Rita Moreno dated Elvis to get back at Marlon Brando, but says Elvis was boring

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EGOT goddess Rita Moreno is out promoting West Side Story. Again, of course, since she famously slayed as Anita in 1961, but this time she plays Valentina. I don’t even think age was a factor. I’m sure Steven Spielberg would have had Anita rewritten as a 90-year-old if Rita had asked, but she probably said, “nah, I’ve done that, gimme something else.” Anyway, Rita is hitting talk shows up and she’s not afraid to dish. She released a memoir in 2013 that spilled some pretty juicy tidbits about her colorful life. One of the things she detailed was her eight-year relationship with Marlon Brando to whom Rita refers as “the lust of her life.” As a result, she put up with a lot of crap from him including persistent cheating. But she didn’t always take it idly. While on The View the other day, looking as magnificent as ever, Rita mentioned a story she has told before but is always worth repeating. It was about the time Rita dated Elvis Presley just to get back at Marlon.

Rita Moreno says she found a way to get back at Marlon Brando for his cheating throughout their 8-year relationship.

The Oscar winner, 89, stopped by The View on Wednesday where she was asked about Brando “constantly” cheating on her during their on-and-off relationship by co-host Joy Behar.

“I found lingerie in his house and, of course, I was heartbroken, and I went home in tears — really, I was naïve — and I was angry too, just furious. The next day, the phone rings, and I hear ‘Miss Marina?’ I said, ‘Uh, yeah?’ ” she recalled. ” ‘This is Colonel Parker, my client is Elvis Presley, and Elvis spotted you at the 20th Century Fox commissary, and he liked what he saw.’ ”

“I said ‘Oh?’ and he said, ‘And he would like very much to meet you. Would you like to meet him?’ ” the West Side Story star continued, adding, “And I thought of those panties, and I said, ‘Yes, I would!’ ”

Moreno said that she “dated [Elvis] several times” and that she found him to be “sweet but boring.”

“He was sweet, but he was a country boy. So anyway, when [Brando] found out, it didn’t take long. He started to throw chairs. He was so angry. It was wonderful. And I just sat there as he threw chairs and carried on,” Moreno said, crossing her arms and pretending to look at her nails as she mimicked being unfazed by Brando’s reaction.

[From People]

This is one of those stories that’s fun to hear, but I’m glad it’s not me. In my 20s, I would’ve probably loved a guy to throw chairs around because of me. And I definitely would’ve slept with someone as revenge (I did not admit to anything, this can’t be used in court, Senator!). But now I’d duck at the first sign of drama. The last thing they’d see from me is a texted photo of the panties and a waving emoji. However, if one wanted to piss off Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley was a very good call. And effective, it seems. It doesn’t surprise me that Elvis was boring if he needed Col. Parker to get his dates for him. For those wondering, Rita elaborated more on the Wendy William’s show when she told this story a few years ago. By boring, she means in bed. She went so far as to call him “amateur night.” Oof! I guess that’s before Elvis was shooting televisions.

Rita has a documentary out about her relationship with Marlon. It’s called Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It and is currently on Netflix. I think Marlon is incredibly talented but find very little redeeming about him as a person. But then I’ve only heard stories like this, of him being a narcissist, demanding his way and acting like a child. Maybe I’ll watch Rita’s doc to see if there’s another side to him. Or what the hell she saw in him to still hang his photo in her bedroom next to her late husband.

Here’s Rita telling the story:

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46 Responses to “Rita Moreno dated Elvis to get back at Marlon Brando, but says Elvis was boring”

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  1. Jegede says:

    Actually quite a few of his famous exes, including Natalie Wood & Cybill Shepard, attested that Elvis didn’t know much. Ahem, in all aspects.😉

    • ThEHufflepuffLizLemon says:

      Elvis dated Cybill Shephard? I’m off to Google now!

