Why Rita Moreno Disappeared From Hollywood For 7 Years After Winning Her Oscar

 

Typically, winning an Oscar skyrockets an actor's career in Hollywood. However, this is not always the case, especially in the case of Rita Moreno. The actress would secure her Oscar at the 1962 awards ceremony, but this would send her career into obscurity, causing her to disappear for seven years before returning to the silver screen.

Rita Moreno's struggle with typecasting

Rita Moreno was born Rosa Dolores Alverio in Puerto Rico in 1931, and in 1936, she and her mother moved to New York City. When Moreno was a teenager, he moved to Hollywood, living just steps away from MGM, and later reflected on how he met MGM founder Louis D. Mayer at the Waldorf-Astoria, where But he said, “Wow! She looks like the Spanish Elizabeth Taylor! During the 1950s, she played small roles that typecasted her because she was Spanish.

“I became a home ethnic,” Moreno said. She said she would be suitable for any parts that are not obviously white, even those that are not Latina. “I call it my dark first period,” she explained. Stuck in a typecast box, Moreno had to correct a common "ethnic" accent to secure roles, even though she spoke perfect English.

By 1961, Moreno was still being cast only in ethnic roles, this time as Anita in the musical West Side Story. However, the role of Anita offered the actress much more than her previous roles. Moreno said of the role, "After all these years she became my idol."

Even on the set of the musical, Moreno had to fight against prejudice. In fact, it is thanks to Moreno that the lyrics of "America" were changed from "Puerto Rico, you ugly island, island of tropical diseases" to "Puerto Rico, the devotion of my heart, let it sink back into the sea". However, there were other obstacles that she was unable to break during filming. When she complained that her makeup was too dark, she was accused of being racist herself.

Winning the Oscar was a shock

So, when it came time for the 1962 Academy Awards, her nomination as Best Supporting Actress in West Side Story was welcomed, but she had no expectations of winning the category. So much so that she almost didn't attend the ceremony because she was busy shooting a movie in the Philippines. Naturally, with almost no hope of winning, Moreno did not prepare an acceptance speech.

It is telling that when her name was called and she stood on the stage to accept the award, she gave one of the shortest speeches ever given in Academy Awards history. Later in life, she recounted that while walking up to the stage, she made two rules for herself: “[The first was] don't run; It's not dignified... [and] don't thank anyone. They did not give you a share as a favor. They were forced to give it to you because you had the best screen test.'' Moreno followed these rules, did not thank anyone in her speech, and immediately walked off the stage.

Not much changed in Oscars

After the ceremony, Moreno flew back to the Philippines. He didn't have time to stop by and celebrate his victory with colleagues and teammates. After winning such an impressive title, he felt that maybe things would change in his career. However, she was still being typecast in the same generic ethnic roles.

Her agent once told her that in fact because she played Anita, no producer would ever consider her for any kind of role that was not considered "ethnic". Then he took a career-changing decision. "All the Latina roles in movies were very spontaneous," she explained years later. "And I said, 'I'm not going to do that thing with the accent anymore.'" For this reason, Moreno did not work in Hollywood for seven years. Although she filled this time by performing on stage, her return to the big screen did not occur until 1968 when she starred in The Night of the Following Day.