Born on May 18, 1922 in the town of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, Marquita Rivera was a famed actress, dancer, and singer and the very first at any time Puerto Rican who appeared in a key Hollywood film “Highway to Rio.”
Born as Maria Heroina Rivera de Santiago, Rivera was the youngest little one between the brood of 12. At the age of 3 months, her family members migrated to New York Metropolis in the United States where by her musical vocation commenced. At a really youthful age of 6, Rivera studied flamenco and dance underneath the famed dance teacher and learn Eduardo Cansino.
Rivera’s expertise in new music was noticed for the duration of her teenage several years. Her initially showcased job was by the movie “George White’s Scandals of 1936” wherever she performed the position of a dancer. For Rivera, she believed that the highlight of her career was when she performed prior to King George VI and his daughter Queen Elizabeth II throughout the New York World’s Honest in 1939. In addition, Rivera also toured diverse metropolitan areas close to the United States this sort of as Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago with the band led by Noro Morales and Paul Whiteman.
Rivera established her identify on the club circuit when she started off placing her very own demonstrate at Havana-Madrid and Latin Quarter in the state of New York. In Puerto Rico, Rivera also attained recognition undertaking in El San Juan Theatre and Zero’s Nightclub. She also landed an performing agreement in Mexico with Azteca Studios wherever she acted in a variety of films these kinds of as “El Conquistador” and “Me perigue una mujer.”
Soon after her deal with Azteca Studios, Rivera landed a Hollywood contract generating her the to start with Puerto Rican actress and dancer to do so. In 1947, she starred in the movie “The Road to Rio” jointly with Hollywood actors Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope.
