Women’s History Month: Paying tribute to Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican Hollywood icon

NEW YORK—At 82 years old Rita Moreno may be, according to several men I know under the age of 30, the foxiest woman around.

Yes, she's 82, but she is truly a sexy, shining-light octogenarian, and I have witnessed these young men panting over her. I can't describe it any other way. She beams light and sensuality, which isn't to say she isn't a diva. She is exactly what a diva should be, which in my book means she commands respect, but does so respectfully.

As an example, the Puerto Rican actress and singer was just about to go onstage at a small event at which the servers were being very loud.

They hadn't realized that she had made her way onstage to sing because they were busy clanking dishes behind heavy curtains. The servers, too, were all Latinos.

Gently, but forcefully, and in both languages Moreno said, “Please. Can the servers be quiet? The noise will ruin the song. Por favor.”

Within seconds her plea was answered and she sang three perfect-pitch songs that left everyone in the audience spellbound—two songs in English and a Spanish bolero, a capella.

Actress Rita Moreno accepts the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award from actor Morgan Freeman onstage during the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 18, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. ( Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images )

I think the reason why young men find Rita Moreno so attractive is because she is at once not afraid to show us her vulnerabilities, while showing that she has moved beyond her vulnerabilities.

She has become a fearless woman and, in her new memoir, reveals that even though she was a starlet, she never felt quite good enough.

When she was young, her mother told her to keep quiet and use her beauty and charm to get what she needed in life. “Good girls don't make waves,” her mother told her.

In her life, she became a Hollywood icon, was a lover to two iconic men, Marlon Brando and Elvis, and later married a nice Jewish doctor, to whom she remained wedded for decades, and who recently passed away.

After following her mother’s advice successfully for too long, Rita ended up in therapy. There she remembered being called a spic at five years old, remembered all of the times she was passed over for roles because she was too dark, remembered how she felt like something was wrong with her, and not with everyone else. Now, Rita is all about making waves.

There is no doubt now that this petite woman is a woman not afraid to own her power and to use it—no longer just to get herself a starring role but rather to speak for those around her who still feel powerless.

When Rita made her way up to the Harlem NYC based studios of my radio show LatinoUSA, every major mainstream media outlet had already interviewed her. Everyone wanted her to give "juicy" details about Marlon and Elvis. But with me, Rita wanted to talk about what she called "her community," her deep internal struggle with her identity and yes, politics.

She was tired of juicy.

She wanted to talk deeply about the things the mainstream media apparently didn't find sexy enough. Things like immigration policy, or rather the lack thereof, civil rights in the 21st century, and why she wants all women, but in particular Latinas, to stop living in a world of debilitating self doubt.

But conquering self doubt and owning your worth is easier said than done, so whenever I meet someone who is open about facing their internal demons of insecurity, I always ask them how they battle these things head on.

The advice Rita gave is some of the best I have heard, and I repeat it as often as I can.

I call it the “punish-the-little-voice-in-your-head-tactic” or “shutappayuface” for short.

Moreno sometimes feels overwhelmed by insecurity. And that insecurity shows up internally, as a whiny voice that mocks her, tells her she is an imposter who is not talented but rather is just lucky.

The voice tells her she doesn't deserve anything because she is still that scared, poor little Boricua girl from the island—riding a rickety boat to the US, filled with people so poor they couldn't afford to travel by plane and who thought, as they shrieked in horror, they were all going to die at sea.

So what is Rita Moreno's trick to getting a handle on that pesky little voice of uncertainty?

She gives the voice a name. Rosita Dolores Alverio. And then she punishes that voice, tells it to "shutappayuface," like her mother used to say, and banishes the little voice to its room, slamming the door behind it.

This is the perfect metaphor, I think, with which to conquer the insecurity devil in your head. And the strategy has proved successful for Rita Moreno.

She is the only Latina and one of only 12 people in the world who are EGOTs —people who have won each of the four major American entertainment awards, including an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony.

She has just published her memoir, which has been translated into Spanish language. She won the lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild, and her newest project is a television pilot, with Amy Poehler, called Old Soul.

Silencing the little voice inside of her head, Moreno said, has freed her to believe in her own power. At this point in her life, she is not afraid to own that power fully onstage but also, and perhaps more importantly, off stage.

There is no reason why Moreno should be engaging in heady topics like Latinos and Latinas and mental health, arts education in schools and the headiest of all—immigration.

When I asked her if she felt the weight of history on her shoulders because of all of her accomplishments, being a first in so many ways, and being the Hollywood icon she is, she said yes, but "that doesn't mean I am not going to speak my mind. And I am not afraid to say things like, I never liked [George] W.!"

In fact, Moreno is not happy with the current state of inaction and inattention given to Latinos by the president and Republicans in congress. And even though immigration has nothing to do with her since she was born a US citizen in the American territory of Puerto Rico, it is precisely this issue that has this grand dame very upset.

“This is my community,” she said, exasperated.

Another highly successful Puerto Rican, Anthony Romero, the first Latino president of the American Civil Liberties Union, feels the same way. Like Moreno, Romero thinks Latino women have been playing the part of the good girl who doesn't make waves for far too long.

"Politics in America is a full contact sport," Romero said. "And Latinos have to stop being so nice. Politics is roller derby. So Latinos have to put on their helmets and elbow and kneepads and be ready to fight. We have to stop being so nice."

For Rita Moreno, the evolution of Latinos in politics has mirrored her early unsure life as an actress.

Someone needs to put that self doubt of Latino power into the punishment room, slam the door and say “shutappayuface”—a move she says is happening more and more.

Even though the president says he cares about undocumented immigrants but does not act, even though the Republicans say they care but do not act, Moreno says Latinos are putting on their gear, and joining the fight in the roller derby.

Latinos are mobilizing in hunger strikes, in civil disobedience, in student takeovers and small but energetic protests all across the country—every single week—demanding that this community be seen for its worth, value, recognition and respect. They are demanding an end to deportations now.

"I wrote my memoir not to be juicy about my sex life," says Moreno. “I wrote my book so that no one wastes any more time waiting for change in their life or in politics.”

And maybe that’s why Moreno is the foxiest 82-year-old around.

Because she not only looks fabulous, but she's not afraid to take on anyone anymore, from Marlon to Elvis to George W. to Obama, and beyond.

All of this is why my new life motto is “shutappayuface”—because I want to be like Rita. Not when I grow up. But now.

GlobalPost columnist Maria Hinojosa is a regular contributor to the VOICES series on the GlobalPost commentary page. She is president and CEO of The Futuro Media Group, which produces LatinoUSA, the longest running Latino news program in America.

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This piece is part of a new GlobalPost Special Reports/Commentary initiative supported by the Ford Foundation called "VOICES." The mission of VOICES is to present the ideas and opinions of those who are less frequently heard in the media, including women, people of color, sexual minorities, citizens of the developing world and young people. These voices will consistently discuss topics important to GlobalPost Special Reports including human rights, religious issues, global health, economic inequality and democracies in transition.