Rita Moreno . . .

By Rick Farris

I had a hard time noticing Lalo Rios when he was playing opposite a teenage Rita Moreno.
I had the chance to work with the Puerto Rican star twice during my career.

In 1979, she was a guest star on "The Rockford Files", a series that I worked on.
A year later, I worked with her on a feature film, "The Four Seasons", with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett.
We were on location near the Virgin Islands for that one, and in New England.

Rita Moreno was the first of just a few actors who have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony.
She's also won a Cleo, which is the TV commercial version of an Oscar.
No actor has surpassed her in the award department.

I have to say that she was very much a "method actress", and in one scene, where her charactor was a hooker, she proved she was also risque.
In the scene, Rita's charactor is in a phone booth making a call.
The phonebooth is in the parking lot of a gas station.
A car drives by and sprays the phonebooth with bullets.
The hooker is gunned down and lies outside the phone booth, dying in the arms of James Garner.

I was a young lighting director, always close to the lens when the camera was rolling.
I'd see eveything the camera sees, and sometimes more.

In this case, as Rita Moreno rolled onto the ground, her short dress pulled up over her waist.
A couple of us were caught by surprise when we noticed the actress was wearing nothing under the dress.
I mean, she knew she had this scene to do. She just didn't care. Bette Davis was the same way.
She was a pro, and nothing appeared before the lens. But there were a few smiles on the set.
That was exactly thirty years ago.

She was certainly a beautiful young woman as a teenager. And she was a cool old gal when I met her.