Welcome to bay area focus. We are starting already. We start this morning with a favorite returning guest and a friend of this show, born in puerto rico, rita has won every award that the American Performance work has, the oscars, grammy, the tony, and two em mys and she just won the Lifetime Achievement award. But the yourny to stardom was not without problems. Typecasting, bias and ageism has been a part of hollywood and probably still is. There is more than we knew about rita in her new book. Welcome back. What an introduction. Well, you have been at the table many times. And so sorry about your husband passing. Thank you very much. It was three years ago. But it has been a while since you have been here. And there is a lot of stuff in the book. Well, hey, 81yearsold, that a lot of life. And you should see the stuff that i left out. I just looked at myself in the camera. Yes, and there is a sense of hue moor in the camera. Yes, it was a page turner. I have been told it is a page turner. It is great. I am glad to hear that. It is very revealing, and you really lay it out there. Why did you decide to write this now . Um, i have been asked for years and years to write it and number one, you know, i was married and attached to this great man, he knew my whole history, but do we want to throw it in his face, no, i dont think so. So i just tuned it down all the time. And then very soon after he passed away, i was doing the play about my life called life without make up, which actually inspired the book. And at no point, i thought well, it is a long lyed life. Ia longlived life. I think i have less sons and oh,lessons, oh, look at your famous. And that is why i did it. Which is why it is very revealing and when i athat, i dont like to think of it as only juicy, there are juicy parts. Oh, well get to that. You came here from puerto rico with your molter. With your mother and she left your brother. Did you know why . It was not disquest and that is the problem. At a serve point in my life, i found it to too hard. And there is my mother, she is a beautiful lady. The apple does not fall far. And i love that picture. It is so sweet. It was not something that was to be talked about. I just felt that she would probably get hysterical or she would start crying out of guilt and all of that kind of stuff and i just could not make myself ask her why she never saw her son again. I didnt, it is so hard for me to believe it. But you were small at the time. Five, yes. And you came on a boat. What was the name of the boat again . It had a crazy fame, it was called the ss [ inaudible ] and it means stupid face. And you wonder when you got there, you were in an apartment in the bronx. And it was beautiful. I was just there and it was beautiful. And in new york, it is cold and it is february. That picture is my first day of school. That is it. Oh, my gosh. You were cute. You were adorable. But you wondered why, she said you were going have is a better life. And i was freezing saying this is better . You know, what happened to the palm trees and the [ inaudible ] and all of that. That, later on, i guess i was about 10 when i was, or maybe even younger, younger probably because i never looked my age, that is when i start today dance, and um, i did a lot of weddings and stuff. I did. Was it [ inaudible ] rita [ inaudible ] who got you dance lessons. Yes, her real name was [ inaudible ] and then you got a gig. He took you so on stage at 14 . No, i was five. I was 6yearsold when i dance when i danced with him in a nightclub and i played the captain. And um, yes, i made my start in the village at the his span i can nightclub. Okay, well, that is in here, too, about breaking through the stereo type. But the break was when someone spotted you and wanted to intro deuce you to theto introduce you. Yes, a talent scout saw me. I just had to find my own roll models. There were none. No leading ladies . No, not at all. So um, you know, she became my roll model. Why not. But you said, and this is the thing that amazes me, this comes up a lot, i never looked better than okay. That is right. When did the confidence come then . Um, something happens when you perform, i just, i always felt i had talent. But i really, i always, always was you know, people are like this and god knows i was, you know, the world resolves and them, even when they feel like poop. And i almost said the real word, oh, god. And i i was convinced that i was not really pretty. I did not have a very good figure. You said that you dolled. Dolled up. Yes, exactly. And it worked. And she said she is a spanish elizabeth taylor. Yes, that is what he said. And i just almost died of happiness. All right, we have to take break. It goes so fast. Yes, i know. We are going to find out um, about rita and marlin bran doe. It is more involved than you think, that is when we return. We are back with legend rita, and congratulations by the way on the Lifetime Achievement award. That is a january. They are going to televise it. That is a big one. It is. Your body of work. Your peers. Now people will remember you from the west side story and