Chita Rivera Was a 'True Broadway Legend'

Tony-winning dancer, singer dead at 91
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 30, 2024 2:35 PM CST
Broadway Legend Chita Rivera Dead at 91
Chita Rivera, foreground, and the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes rehearse Cole Porter's "Can Can" in New York on Jan. 21, 1988.   (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)

Chita Rivera, the dynamic dancer, singer, and actress who garnered 10 Tony nominations, winning twice, in a long Broadway career that forged a path for Latina artists and shrugged off a 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 Story and was still dancing on Broadway with her trademark energy a half-century later in 2015's The Visit, the AP reports. In August 2009, Rivera was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the US can give a civilian.

Rivera, born in Washington, DC in 1933 to a Puerto Rican father and a mother of Scottish and Italian descent, rose from chorus girl to star, collaborating along the way with many of Broadway's greatest talents. She rebounded from a car accident in 1988 that crushed her right leg and became an indefatigable star on the road. She won Tonys for The Rink in 1984 and Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1993. When accepting a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, she said "I wouldn't trade my life in the theater for anything, because theater is life."

She was nominated for the award seven other times, for Bye Bye Birdie, which opened in 1960; Chicago, 1975; Bring Back Birdie, 1981; Merlin, 1983; Jerry's Girls, 1985; Nine, 2003; and Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, 2005. "She was a true Broadway legend," playwright Paul Rudnick said in a post on X. "She always delivered and audiences adored her. The moment she stepped onstage, the world became more exciting and glorious."

(More obituary stories.)

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