day at a Time.

Moreno (front, right) dances in the 1961 movie West Side Story. She won an Academy Award for this performance.

Now 94, Moreno can look back with pride on a career that spans more than 80 years. A few years ago, she was asked what advice she would give her younger self.

“I would advise her to do exactly what I did, which is one little word: Perseverar. Persevere,” Moreno told Oprahdaily.com. “Don’t let anybody tell you what is good for you. Don’t let anyone spoil your vision of what your life should be. You know best, and you will persevere.”

Did You Know?

In addition to Rita Moreno, other EGOT winners include John Legend, Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Hudson, and Steven Spielberg.

Musician and singer John Legend holds one of the many Grammy awards he has won.

The Spanish in North America

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

This map shows New Spain (in dark green) in the year 1780.

National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15) is a time to celebrate Hispanic Americans who have enriched U.S. culture. Today, Hispanic people—people whose ancestors are from countries where Spanish is the main language—make up about 21 percent of the U.S. population.

Hispanic people have a long history in North America. In fact, they have lived in what’s now the United States since before the country was founded. Before there was New England, there was New Spain.

New Spain’s history dates back to 1521, about 100 years before the English settlers known as the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts. That year, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés overthrew the powerful Aztec Empire, which had ruled much of Mexico for 200 years. Spain would eventually colonize areas to the north.

New Spain included what is now the state of California and the central and southwestern portion of the United States. Florida, Texas, and other lands along the Gulf of Mexico were also controlled by Spain for many years. The people of New Spain spoke Spanish and had a culture that was very different from the culture of the first U.S. states, which had been English colonies.

Although Spain lost control of much of the eastern part of New Spain in the 1700s, it controlled the western portion until the 1840s.

Hispanic Heritage Month

George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress; NASA; MediaPunch Inc./Alamy; © Rena Schild/Shutterstock.com; Rowland Scherman—U.S. Information Agency/NARA; Donald Cooksey/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Steve Petteway/Collection of the Supreme Court ; © Getty Images: Michael Ochs Archives—Moviepix, Focus on Sport, Harry How, Mat Hayward, Cathy Murphy—Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

(Top row, from left) Gymnast Laurie Hernandez, actress Rita Moreno, baseball player Roberto Clemente, singer Selena, and activist Dolores Huerta. (Bottom row, from left) Singer Joan Baez, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, business leader Franklin Chang-Diaz, scientist Luis Alvarez, Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, scientist Mario Molina, and activist Nina Otero-Warren.

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month! Check out Britannica’s “Hispanic Heritage at a Glance” feature for history, biographies, and more.

WORD OF THE WEEK

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PART OF SPEECH:

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: a member of your family in the past : ancestor

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