Its lovely to talk about it.
Had you seen the Broadway production ofWest Side Story?Yes.
Chita Rivera was doing it, who of course was nothing less than brilliant.
Credit: Everett Collection
Then the film came along, and one of the first names that came up was mine.
If you saw me inThe King and I, I had that angelic, virginal face.
But I got cold feet.
Michael Tran/FilmMagic
When I saw it on the stage, I thought, Oh, boy, what a mistake.
But when the movie came around, I had grown into Antia.
And they auditioned the world any girl with dark hair and dark eyes was a candidate.
Id think, God, old farts are writing this.
But the musical numbers are just so delicious.
America, especially, is so unbound and energetic, isnt it?Unfettered!
Its a killer show-stopper.
And you have to credit [choreographer and co-director] Jerome Robbins, though he absolutely drove the dancers.
Wow, how cruel he could be.
Thats been said.A lot of the dancers hated him but loved him.
Shin splints for days.
You dont just lift your leg up high but you snap it.
You snap your knee, then it goes up.
I went to an orthopod.
He said to me, How old are you?
I was older than a lot of the other dancers.
And the doctor said, Oh, youre just getting old.
Jerry Robbins loved hearing that!
We shot the whole movie at the Goldwyn Studios.
The set for America was huge.
We had big tenement rooftops.
They were full soundstages.
You must have been sweating.Up a storm.
Between takes they had buckets of ice water with shammies for us.
And my stocking rotted very quickly because of the sweat.
Was that your real hair?That was a wig, my darling.
They nailed that damn thing to my head.
My head was so sore at the end of every day.
My scalp was sometimes absolutely red.
What are your memories about that dress?Oh, the lavender dress.
Its not a veryblingycostume we didnt use that word then but its so iconic.
I remember the shoes kept flying off whenever I did a high kick.
But they were very cute, thats what was important.
What was it like dancing with George Chakiris?Let me tell you something about George as a dancer.
He is such an elegant dancer!
I dont think people see that, theyre so busy with the fire and the sauce.
He is every bit as elegant as Fred Astaire was.
Compare them; he is so elegant, oh my goodness.
And last I checked, hes still taking ballet class.
You two are still in touch?Yes, definitely.
Hes one of my dearest friends.
We became like brother and sister on that film.
And arent we great together?
We laughed until I wet my hose all the time.
He has a very naughty sense of humor.
Can you give me an example of that?Heres a great one.
Jerry [Robbins] wouldnt let the Sharks and the Jets socialize on the set or during rehearsal.
He wanted a very tense atmosphere.
One day the Jets showed up, and Russ Tamblyn had some T-shirts made up that said Jets.
And the Sharks were furious.
So George wanted to either equal that or top it.
He was taking a walk on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Back then, and even today, it was full of porny places and sexual toy places.
He just walked into one and bought a whole bunch of leather wristbands.
And Jerry flipped he loved it.
And it stayed in the movie.
From a porny shop.
It was so marvelous.
All the Shark girls went bananas.
The lyrics focus on the virtues of living in America versus Puerto Rico.
As a Puerto Rican, how did you feel about that?Its interesting.
In the play, Anita sings, Puerto Rico, you ugly island, island of tropical diseases.
But before I said anything, to my great relief, the line was rewritten.
It became Puerto Rico, my hearts devotion, let it sink back in the ocean.
Which at least is more benign.
Stephen Sondheim had to have rewritten it, God bless him.
Have you ever gotten pushback from Puerto Ricans?No, they love the movie.
They love the Sharks.
She was an outlier.
What was the trickiest part of America to nail?The end.
The girls end up on the boys shoulders.
But we hadnt counted on me wearing a silk dress and George wearing a silk jacket.
Plus, Georges shoulders slope.
Plus, my ass was bigger than his shoulder.
We did an inordinate amount of takes because I would land on his shoulder and slide off.
You could hear me: Oh…oh…oh…s!
What was your solution?One cheek was sitting on his shoulder.
He held me with one hand, and my leg was stuck into his back to get balance.
I stabbed him with that shoe.
But we got the shot!
