Famed Broadway performer Chita Rivera dead at 91

Chita Rivera, the dynamic dancer, singer and actorwho garnered 10 Tony nominations, winning twice, in a long Broadway career that forged a path for Latina artists and rebounded aftera near-fatal car accident, died Tuesday. She was 91.

Rivera's death was announced by her daughter, Lisa Mordente, who said she died in New York after a brief illness.

Rivera first gained wide notice in 1957 as Anita in the original production of West Side Storyand was still dancing on Broadway with her trademark energy a half-century later in 2015's The Visit.

"I wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't moving or telling a story to you or singing a song," she told The Associated Press then. "That's the spirit of my life, and I'm really so lucky to be able to do what I love, even at this time in my life."

In August 2009, Rivera was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour the United Statescan give a civilian. Rivera put her hand over her heart and shook her head in wonderment as U.S. President Barack Obama presented the medal. In 2013, she was the marshal at the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.

Tony success

Rivera won Tonys for best actress in a musical forThe Rinkin 1984 and Kiss of the SpiderWomanin 1993.

She was nominated for thebest actress Tony seven other times, for Bye ByeBirdie,which opened in 1960; Chicago,1975; Bring BackBirdie,1981; Merlin,1983; Jerry's Girls,1985; Nine,2003; and Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life,2005.

"I don't think we have enough original musicals," she told TheAssociated Press in 2012. "I know I'm being old fashioned, but thetheatre is the place where music, lyrics, words, scenery and storiescome together. And I've been blessed enough to have done severalshows when they really did. They take you places and they're daring.That's what we need."

When accepting her lifetime achievementTony Awardin 2018, Riverasaid, "I wouldn't trade my life in thetheatre for anything, because theatre is life."

In the 1993 musical Kiss of the Spider Woman,Rivera playedthe title role, a glamorous movie star at the centre of the fantasylife of an inmate in a South American prison. The story, from anovel by Manuel Puig, had already been made into an Oscar-winning1985 movie.

In his review, then-Associated Press drama critic MichaelKuchwara wrote that Rivera "is more than a musical theatre star.She's a force of nature which is exactly what is needed for therole of the Spider Woman. With her Louise Brooks haircut, brassyvoice and lithe dancer's body, Rivera dominates the stage whenevershe appears."

In 1975, she originated the role of Velma Kelly (to Gwen Verdon'sRoxie Hart) in the original Broadway production of Chicago.Rivera had a small role in the 2002 film version, while CatherineZeta-Jones won the best supporting actress Oscar as Velma just asRita Moreno and Ariana DeBose picked upOscars for theirportrayals of Anita in different versions ofWest Side Story.

The songwriters for Chicago, John Kander and Fred Ebb, also wroteRivera's first Tony-winning performance, for The Rink.Inwinning the Tony for best actress in a musical, Rivera topped theshow's top star, Liza Minnelli, who was also nominated. The twoplayed a mother and daughter who struggle to rebuild theirrelationship after a long estrangement; the setting is anold-fashioned roller rink that has seen better days.

Spider Womanhad been her first Broadway show since 1986,when her leg was crushed ina traffic accident while she was appearing in Jerry's Girls,a Broadway tribute to the songs ofJerry Herman.

At the Tony awards a few weeks later, she flashed her cast andbelted out Put on a Happy Facefrom the musical Bye, Bye,Birdie.

It took months of physical therapy to bring back her dancingskills. She told The Associated Press: "It never entered my mindthat I wouldn't dance again. Never. I can't explain to you why. It'shard work getting back but that's what I'm doing.

"My spirit is still there."

'I consist of two people'

Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was born on Jan. 23, 1933, inWashington, D.C. Her Puerto Rican father, Pedro del Rivero, was amusician who played in the United States Navy Band, who died whenshe was seven. Her mother was of Scottish and Italian descent.

She took dance classes and then entered the prestigious School ofAmerican Ballet in New York. Her first theatre gig, at age 17, wasin the touring company of Call Me Madam.That led to chorusstints in such shows as Guys and Dollsand Can-Can.

In her 2023 memoir, Chita: A Memoir,another woman stealsscene after scene: her self-proclaimed alter ego, Dolores.Unapologetic and fiery, Dolores was the unfiltered version of Chitaand served as motivation in times of self-doubt. In one chapter,Rivera wrotethat she didn't read reviews because "Dolores just mightinvest in a dozen voodoo dolls."

"I consist of and I think we all do I consist of two people: Dolores and Conchita," Rivera saidin an interview with the AP thatyear. "Conchita, she's the one that has been taking all the glory,you know. She's been doing all the shows, but Dolores is the onethat's pushed her into it. And she's been keeping me on track, so Ilisten to Dolores. I listen to her. She's growing in my head now aswe speak."

Among other early appearances on the New York stage were roles inThe Shoestring Revuein 1955; amusical version of SeventhHeaven in 1955starring Ricardo Montalban; and Mr. Wonderful,a 1956show starring Sammy Davis Jr.

"I can't believe that I've been given the gift to look back andrelive my life," she told The Associated Press shortly before TheDancer's Lifeopened on Broadway in late 2005.

"It's about howanybody can do it if you really believe it, you have the goodfortune, you do all the right things and you really work hard."