{"id":72315,"date":"2024-01-31T01:01:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T01:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/31\/pioneering-broadway-icon-chita-rivera-dead-aged-91-after-brief-illness\/"},"modified":"2024-01-31T01:01:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T01:01:27","slug":"pioneering-broadway-icon-chita-rivera-dead-aged-91-after-brief-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/31\/pioneering-broadway-icon-chita-rivera-dead-aged-91-after-brief-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering Broadway icon Chita Rivera dead aged 91 after &apos;brief illness&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"byline\">\n<time itemprop=\"datePublished\" content=\"2024-01-31\" datetime=\"1706662887\" pubdate=\"\">31 January 2024<\/time>\n<\/p>\n<p>Broadway icon Chita Rivera has died aged 91.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption landscape\">Broadway icon Chita Rivera has died aged 91<\/p>\n<p>The Tony Award-winning actress, singer and dancer passed away on Tuesday (30.01.24), her representative Merle Frimark said.<\/p>\n<p>He revealed in a statement to People: \u201cIt is with immense personal sorrow that I announce the death of the beloved Broadway icon Chita Rivera. My dear friend of over 40 years was 91.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chita\u2019s daughter Lisa Mordente, 65, said in her own statement her mum had died in New York \u201cafter a brief illness\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cShe is also survived by her siblings Julio, Armando and Lola del Rivero (her older sister Carmen predeceased her), along with her many nieces, nephews and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nChita\u2019s family also said the late performer\u2019s funeral will \u201cbe private\u201d, but promised a memorial service would be announced \u201cin due course\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe actress shot to fame when she originated the role of Anita in \u2018West Side Story\u2019 in 1957, forging a path for fellow Latina performers.<\/p>\n<p>\nShe followed the groundbreaking performance with the Broadway productions of \u2018Bye Bye Birdie\u2019, which landed Chita her first Tony nomination, and \u2018Chicago\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\nShe was also renowned for her turns in productions of \u2018Guys and Dolls\u2019, \u2018Sweet Charity\u2019 and \u2018Kiss Me Kate\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\nBorn Dolores Conchita Figuero del Rivero in Washington, DC, Chita trained as a ballerina from her childhood, but in 1986 suffered an injury during a car crash after a taxi hit her vehicle in Manhattan that left her left leg broken in a dozen places.<\/p>\n<p>\nBut she battled her way back into dancing nearly a year after the accident, though never fully recovered.<\/p>\n<p>\nShe told the New York Times: \u201cYou\u2019ll never see me in ballet slippers again because I don\u2019t have my Achilles\u2019 tendon.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI can\u2019t do the full stretch. But I don\u2019t have any pain anymore. The only problem is that my leg sets off metal detectors at airports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nChita received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, awarded by then-US president Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<p>\nShe also took home two Tony Awards as best leading actress in a musical, plus a lifetime achievement trophy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.femalefirst.co.uk\/celebrity\/pioneering-broadway-icon-chita-rivera-dead-aged-91-after-brief-illness-1393716.html?f=rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>31 January 2024 Broadway icon Chita Rivera has died aged 91. Broadway icon Chita Rivera has died aged 91 The Tony Award-winning actress, singer and dancer passed away on Tuesday (30.01.24), her representative Merle Frimark said. He revealed in a statement to People: \u201cIt is with immense personal sorrow that I announce the death of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6246,6250,354,6252,6244,6245,6249,6248,6251,6247],"class_list":{"0":"post-72315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-anita","9":"tag-armando-del-rivero","10":"tag-barack-obama","11":"tag-carmen-del-rovero","12":"tag-chita-rivera","13":"tag-dolores-conchita-figuero-del-rivero","14":"tag-julio-del-rivero","15":"tag-lisa-mordente","16":"tag-lola-del-rivero","17":"tag-merle-frimark"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}