Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
My first American experience was in the harbor of New York City when I saw that amazing big, tall lady. I remember thinking, 'Oh my goodness, a lady runs this country.'
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 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.
I'm trying as hard as I can to keep pushing the boundaries of what a woman is capable of doing. And it turns out there's a lot we can do. There's a lot we can speak about.
I played a Siamese girl from Thailand. I played an Arabian girl. I did a lot of American Indians. I never, ever was able to do a part without assuming some kind of accent.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I've been neurotic in my life; I've had neurotic relationships with men. What else is new? But you really have to learn to be resilient - able to bounce back, pick yourself up, and just keep moving.
I was not treated like a serious young actress, and that was very hard. It sent me into psychotherapy, which is one of the smartest things I ever did. It taught me that I had to find value in myself.
Being in service and being involved in something that is greater than you is what makes a person complete and whole. The very first thing I ever did in terms of activism was for an anti-atom bomb rally.
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.
Ultimately, a city is formed by its people and the women in Berkeley are just great. They are opinionated, they have ideas, they belong to boards, and they write letters to editors... really wonderful people.
The thing I get the most that I really love is that people don't so much mention films I've been in or shows I've been in as they say, instead, 'I love you. I just love your perseverance.' That really pleases me.
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.
Let's face it. How often do you see an Asian face in films and television? They are practically invisible. Now and then, you will get one, and, interestingly, he gets the role of a scientist. Isn't that interesting?
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.
Los Angles is not my favorite city. Well, I shouldn't say that... I love to visit it, on a temporary basis. It's just such a company town! You can't go anywhere and not run into someone who wants to be in the business.
Actors very often are people who think it's always about 'me,' and I can see why! No one else is going to support you or say, 'Gosh, I'm sorry about that,' or, 'Here, let me give you a job.' It doesn't happen that way.
I love Hallmark movies because they make movies that you don't see anymore... and at a time when there is so much evil in the world, it's kind of nice to be able to retreat to something like a Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.
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.
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.
There are some fabulous treasures of photos of me during the early days of my career; there are these pin-up photos that make me laugh: I look like the poor man's Maria Montez. But there are some I look at, and I didn't realize how sexy I looked back then.
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!
'LIFE Magazine' decided to do a story about a young actress in Hollywood in 1954. And I made the cover. And I remember that the fellow who was doing the story on me said, 'Listen, kid, I just want you to know, if Eisenhower gets a cold, you're off the cover.'
Actors very often are people who think it's always about 'me,' and I can see why! No one else is going to support you or say, 'Gosh, I'm sorry about that,' or, 'Here, let me give you a job.' It doesn't happen that way. You can see why performers get very self-absorbed.
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.
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.
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.'
Actually, my true name is Rosa Dolores Alverio. And then I became Rosita Moreno when a stepfather stepped in. And when I got to MGM studios, which was my first film contract, they just thought that Rosita wasn't a good name, and they changed it to Rita. And yes, it was their idea.
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.
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.
When I walk, I try to set a fairly brisk rate. I love walking outside. I hate machines like treadmills. The path that I have chosen to walk is just city streets, but you see pretty houses, trees... my routes have some hills in them; it's not just straight walking. You have to exercise your heart and lungs.
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.
A lot of young Latino actors have said to me, 'Why can't we get an Oscar? Why can't we be nominated?' And the terrible truth is that if you don't get the right parts, you're not going to be. Are you going to get an Oscar nomination for one of those Judd Apatow movies? Not likely, no matter what nationality you are.
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.
I call myself the hardware shelf. There's a lot of awards and honors there. And I have earned that. I didn't ask for it, I didn't beg for it, I didn't pay for it. I earned that. People see the accomplishments - but it's good to remind people that so much strife and labor and tears and heartbreak came before that, that it really is earned.
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.
I'm trying, now that I am in my dotage, to use a lot less sugar and my husband and I really try to keep close to a minimum of fat; chicken, fish, loads of salads and legumes. We both love all of those. To be honest, nothing that is in our diet is that original. We eat seafood but we do not eat shellfish. On the other hand, if my body says to me, "eat meat" I do. I listen to my body, I think that's important.