Rita Moreno tells a very charming story about meeting Lenny Kravitz
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
(CNN) — Rita Moreno is a legend, but that doesn’t stop her from introducing herself to those she admires.
The EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winner shared just one such story on “The Jennifer Hudson” Thursday.
Moreno talked about attending this year’s Academy Awards and afterwards the Vanity Fair party. She told Hudson she doesn’t get out much, but when she does she likes to do it up big.
Since she’s a widow, Moreno said her date is often her daughter, Fernanda Luisa Gordon, who she was with when she spotted rocker Lenny Kravitz at the party.
“I said ‘Let’s go say hello,’” Moreno recalled. “She said ‘Do you know him?” I said ‘No,’ but it’s a party and he was all alone.”
The tripple-threat singer, dancer and actress wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
“I went to him and I said, ‘Hello, I’m Rita Moreno’ and at that point – you’re not going to believe this – he fell to the floor and he got on his knees and he just went on and on and on about how much he’s admired me all these years and all that kind of stuff,” she said. “But you know I nearly peed my britches.”
Moreno said she absolutely did not keep her cool and was “astonished.”
In 1962, Moreno became the first Latina to win an Oscar when she when the Academy Award for supporting actress for her performance in the film version of the Broadway musical “West Side Story.”
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