Q&A: Rita Moreno on finding self-worth and never giving up

NEW YORK — Rita Moreno emigrated with her mother from Puerto Rico at age five. By 20, she was in “Singin’ in the Rain.” In the documentary “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It,” Norman Lear says: “I can’t think of anyone I’ve ever met in the business who lived the American dream more than Rita Moreno.” In the decades that followed, Moreno won a Tony, a Grammy, an Emmy and and Oscar, for “West Side Story.” With seemingly infinite spiritedness, she has epitomized the best of show business while also being a victim to its cruelties. When you’re young — I mean 5, 6, 7 — and people call you bad names like “spic” or “garlic mouth” or “gold tooth,” like in “West Side Story,” you’re tender, you’re a child. I remember the day he said that to me, I thought: “Yeah, but he’s crazy as a loon!” AP: It’s not everyone that dates Elvis just to make Brando jealous, as you did. AP: After “West Side Story,” you’ve said you were offered only similar, stereotypical roles for years.