Steven Spielberg’s highly-anticipated West Side Story revival starring Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria is getting rave reviews from critics ahead of its release on Friday, but the film has big shoes to fill.
Original Broadway musical about love and tension in 1957 Broadway is about the Jets, an American gang, and Sharks, a Puerto Rican group, who fight to control their Upper West Side neighborhood.
It was inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The music and lyrics were composed by Arthur Laurents and Leonard Bernstein.
Film adaptation of the 1961 movie starring Richard Beymer, Natalie Wood and Maria scoring 10 Oscars after its release — including Best Picture in 1962. The production was not without faults.
Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood were star-crossed lovers Tony & Maria in West Side Story (1961), which was based upon the 1957 Broadway musical.
Broadway’s musical and movie are both about love and tension in New York between the Jets, an African-American gang and the Sharks. This was in the ’50s.
The majority of Puerto Rican roles were played by actors wearing brownface. This led to many whitewashing scandals in subsequent productions.
Spielberg was however committed to casting Latinx actors. A casting call specified that Sharks characters would be Latinx.
The Hollywood director’s remake features an updated script that was written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner.
The West Side Story of Spielberg was due for release in December last year, however it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
FEMAIL aims to celebrate the theatrical release of the film’s revival and looks back at the stars of 1961. It also reveals the current actors.
Richard Beymer played the film’s male lead, Tony, the co-founder and one-time member of the Jets (left). Pictured in 2001, the actor is now 83
Beymer is pictured here in 1951’s film Terminal Station. He started his acting career as a child actor.
Tony as Richard Beymer
Richard Beymer played the role of Tony, the male lead in the movie. He was co-founder, and a former member, of Jets, the white gang run by Riff.
Rivals to the Jets are the Sharks from Puerto Rico. The drugstore clerk falls for Maria, the younger sister and leader of Sharks.
Beymer, whose full name is George Richard Beymer Jr., was born in Avoca, Iowa, and moved to Los Angeles with his parents in the 1940s. His roles included those as child actors and in many television shows.
George Stevens, a director who cast him in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), gave him his biggest break. One year later, he was given the part of Tony in West Side Story.
Beymer is most well-known for portraying Tony. However, he did not actually sing in the original film. It relied heavily upon vocal dubbing.
Jimmy Bryant actually sang Tony’s music numbers.
In 1962, Beymer was nominated for two Golden Globes for his performance in West Side Story: Best Actor in a Comedy or Music and Most Promising Newcomer – Actor.
He is remembered fondly for his film but he was also embarrassed at the way the role was played.
Beymer is pictured here in 1961. He got his breakthrough when George Stevens cast Beymer as Peter Van Daan, in 1959’s film The Diary of Anne Frank.
Beymer has more than 60 acting credits to his name, including his role as Ben Horne in David Lynch’s 1990 series Twin Peaks
Ansel Elgort is playing Tony in Spielberg’s West Side Story revival
‘It could have been played more street-wise, with someone other than me, who was born in Iowa and didn’t have a clue as to what New York was all about,’ Beymer told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. “What would De Niro do with a role like that?”
He appeared in The Longest Day (1962), and The Stripper (1963) before moving to New York City and enrolling in daily classes at The Actors Studio. This is a Manhattan drama school.
Beymer decided to focus his efforts on making films of his own and directed A Regular Bouquet Mississippi Summer 1964, an award-winning documentary about Mississippi’s struggle for civil liberties.
I haven’t left the cinemas. I only made movies of other types. Hollywood was a thing of the past for me because I’d found something that thrilled me,’ he told the Los Angeles Times.
“That was the most fun I had in filmmaking, making movies spontaneously at each step. This is quite a contrast to Hollywood movies which are planned and pre-planned. Those films seem too perfect to me. It’s much funnier in real life.
Beymer, who is now 83, has more than 60 acting credits to his name, including his role as Ben Horne in David Lynch’s 1990 series Twin Peaks.
His West Side Story co-star Russ Tamblyn also starred in the mystery series, and they both reprised their roles in the 2017 reboot.
Ansel Elgort is set to play Tony in Spielberg’s West Side Story Revival.
Natalie Wood played the role of Maria in West Side Story, Tony’s forbidden lover (left). At 43, the actress passed away in November 1981. Pictured in April 1982 (right).
Wood is pictured in 1957 at the Academy Awards. She was 25 when she received three Oscar nominations, but she didn’t win any.
Maria by Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood took on the role of Maria, Tony’s forbidden love in West Side Story. Bernardo is her sister. She also has a proposal to Chino, Shark leader’s best buddy.
The actress, who was Russian- and Ukrainian-American in her family, was chosen to portray the role of the Puerto Rican lead female character. She wore brownface makeup and was cast with the movie.
It is considered to be one of her finest film roles. However, Marni Nixon sang her musical numbers.
Wood was the daughter of Russian immigrants and was raised in San Francisco. She began acting at age four. When she was eight, Susan Walker played the role of Susan in Miracle on 34th Street (1947 Christmas classic).
