Tag Archives: Happily Divorced

Television Academy Names Rita Moreno to This Year’s Hall of Fame Class

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Rita Moreno is entering a special hall…

The Television Academy has announced its 26th Hall of Fame class, with the 90-year-old Puerto Rican entertainer among the honorees.

Rita Moreno,Moreno will be joined by choreographer and actress Debbie Allen, documentarian Ken Burns, BET founder Robert L. Johnson, CBS executive Bob Daly and cinematographer Donald A. Morgan.

Moreno, an EGOT winner (Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, Tony Awards), is a two-time Emmy winner for The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files.

She has starred in series including The Electric Company, Sesame Street, Nine to Five, Oz, Cane, Happily Divorced, Jane the Virgin, and the Latinx reimagining of Norman Lear’s One Day at a Time.

Moreno’s many accolades also include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Arts, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors and the Peabody Award.

Moreno is among two of the honorees who’ve already received honorary awards from the Television Academy. She was awarded a “Televisionary Award” in 2008. Allen received a Governors Award last year.

The Hall of Fame event will take place on Wednesday, November 16, at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center in North Hollywood, California.

In addition to the induction of the 2022 Hall of Fame recipients, the event will include the presentation of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to actor/director/activist Sean Penn and the unveiling of new busts of four previous inductees.

“These legendary performers, creators, craftspeople and television executives are luminaries in our industry,” Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, said in a statement. “Their work has influenced and immeasurably elevated the current television landscape and culture. We are proud to induct these trailblazers into the Hall of Fame and honored to celebrate their extraordinary contributions to our industry.”

“This year’s honorees have told the American story through television in ways that will forever shape our history and culture,” said Rick Rosen, Hall of Fame selection committee chair (who is also WME co-founder and head of television). “Whether they reshaped the industry itself through visionary leadership or created pieces of work that have had a lasting legacy, these individuals will forever be remembered for the impact they’ve had on the medium.”

The 2022 Hall of Fame honorees join more than 150 individuals previously inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception in 1984. The honors were presented every year from 1984 to 1993, but the Academy has skipped 13 years since then for various reasons. This is the first induction class since 2019.

In addition to Rosen, this year’s Hall of Fame selection committee included Marcy Carsey, Emmy-winning producer; Pearlena Igbokwe, chairman of Universal Studio Group; Peter Roth, former chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group; Nina Tassler, co-chief executive officer of PatMa Productions; and Dana Walden, chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content.

Moreno Cast in CBS’ Comedy Pilot “Joe Time”

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Rita Moreno is joe momma…

The 83-year-old Puerto Rican actress, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s SAG Awards, has landed a series regular role in CBS’ comedy pilot Joe Time.

Rita Moreno

The project centers on Joe (Steven Weber), a family man who struggles with the fact that everyone around him is pursuing their dreams and enjoying their lives more than he is.

Moreno will play Judy, Joe’s (Weber) mom. She’s in love with her husband Mitch, and also preoccupied with physical fitness and her amazing personal trainer.

Moreno, one of an elite group of performers who have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy in their careers, was recently cast as Jane’s (Gina Rodriguez) grandmother on the CW’s hit telenovela-inspired series Jane the Virgin.

She has earned two Emmys for her guest appearances on The Rockford Files and the Muppet Show and also co-starred on the TV Land comedy series Happily Divorced.

Moreno to Star in NBC’s Comedy Pilot “Old Soul”

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Rita Moreno is ready to share her old soul…

The 82-year-old Puerto Rican actress, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s SAG Awards, has been cast in NBC’s comedy pilot Old Soul.

Rita Moreno

Moreno will star opposite Natasha Lyonne in the single-camera pilot.

Co-created and executive-produced by Amy Poehler, Old Soul centers on a reformed wild child Nadia (Lyonne) who has a business caring for the elderly and feels she has more in common with her colorful old clients than she does with people her age.

Moreno will portray one of Nadia’s clients, a character that appears tailored for her down to the name, Rita. A sexy old gal and a ball of joy, Moreno’s character is described as a flamboyant, larger-than-life Broadway vet who has been happily married to her writing partner/husband for over 50 years.

Moreno, an Oscar, Emmy, Tony Award and Grammy winner, most recently co-starred on the TV Land comedy series Happily Divorced.

Moreno Receives Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 SAG Awards

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Life’s a SAG for living legend Rita Moreno…

The 82-year-old Puerto Rican actress/singer/dancer, a Grammy, Oscar, Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday night.

Rita Moreno

Moreno accepted the special prize from Morgan Freeman, who called the West Side Story star his “dear old friend,” as well as a “world-class actress, singer, dancer and fighter who battled to break through the racial and sexual barriers that plagued Hollywood‘s Golden Age.”

Moreno did a victory lap onstage after receiving a standing ovation before saying that she was “f—ing thrilled,” but the audio had been was cut during the live broadcast when she dropped the F-bomb.

She later apologized for “that word” before saying, “Actually, I’m not.”

Alluding to her surprised acceptance speech for her Oscar, she said she still honestly can’t believe she’s received SAG’s honor.

Moreno, who briefly flirted with Jeremy Renner and Brad Pitt, also said she hoped she was receiving the Life Achievement Award “early in the third act of my life.” She finished by singing several lines from “This is All I Ask.”

A showbiz veteran and a SAG member for more than six decades, Moreno is one of only 11 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony — a feat known as the EGOT.

She first appeared on the big screen in the reform-school drama So Young, So Bad in 1950, and afterward was put under contract as an ingenue at MGM, where a casting director changed her first name to Rita.

Moreno’s first film for the studio was the Mario Lanza musical The Toast of New Orleans, and she had a small role as the flapper actress Zelda Zanders in Singin’ in the Rain two years later.

She would go on to star in such films as The King and I, West Side Story — for which she won her Oscar in 1962 — and Carnal Knowledge.

Moreno won her Grammy for The Electric Company Album in 1972, her Tony for The Ritz in 1975, and her two Emmys for appearances on The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files in 1977 and 1978.

She continues to stay busy, having just finished a run as Fran Drescher’s mother in the TV Land comedy Happily Divorced.

She will appear next in the upcoming indie drama Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks with Gena Rowlands.

Moreno to Receive SAG Lifetime Achievement Award

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She’s already the only Hispanic performer to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT)… And, now Rita Moreno is getting another acting prize.

The 81-year-old Puerto Rican actress/singer/dancer has been named the 50th recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s highest honor – the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rita Moreno

The SAG Awards are bestowing the award on Moreno for her career achievements and humanitarian accomplishments.

Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the union’s top accolade will be doled out at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on January 18, 2014.

In addition to being one of a rare class of performers to win the career EGOT, Moreno has also been the recipient of the Library of Congress Living Legends Award, the National Medal of Arts and the HOLA Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actresses.

Moreno, who recently released her best-selling memoir Rita Moreno: A Memoir, has had a nearly 70-year career in the industry.

She currently portrays Fran Drescher’s mother in TV Land’s sitcom Happily Divorced.