one thing, what i didnt know, they wanted you to play maria on broadway. Yes, i was suppose today audition. And you didnt want to do it . I got scared. I had done too many movies and actually, it was a good thing that i did not do it because i was not equipped. So Carol Lawrence did it. Yes she did. And i took over for anita in the film. And you said that you played a lot of indian maidens. And then you end up with a man who is like the acting legend of america, Marlin Brando, this is before you were married, you had an affair with him . Well, it was not an affair. It was a relationship. The affair was with elvis. Well, you can read that in the book. Okay, but marlin, and at one point, you became pregnant and he didnt want you to have the baby. Why . Um, i dont know. I guess he felt that he would have to take care of a child and all of that kind of stuff. And i have to athat i kind of willingly went along with it. He was not going to marry me. He was in relationships with other women. Oh, that was much later. That was way, way, way later. But, wasnt he kind of cheating on you and coming back to you all the time . Yes, that is different. And you have to read the book, it was just so, it was a very complex relationship. We were truly in an obsessive relationship. We were just clinging to each other and really in a very new rot i can way. I tried not to get into the psychological aspect of it. And then the therapist said and but well, it came to a very life and death moment to you. A near tragic end because i tried to end my life over Marlin Brando. Well, it was not so much over him. You know, it is easy to blame the other person. But you collude. Relations like that are absolute collusion. And um anybody who tells you other wise is full of it or they dont want to admit it. I loved his power, his fame. I was a very young, i was young for my age my ways, for years and years. His talent in. Yes, he really was, and this is an overused word, charsmatic. He really was. He was a god. And um, i adored him, loved him, and worshiped him and the worshiped part the bad part. And i think he is also considered, kind of the pose rer child for theposter child for the method. Oh, yes. And i did not see in here, you did not have any formal acting training. You had the dance lessons and you found out that you could sing along the way. Yes, i did not have singing lessons. Well, where did you learn the acting . I think i was a natural to begin with and i studied for a couple of years in los angeles. But that was it. It was a couple of years and that was it. Okay, after, you had a big devotion to your career, your mother always believed in you. Yes, she was not a stage mother who interestingly, you know, i drove my. I was just convince that had some day, some how, some way, someone would see the talent in and me and not give me the maiden part, which is what i called those. And then you finally met dr. Leaguer done and moved here. He was a cardiology gist and you were afraid. You know, after the Marlin Brando thing, ending with the near suicide, i was very skittish, that is the word. And um, i said something that is very telling in the book about myself, bells and whistles did not happen when i was seeing leonard and i always wanted that and i realized luckily just in time before he felt so discouraged that he was going give up on me, that bells and whistles were not a good thing for me. Because that is when i would get in trouble with the wrong kind of man. That was marlin, bells and whistles inc. And i thought okay, i amyous going to have to accept the facti am just going have to accept the fact that i have to find a saner and more natural way to be with a man. You seem to have defied an lot of the things that are still out there, the sexism is until there, i think. For sure. Ray schism race schism racism is still there and ageism. The truth is, it is hard to find grown up women rolls on tv, in movies unless you are the grandmother in the corner. Yes, and what is interesting too, that my, i have a new agency that i signed up with and the wonderful thing is that they will submit many for any kind of roll, you can less it says 20yearold marketunless it says 20yearold character and i love that. What arena do you see the most possibility for you, you are 81. Well, actually i am closer to 82 now in december. So there is tv, film. There is tv and film, and theater. And i am doing cabaret, i am doing a fundraiser for bread andros this is weekend. And roses this weekend, in fact, on saturday. And um, i mean to do more of that. I love it. I do talks, too. Welt, you are notwell, you are not shy. What do you say to a woman that is maybe out of work, 50s, 60s, 70s, and has gifts to offer. What do you say to keep going . Well, i say go do some exercise classes and i will tell you why. It is not for your body so much as your head. What happens as you get the reaction, it is great. It is a whole lot, it really kicks in when your heart starts to beet a little fastto beat a little faster and it is a high that is great. It makes you feel great. Yes. When you feel wonderful, you see possibilities. And