Chita Rivera, a Broadway star who also appeared in shows like One Life to Live and movies like Chicago, has died. She was 91.
Rivera’s publicist confirmed the sad news to Variety, revealing that she had passed away following a brief illness.
The actress was best known for originating the role of Anita in Broadway’s West Side Story in 1957 — a role that Ariana DeBose later took over in Steven Spielberg‘s 2022 movie version that ultimately won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Rivera was also the first actress to play the role of Velma in Broadway’s original run of Chicago in 1975. When the film was made into a movie starring Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma in 2002, Rivera made a small cameo as Nickie, a prostitute Roxie meets in jail.
Throughout her storied career, the actress won Tonys for her roles in the Broadway productions of The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman. In 2018, she was awarded the Tony for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre.
While most would recognize Rivera for her work on Broadway, she also made several film and television appearances all starting with her big-screen debut in the 1969 musical comedy Sweet Charity alongside Shirley MacLaine. Aside from her cameo in Chicago, she also appeared in musical movies like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1978 and Lin Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick…Boom! in 2021.
As for television, Rivera starred on The New Dick Van Dyke Show as Connie Richardson from 1973 to 1974. Plus, she held a recurring role as Melody Rambo on the long-running ABC soap opera One Life to Live in the early 1980s.
Most recently, she appeared in episodes of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and the Disney Channel show Johnny and the Sprites, as well as the web series Submissions Only.
Stephanie Pope, a Broadway actress and friend of Rivera, remembered the late star as a “legend.”
“She achieved a standard of excellence that we all aspired to but will never match,” Pope said in a statement to CNN. “I cherish the time I spent with her both on stage and off. The theater community and world has lost a true star.”
Rivera is survived by her daughter, Lisa Mordente; her siblings Julio, Armando and Lola del Rivero; and her many nieces and nephews.
