Rita Moreno
When I was nominated for the Oscar, I was absolutely positive that Judy Garland would win for 'Judgment at Nuremberg,' and then they call my name, and I was absolutely paralyzed. And I remember walking down to the stage and saying to myself, 'Don't run. It's not dignified.'Collection: Positive
I loved being in the film called 'Carnal Knowledge' - the one with Jack Nicholson, which was very dark but a really brilliant movie. I loved being in 'The Ritz.' 'The Ritz' I think is just hilarious. I just saw it again recently and by God, it's still funny!Collection: Funny
I - my experience was really no different from any other immigrant that came to this country. It was rough.Collection: Experience
I love performing for kids, but you can't play down to them, of course. Then it would be 'Captain Kangaroo.'
Most people don't know that dancing auditions, you learn the steps right now.
I think lying is a bad idea. Sooner or later, someone's going to catch you.
You can't, or you shouldn't, be nominated for an Oscar unless you've turned in a performance that's special.
Is there a grandmother that isn't spunky on television? Is there such a creature?
I never had an easy time making friends in the past, for many reasons. I didn't go into therapy for nothing.
I've always had this image of this strong, sprightly person who is undaunted by anything; on the contrary, I was one of the shyest, most unsure people you ever met in your life. But I have one very specific quality: I'm plucky. I really am. I would say that's a perfect description of my personality.
I am a very positive and optimistic person.
If you saw me in 'The King and I,' I had that angelic, virginal face.
'America' took at least five days of actual filming.
I sing Broadway stuff in the shower, mostly.
Doing 'The Electric Company' was the most fun ever.
A friend of my mother's, Irene Lopez, was a Spanish dancer. She saw me bopping around the room and said to my mother, 'Rosita might have talent. Can I take her to my dance teacher?' There was no thought of a career at that time, but I knew I loved the attention, and that's so much a part of being a performer.
You can never fight for a part or can't beg them to do another audition. You can try, but that rarely works.
I feel like I could go on forever.
My best work happened on the stage.
I was never offered enough, and that's the truth.
I was always typecast as a Latina.
You've got to make a decision when you write about your life, and I decided I was going to be honest, and some of those things will be embarrassing.
I auditioned for 'West Side Story' just like everybody else, and I nearly had a heart attack, because I hadn't danced in about - oh, I don't know, about 15 years.
Being the house ethnic was destroying my life and my sense of myself, because I had been consigned to play every dusky maiden you have ever seen in your life in movies.
I have played Polynesian. I have played an Arabian girl. I played an East Indian girl. And what was so confusing about that, which I mention in my book, is that I assumed I had to have an accent. Nobody said anything, so I made up what I call the universal ethnic accent, and they all sounded alike. It didn't matter who I was playing.
Doing 'Life Without Makeup' onstage is what inspired me to do a book in the first place.
I just love details; I love trying to make the reader smell what I was smelling at the time and see what I was seeing. Textures, too - all that kind of stuff is probably my strong suit as far as my writing goes, I would say.
I watch 'Singin' in the Rain' at least once a year with my grandchildren, and they just adore it.
The wonderful thing about cabaret is, you can do a lot of things you can't do in a concert. You can't do smoky ballads for 50 minutes in a concert. It's a different animal.
My mother's feeling about men in general were always a bit of a mystery to me. She had difficulties in Puerto Rico with the men in her life. Her brothers abused her. It's very easy to be judgmental, but more often than not, there are mitigating circumstances, and children are not usually aware of those.
Elvis was really sweet and kind of bashful, but he didn't have a whole lot to say.
If you're going to write about your life, you must write about your life.
I was brought up on animal grease.
My husband and I were very different: I'm spontaneous and emotional; I'm loud - he was exactly the opposite. But you need to be flexible.
The part of my personality that most irritated my husband, some of our big, big disagreements were when I got what he called 'showbiz.' He meant flamboyant or raucous.
It's not easy having a partnership in this business.
I made a lot of mistakes.
I'm a raucous Puerto Rican!
If you're in a business where Latinos only play Indian maidens and what I call 'Conchita Lolita' parts - the little fiery spitfires - you do what you have to do.
I think Jennifer Lopez is a phenom. And as far as I'm concerned, she's really a very smart businesswoman.
You talk about meant to be - oh my goodness, I have never done anything else in my life except be a performer.
Maybe Elvis was inhibited by inbred religious prohibitions or an Oedipal complex, or maybe he simply preferred the thrill of a denied release. Whatever put the brakes on the famous pelvis, it ground to a halt at a certain point, and that was it.
I was the artsy one, and my husband took care of all our finances. It was the Latino way - the man is in charge of the money.
You can wish to have an Oscar someday or some other award, but Life Achievement? You don't see yourself that way.
Any character who had dark skin, I got all those parts. I could play a Polynesian, East Indian princess, whatever.
When I was a little girl, there was no Variety Latino. When I was a little girl, there was no nothing. There were very few roles for people like myself.
I first became aware of Gina Rodriguez when she was just starting out starring on 'Jane the Virgin,' and a friend sent me an article in which she mentioned me.
I don't want to miss out on my grandchildren and my daughter, and doing Broadway would do just that.
I'm proud of me.
People say that when you get to a certain age that you start to mellow. I have no idea what these people are talking about.