    • Songs (Or it didnt happen) says:

      Maybe that’s why he dated 14 year olds……. 🍵😒

      • Scarlett says:

        Well look at you, reading my mind, typing what I was thinking …did you know you possessed the power to do that? Nicely done Songs (Or it didnt happen)!!

  2. Miranda says:

    Perhaps Elvis was boring with Rita because she was, um, a bit old for him? Not a dig at her at all! I just seem to recall that he liked his girls young. Like, illegally young. Wasn’t Priscilla like, 14 or 15 when they got together?

    • terra says:

      Bingo! Sleepovers with multiple young girls, with “kissing games” and everything. Really gross and worrying.

      My grandmother has a cutting board with Elvis’ face made out of vegetables on it over our kitchen sink and I do my best not to look at it because it makes me uncomfortable. Every time I see it, I’m reminded of his predilections towards young girls. That and it’s objectively pretty creepy looking. There’s another Elvis something or other either on top of or hanging on the wall next to the vanity in her bedroom.

      I just don’t get it. I’ve never gotten the Elvis appeal. My mother went to see Fat!Elvis in Vegas when she was a teenager and has her own memorabilia that she displays in her house. I’ve been surrounded by Elvis!People my entire life and never gotten it myself.

      My fifth-grade teacher was in her late seventies/early eighties and was one of the girls who followed Elvis around on tour when she was a kid. She’d tell us stories about Elvis and The Beatles, along with movies and other bits on the past sometimes. If there was ever a subject that we really didn’t feel like getting into a couple of kids in the class, yours truly included, were elected to figure out how to smoothly change the subject to something from her youth to distract her away from whatever we were collectively trying to avoid. We had a pretty high success rate, although I’m sure we weren’t always as smooth as we thought we were, lol.

  3. Tulipworthy says:

    I don’t think this story shows Rita in a good way. She is basically saying she used Elvis, and then she talks bad about him. Doesn’t sound like she is a nice person.

    • Ange says:

      After everything Elvis did with young women he deserves more people speaking badly of him tbh.

      • Christine says:

        Agreed. I have lived my life wrong, I want to be reincarnated as Rita Moreno. She has really LIVED.

    • Ameerah says:

      Elvis literally dated underaged girls hun. The reason he was boring to her was because he was used to dating children and couldn’t relate to another adult. You don’t have to actually develop a personality if all you do is date 13-14 year old children who idolize you.

  4. LaUnicaAngelina says:

    I love old Hollywood gossip!

    • Becks1 says:

      Me too! This is the kind of story I love. I think its why I enjoyed that book “the seven husbands of evelyn hugo” so much.

      And especially when you consider how much of a star’s public image was controlled by the studios etc -its really fascinating to think of the true stories behind all the movies etc. I know by the 60s that was less true but there was still a lot covered up.

      • LaUnicaAngelina says:

        Oooohhh I need to check out that book!

      • Becks1 says:

        You definitely should! It’s about an aging Hollywood actress (think an Elizabeth Taylor type) telling her story to a young journalist. It’s a fast read, not a deep dive into hollywood or anything, but it definitely makes you think about what was real and what was just the image.

      • Grant says:

        Evelyn Hugo is superb. Legitimately one of the best books I’ve ever read!

    • It’sJustBlanche says:

      Same!

    • Lizzie Bathory says:

      Me, too! I’d love to have a weekly (Friday, maybe?) post about old Hollywood gossip. So much comes out years later. Also, I love the podcast “You Must Remember This.” If you like well-researched old Hollywood tea, there’s plenty there.

  5. Spicecake38 says:

    “The last thing they’d see from me is a texted photo of the panties and a waving emoji “…LMAO!
    I will be thinking about this line all day and people will wonder about the crazy lady laughing at seemingly nothing; but I just find that sentence hilarious and true!

  6. Bobbie says:

    Some of us have revenge f***s well past our 20s. I learned they are a of waste of time and do not garner the results you want.

  7. Roo says:

    She is forever on my “celebrities to have dinner with” list! Her sheer talent, personality and intelligence combined with her stories?! We would be closing down the restaurant!

