Tag Archives: The Muppet Show

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.

Rita Moreno to Star in the Feature Film “The Prank”

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Rita Moreno is pranking around…

The 89-year-old Puerto Rican actress, singer and dancer, an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Award winner) has landed a starring role in the feature film The Prank, which will be directed by Maureen Bharoocha.

Rita Moreno

Moreno will star opposite Connor Kalopsis and Ramona Young.

The Prank follows two high school students who play a prank on their physics teacher, Mrs. Wheeler, played by Moreno. When she fails them on a test; they teach the imperious, demanding, insulting instructor a lesson by falsely accusing her of the murder of a missing student.

Other cast in The Prank includes Keith David, Meredith Salenger, Jonathan Kimmel, Nathan Janak and Kate Flannery.

Filming begins this month in and around Los Angeles.

The dark comedy is written by Rebecca Flinn-White & Zak White.

“Rita Moreno is a force of nature and an icon who continues to redefine herself,” said Bharoocha. “Her brilliant comedic mind lends itself to the perfect ‘Mrs. Wheeler’, a character we have never seen her play, and one that will no doubt surprise audiences.”

Moreno has won an Oscar (West Side Story), a Tony (The Ritz), two Emmys (for her turns respectively in 1977 and 1978 on The Muppet Show and Rockford Files), and a Grammy (Best Children’s Album for The Electric Company).

Moreno has starred on Broadway and London’s West End, appeared in more than 40 feature films and has performed in numerous regional theaters, including her one-woman show, Life Without Makeup, at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She recently co-starred in the critically acclaimed Latinx reimagining of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom One Day At A Time.

Her documentary, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, produced by Lear, Lin Manuel Miranda and Brent Miller had its world debut at the Sundance Film Festival this year. The film, which was met with acclaim from critics and audiences alike, will have its television debut on PBS’ American Masters nationwide on October 5.

Moreno also co-stars and is an executive producer of the Steven Spielberg remake of West Side Story, set to open on December 10.

The recipient of the Peabody Career Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honor for her lifetime contributions to American culture, she was also honored by her peers as the 50th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

Moreno’s all-Spanish-language album, Una Vez Más, was produced by her good friend Emilio Estefan, and she is a New York Times bestselling author with her first book, Rita Moreno: A Memoir. Moreno has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush and the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.

Moreno Honored by the Los Angeles Music Center

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Rita Moreno is the epitome of excellence, and now she’s being acknowledged for her performing arts background…

The 84-year-old Puerto Rican actress, the only Latina to secure an EGOT (winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award), was feted for her performing arts legacy Thursday night at the Los Angeles Music Center’s inaugural summer soiree.

Rita Moreno

Moreno was presented with the center’s excellence in the performing arts award by The Nanny star Fran Drescher.

“She uses her celebrity and her fame for the greater good,” Drescher said of Moreno before welcoming her to the stage. “She leverages it for the advancement of women, for the advancement of the Latin community and anyone that happens to be marginalized in society.”

Moreno earned an Oscar for her portrayal of Anita in 1961’s West Side Story and landed Emmy wins for her guest appearances in The Rockford Files and The Muppet Show.  She’s currently in production on the Netflix reboot of Norman Lear’s 1970’s-80’s family sitcom One Day at a Time.

Gracing the Music Center stage with humor and humility, Moreno devoted her acceptance speech to the loved ones who contributed to her multi-faceted career success, including her immigrant mother who “did all that she could to underwrite [her] dreams.”

“That sweet elixir that I call the arts requires more than the creativity and passion of the arts,” said Moreno. “There would be no Misty Copeland, no Rita Moreno, no Lin-Manuel Miranda, no Justina Machado apart from those of you who encourage, support and applaud.”

The award presentation was followed by an American Ballet Theatre production of Firebird, starring Misty Copeland, and an outdoor after-party in Downtown Los Angeles’ Grand Park.

Carter Heading to the White House on the CW’s “Supergirl”

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Lynda Carter is going from superhero to super leader…

The 64-year-old part-Mexican and part-Spanish American actress/singer, best known for starring as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince on the cult classic ABC/CBS series, will portray the President of the United States on the second season of the CW’s superhero drama series Supergirl.

Lynda Carter

It had long been rumored that Carter was being eyed for the role on the Melissa Benoist-starrer and mentioned as an idea by the show’s executive producers, and now it’s all official.

Carter joins other superhero alums to appear on the series. Lois and Clark star Dean Cain and Supergirl actress Helen Slater play Kara’s (Benoist) adoptive parents.

Carter, who played Wonder Woman in the 1970s television series, more recently starred as Matron Mama Morton in the London West End production of Chicago. Her television appearances have included The Muppet Show, Partners in Crime and Two and a Half Men.

She also has released three albums, including 1978’s Portrait, 2009’s At Last and 2011’s Crazy Little Things.

Based on the DC Comics characters, Supergirl also stars Mehcad Brooks, Chyler Leigh, David Harewood, Jeremy Jordan and Calista Flockhart.

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.