Show Notes

Rita Moreno is a member of the coveted and exclusive EGOT club. Meaning, throughout her career, she’s won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. And not only that, Moreno is the first and only Latina EGOT winner in history. But before earning her Academy Award for West Side Story, Moreno was dropped by MGM. She spent years typecast – or simply not cast – because of her ethnicity. Join us this week as we tell Moreno’s incredible story – from being discarded by Hollywood to earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Major sources for this episode include:
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided To Go For It (Netflix)
PBS: Rita Moreno Q&A: Her career from Puerto Rico to Hollywood
NPR: Rita Moreno On ‘West Side Story’ And Becoming The Role Model She Needed
CBS: Rita Moreno on enduring racism and sexism, the scene that won her an Oscar, and the new “West Side Story”

Writer & Host: Sidney Hirst-O’Reilly
Executive Producer & Host: Terry O’Reilly
Research: Allison Pinches
Director: Callie O’Reilly
Supervising Producer: Debbie O’Reilly
Engineer: Geoff Devine
Theme music: Ian Lefeuvre & Ari Posner
Tunes: APM Music

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