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" 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. "

Rita Moreno

Husband

Got

Big

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" I am able to get up and dust myself off and keep moving forward. I'm very stubborn. "

Rita Moreno

Moving Forward

Myself

" 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. "

" 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. "

Rita Moreno

Movies

Truth

" I wore so much rubber when I was at MGM, I bumped into the wall once, and I ricocheted. "

" 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 am the happiest Hispanic I've ever met. Truly. "

Rita Moreno

Met

I Am

" No one's going to tell me how to make my own choices. For too many years, everybody told me what to say and what to do and how to be. "

Rita Moreno

Own

Choices

" '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.' "

" 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. "

" Oh, I think Scarlett Johansson is a terrific actress. I think she's just marvelous. "

" 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. "

" I am a very positive and optimistic person. "

" 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. "

" 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 was determined that with perseverance and faith, at some point, someone would say, 'This girl has talent,' and would cast me in something meaningful. "

Rita Moreno

Talent

Faith

" I made a lot of mistakes. "

" I was never offered enough, and that's the truth. "

" My voice has many dynamics in it. Like my little body. "

Rita Moreno

Voice

Body

" Bigger than life is not difficult for me. I am bigger than life. "

" 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. "

" Any character who had dark skin, I got all those parts. I could play a Polynesian, East Indian princess, whatever. "

" 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. "

" I am a woman of the moment. "

" I'm a raucous Puerto Rican! "

" I had a very poor image of myself because I believed too much of the people around me when I was very young. "

Rita Moreno

Too Much

Young

" 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 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. "

" I knew what my scripts would say before I opened them: 'Enter Conchita.' I played handmaidens, Indian squaws, and Mexican dancers. "

" 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. "

" If you can find a way your character moves, you know more about your character than you'd ever dream. "