Rita Moreno
I had no role models from my own community - there was no such thing. Earlier on, there were people like Dolores Del Rio, but I was too young for that - that was before me. There was really nobody out there.
I was a Spanish dancer. I don't mean to put that down, because that was great, too, but nothing like the kind of dancing you had to do in 'West Side Story,' which was called jazz.
This is my idea of heaven, coming home and watching the news.
I'm one of the happiest people I know. I truly am. And it's genuine.
It's kind of heartbreaking when I talk about it now, I still get very moved by the lack of opportunities that were available to myself and to the very few others who were Hispanic young actresses.
Lupe Velez was way before me; Dolores Del Rio was way before me, so I had no one. So the only one I could think of that I identified with was this gorgeous creature named Elizabeth Taylor, so she became my role model.
I can't dwell on past mistakes.
When you engage your brain, it just keeps getting fatter and richer and wonderful.
I make a lot of soups and stews at home, and I always have fresh bread with it.
Elvis was a sweet darling, shy fellow, but he was really boring.
I love being onstage, I love getting applause, and I love the love that comes across the footlights. It's so much a part of what I do and what I've done most of my life.
Women over 30 are usually somebody's mother in a 'Porky's' movie, being silly and being ridiculed. There's just not a whole lot for them to do. It's just coffee-pouring on a bigger scale.
You see a script, and you say, 'Oh, I can play the heck out of that,' talk to your agent, and he says they don't want to see you. That's heartbreaking.
The reason there weren't any, I am surmising, is that a lot of Latin kids, Latino kids, in those days didn't have the money to take those kind of classes.
They made me use an accent, which I wasn't thrilled about because a lot of us, obviously, don't have them.
When was the last time you saw a musical about people at war with each other?
Then there's the story of ill-fated love. It's universal.
When I was in my teens and into my early 20s, I had acne. I used to get those big purple jobs, but not a lot of them, thank goodness, because you really couldn't see them in the films that I did.
I was born in Puerto Rico - I used to sit in the sun until I looked like a piece of bacon. It's a wonder now that I don't look like an old wallet. I'm a very fortunate person.
I write with my left hand even though I'm right-handed, I walk backwards in a very safe place - anything that engages your brain.
I'm so damn lucky to still be here at 85. If I get a hangnail, I don't dare complain! Life is good. I wake up humming.
I was dancing for my grandpa from the time I was 4 or 5 years old in Puerto Rico.
When I was girl, you could still get certain jobs if you didn't have a diploma.
What musical performers bring to straight characterizations is that physical flexibility that comes with knowing your body so well. A lot of actors are terribly awkward. Terribly. And I think it's so important for them, when they're young, to work on their physical selves.
My voice has many dynamics in it. Like my little body.
If you can find a way your character moves, you know more about your character than you'd ever dream.
I get embarrassed when I go to an actor or actress's home and it's filled with pictures of them.
My video has a lot to do with the inside of a woman. Usually, exercise videos refer to exteriors only. They never talk to a woman where she lives - in her heart and soul. I do that at the beginning and end of mine.
I'm an afternoon tea maven. I can tell you who has the best tea in every country.
I am not exactly Mrs. Good Housekeeping, although I love to cook, bake, even iron, but only because it's not mandatory.
I knew what my scripts would say before I opened them: 'Enter Conchita.' I played handmaidens, Indian squaws, and Mexican dancers.
It is through art that we will prevail and we will endure. It lives on after us and defines us as people.Collection: Art
I believe staying young at heart is all in one's personal attitude... you can't instill that in anyone.Collection: Attitude
You don't die if someone doesn't like you.Collection: Like You
My middle name really is perseverance. I've always believed that I had talent, even when I felt like a very inferior sort of person, which I spent a lot of time living my life feeling that I wasn't worthy. But even then I knew that I had something special, and maybe that's what it takes. Maybe people need to have that kind of particular core driving them. But I felt I had talent.Collection: Perseverance
I'm an actress, and I am Latina.Collection: Actresses
People tell me I look good these days. I look good because I feel good. I know people who are older than I am who are twenty-five... It's all about attitude. To me, age is just a number.Collection: Attitude
Retirement is just not in my DNA.Collection: Retirement
I'm so happy. I'm one of the happiest people I know. I truly am.Collection: People
Puerto Ricans are many colors - we are Spanish, we're French, we're Thai, Indian, we're almost black, some of us.Collection: Color
I love playing people who don't have a sense of humor for instance, there's nothing funnier to me than a person with no sense of humor.Collection: People
I deliberately state my age because it keeps me honest. I think lying is a bad idea. Sooner or later, someone's going to catch you.Collection: Lying
I'm one of the most joyous people I've ever met.Collection: People
I grew up thinking I had very little value. It's not something I felt I could share with my mom so it was all inside me.Collection: Mom
I'm 85, and I'm still a sexual being, or a sensual being.Collection: Sensual
I'm 81 and I'm in the prime of my life.Collection: Prime
C'mon, we're actors. We love the attention. We love the applause. We sure don't like to be rejected.Collection: Attention
As you get older one tends to develop what I call a wobble. I would rather eat glass than let that happen to my voice.Collection: Glasses
I am a naturally buoyant person. I am a naturally energetic person... always have been. I have to say that it's important for everyone, but especially for women (given our bone density issues) to walk - even ambling for a couple of miles is better than not walking at all.Collection: Couple