your advice for someone starting out . If they have necessity . Education. Education, education. There is no guarantee that you are going to be a working actor or actress. You need to educate yourself in a way where you can find a job that pays well. It does not have to be, you know, 800 a week or something but it has to pay well so that you can pay the rent and take acting lessons. Okay. All right, the book is called rita, and i am telling you what, nobody is getting their hands on my copy. This is for sure. Go buy your own. It is a great read and i can not wait to see what you do next. Thank you for coming in again. It is wonderful to are you here always. I love your energy. You are a crazy mom, i love that. Thank you, thank you. All right, stay with us. We are going talk about fish. Do you eat fish . Yes. The whole thing . No. Stay tuned. Welcome back. Mary is a a writer, and a maria is a writer and a true lover of fish, and we mean the whole fish. Maria has written for the New York Times and the San Francisco chronical says your next fish dinner should start with buying the fish whole so you can use the entire animal. That is right. Every part. Now before you wince, she claim that is you will be saving the motion and be healthy and sexy. Sounds a bit fish. Welcome, maria fin. It is your dream, i guess, to have fin attach today an about fish. Yes, it is my real name. And when you say the whole fish, the eyes and the brains in. Well, you can use the fish heads or soup stock and a lot of people like the eyes and the brain. I dont necessarily, they are very great, i had them a food cart no portland. They would deep fry them and make a yogurt dip. But i think you can almost deep fry anything, i think people would eat the pen. Yes, with a nice sauce. But no, the idea is that it is for people who do the conferences, you have to talk in like 1015 minutes and they launch a series of books and it is and a whole idea. It is for looking at wayings in which the water ways are interconnected and we just tend take the fillet. And so when we see the snout to tail movement happening where they are using every part of the animal, they are making [ inaudible ] out of the pig head and then the heart. There is only so many steaks on a cow and rocks on a lam. And racks on a lam. There is a restaurant and they make pigs heart sandwiches. People love them and they are great. Now i am not surprise that had when people try the stuff, especially if it is prepared well, it would be great and they would be hooked. You know, it sounds like sushi. But getting people, americans in particular, to try this, you have to get resis tense. Tentresistant. Well, people love something new and we all get in ruts, right. You open the can of tuna and then try a local sardine instead of shrimp, get some clams or muscles. But with using the whole fish now, it is, and people get that, they go okay, well, we talked about knot wasting food and saving money. So if you have a salmon fillet, you can make a meal out of that and then cook the skin and use that maybe over rice for a second meal, right. And then the bones, i have a great recipe in the book by sea restaurant, they dry the bones, grinds them finely and then salt, and you can put that over about anything. I am hearing a lot of cooking. Where is the sexy part . Well, there are easy things. Raw oysters. I am there. So there is it. And a lot of seafood, like the eggs, a lot of fish eggs, we have a great Caviar Company now in california. And if you like it, i would like the salmon eggs. They are a little bit fishier but once you get use today them or know how eat them. I have as are piece from a chef in ldi have a recipe from a chef in la and it is great. But we get used to it. You say it makes you healthier. This is where the o mega 3s are. And they are good for every part of your body. So people i know, they eat sardines for breakfast with toys, their nails grow father, their skin is better and you know, same thing with do you have to worry about the mercury and where the stuff comes from . Because you can eat them and guess what, there is mercury in the fish. With, the bigger fish have the most mercury and because they are on the top of the food chain, they accumulate a lot more of those. So they tend to have more and they tell pregnant women not to eat that much of it. But smaller fisher younger fish, oysters, they are fine, wild salmon on the coast from the Pacific Coast here, they are all fine as far as that goes. Okay, all right, it is probably new for your kitchen and it is for mine. It is called the whole fish. Thank you for being here. And we leave you now with a look at the San Francisco symphony. They perform through the year, thank you for watching. ,,,, im anne makovec. With this is wpix five news. It is november 24th. I am ann notarangelo. And i am phil. And i am mark. First up, bart from computer glitches. So many reasons to shake your head this morning. Phil is going walk with joel keller and president obama is going be coming to town. He has been able to collect at lot of cash. He warms all of our heart, we are going to take