Lisa Mordente announced the passing of her mother, Chita Rivera, on Tuesday, January 30th. The Latina star of Broadway and film was 91 years old when she died peacefully in New York City after a short illness.
Chita Rivera was one of the most successful and versatile performers of stage and screen, with a career spanning nearly seven decades. She won two Tony Awards, received a Kennedy Center Honors, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She also originated some of the most iconic roles in musical theater, such as Anita in West Side Story, Velma Kelly in Chicago, and Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Rivera was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero on January 23rd, 1933, in Washington, D.C. Her father was from Puerto Rico and her mother had Scottish/Irish ancestry. She started learning dance when she was 11 years old, and attended the School of American Ballet in New York.
She made her Broadway debut in 1951, in the chorus of the musical Call Me Madam. She rose to fame in 1957, when she played the role of Anita, the fiery and loyal girlfriend of the leader of the Sharks gang, in the original Broadway production of West Side Story.
The musical, which was inspired by Romeo & Juliet and set in the streets of New York, was a groundbreaking and revolutionary work, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins.
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She continued to star in many Broadway musicals in the 1960s, such as Bye Bye Birdie, which earned her first Tony nomination, The Rink and Chicago. She also appeared in several films, such as Sweet Charity and The Night of the Following Day.
In the 1970s, she suffered a car accident that broke her leg and threatened to end her career, but she recovered and returned to the stage after recuperating.
Tony Mordente, her co-star in West Side Story, was the only husband of Chita Rivera. They had a nine-year marriage from 1957 to 1966, and their daughter Lisa followed their footsteps as a singer and actress.