    • Merricat says:

      +1

    • tempest prognosticator says:

      Yes! She’s on my imaginary guest list as well. Rita has LIVED.

    • minx says:

      The Netflix biography of her was very interesting. One thing that surprised me was, she had a long marriage and I assumed it was happy…and it was, until a certain point. But she admitted that they became incompatible although they never divorced; they stayed together until he died. I thought that was quite honest of her.

  8. MissMarirose says:

    I watched the Netflix doc about Rita. I recommend it. She’s been through a lot in her life, but if you’re looking for something redeeming about Marlon, you won’t find it.

    • FHMom says:

      I guess they had a very passionate affair, and that is what she is holding on to. Passion can be magic, but violence, abuse and volatility is not romantic.

  9. Lala11_7 says:

    I always loved how Shelly Winters handled Brando…they hooked up while he was on Broadway doing Streetcar…and she would meet him after he got off stage & take advantage of ALL that energy coursing through his MAGNIFICENT body…then go on about her business 😝

  10. Lizzie Bathory says:

    This is hilarious & Rita Moreno is a treasure. I think she was definitely naive. Brando was the lust of many a person’s life (just ask Richard Pryor) & by all accounts great in bed. Elvis would have been a letdown. As others mentioned above, there’s a reason Elvis pursued underaged girls.

  11. Laughysaphy says:

    Oh lord, seeing Brando play Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls of all things played a big part in my sexual awakening. So I get it Rita, especially when she was young and naieve.

  12. Watson says:

    Rita is awesome. Hahahhahah!! No f’s to give at all!!!

  13. Ann says:

    I didn’t even know they had been a couple! She is awesome.

  14. jferber says:

    Elvis was a down-home boy from the South who didn’t have much or any education. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 42 because he was handled by the Memphis Mafia, who drugged him much like Anna Nicole Smith was drugged and killed by hangers on.

    • bettyrose says:

      You’re not wrong. Elvis was an uneducated, drug-addicted fool controlled by studio execs, but he was also a pedophile and a racist. Credit where due.

  15. Barrett says:

    The netflix for her is amazing

  16. Cookie Monster says:

    The woman turns 90 years old next week, she’s not concerned with anyone’s opinion of her this late in the game.

  17. MerlinsMom1018 says:

    No way she’s 89!!!!!! So very very fierce and stunning!
    Brando was a smoke show when he was young. Elvis? Wellll…nah. Not for me
    My whole problem was and is to this day those bad boys. I have stories for days about my younger years with them. (How long do Statutes of Limitations last, anybody know?)

  18. bettyrose says:

    First of all, what kinda OG can compare Elvis Presley to Marlon Brando as lovers? You go Rita! Next, as everyone else has already said, Elvis was a pedophile. (off topic Elvis was also the original culture vulture). My parents are Boomers and they’ve never been into Elvis. He takes problematic to a new level.

  19. Belly says:

    I’m sorry to admit I’ve never heard of this lady before now!!

    She sounds like a goddamn legend.

    So watching her Netflix thing this weekend now.

  20. jferber says:

    bettyrose, I get the pedophile charge, but what makes you say he was racist? I’m not doubting it, but I never heard that said of him before.

    • Bettyrose says:

      I’m referring to the fact the he actively appropriated musical styles from Black artists without credit but he was a southerner in the first half of the 20th century so I’m also making some assumptions.

  21. Whatnow says:

    This is in no way a defense of Marlon Brando or any man’s abusive behaviors but I know in Marlon’s case he was raised by a severely alcoholic mother — the sort where you were told as a boy to go down and get mommy out of the gutter near the bar alcoholic.

    I’ve also read that he had depression and what is now thought to be bipolar with his manic rages and outrageous spending.

    • BlinkB says:

      The recent documentary “Listen to me Marlon” is really illuminating in this respect. He was carrying a lot of damage from his childhood, it was awful. Not excusing his behaviour, but it makes a lot more sense once you realise he’s a product of a very problematic home life