She was nominated as a teenager for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress because of her role opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Wood was just 19 years old when Robert Wagner, an actor, married her. This is the couple as they were in December 1957 when they got married.
Wood was pictured as a 1965 divorcee from Wagner and she married Richard Gregson, a British producer, four years later. Natasha was her first baby, and she married Richard Gregson in 1972.
Wood had divorced Gregson, in 1972. In 1973 she married Wagner. The couple remarried in the same year, and they welcomed Courtney, their daughter, in 1974.
Wood had a few notable relationships with a lot of men. These included actor Dennis Hopper (singer), Nicky Hilton (hotel heir) and actor Elvis Presley. Wood was only 19 when she wed actor Robert Wagner, December 1957. In 1961 they separated and were divorced 10 month later, in 1962.
During this time, she received Academy Award nominations for her performances in Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963).
At age 25, she was tied with actress Teresa Wright as the youngest person to score three Oscar nominations, though she never went on to win any.
Jennifer Lawrence was just 23 when Jennifer Lawrence received her third Oscar nomination.
Wood continued to act throughout the 1960s and appeared in the films Sex and the Single Girl (1964), Inside Daisy Clover (1964), and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).
She married Richard Gregson, a British producer, in 1969. Their daughter Natasha was born one year later. They divorced in 1972 and she was reunited again with Wagner. In 1974, they remarried and had their daughter Courtney.
The actress semi-retired from acting while raising her kids, but she earned a Golden Globe for Best Actress in 1980 for her performance in television miniseries From Here to Eternity
Wood is pictured here with her husband and two daughters in 1976. Wood drowned mysteriously in 1981. Wagner has been called a person of interest in the case, which was initially ruled a boating accident
Rachel Zegler plays the role Maria in the forthcoming rival
Wood became semi-retirement as she raised her children. She found success with television in the 1970s.
In 1979, she starred in The Cracker Factory (TV movie) and in From Here to Eternity (1979 miniseries). She was awarded a Golden Globe in 1980 for Best Actress.
Wood, aged 43 years old and filming Brainstorm science-fiction movie with Christopher Walken was mysteriously drowned on a boating trip in November 1981.
Her body was found off Santa Catalina Island in California. Initial authorities believed that the victim died from accidental drowning. However, this has been changed over time due to more evidence and scrutiny.
Wagner was Wood’s husband. Wagner is being called a person in interest. Wood’s sister Lana Wood also believes that he was responsible for Wood’s death.
Rachel Zegler will play the role of Maria in this rival.
Russ Tamblyn played Riff in 1961’s film. He was Tony’s friend and leader of the Jets. Nearly 100 films have been made by the actor who is now 86. In 2018, he is pictured (right).
Tamblyn played Ben Horne in David Lynch’s 1990 series Twin Peaks. The role was recast in 2017 by Tamblyn.
Russ Tamblyn, Riff
Russ Tamblyn portrayed Tony’s best friend, Riff. He was an actor and dancer who was also a gymnast and was able show his skills in aerials during the film.
Tamblyn, in contrast to many of his stars, did the singing himself for Gee, Officer Krupke! Quintet. Tucker Smith did the voice recording for Jet Song.
Tamblyn, born in Los Angeles and raised by showbiz family, was a performer and tumbler growing up.
He played Elizabeth Taylor’s younger brother in the 1950 film Father of the Bride, but his breakout role was in the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Tumbling was his forte, which earned him the nickname “Tumblin’ Tamblyn.”
Tamblyn said that tumbling was her thing. She also got through musicals in which people thought, “Oh, my god, you are a fantastic dancer!” My dance skills were not up to par. I was a skilled acrobat.
Prior to West Side Story, he was a star opposite Lana Turner, in Peyton Place (1957), which won him an Academy Award nomination.
After only one year in marriage, he split from his first wife Venetia Stephenson that same year. In 1960, just one year after West Side Story’s release, he married Elizabeth Kempton from Las Vegas.
Tamblyn actually was vying to play the role of Tony, in the movie adaptation. Richard Beymer won.
AntennaTV reported that he had auditioned for Tony’s part in the film, but was rejected. “They offered the role of Riff to me, so I accepted!”
Tamblyn is shown with Robert Wise (right) and Richard Beymer, West Side Story director at the 40th anniversary screening.
Amber Tamblyn, Tamblyn’s daughter and actress attended the New York screening of West Side Story.
Mike Faist is the new Riff for the revival
He was the star of West Side Story and later landed more roles in films, such as the 1963 horror movie The Haunting. This film is based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House.
Tamblyn, however, resigned from the world of commercial filmmaking during the 1960s and began to focus on fine art. His first solo exhibit featured the music of his neighbor Neil Young in Topanga (California) in 1970. He divorced Kempton in 1979.
‘I didn’t want to come back to Hollywood for a long time,’ he told the Los Angeles Times. ‘I’ve done a lot of theater and some television, but my art projects really satisfied my need to be spontaneous and creative in my own style.’
Tamblyn, his third wife Bonnie Murray was married in 1981. Acting was his passion and Tamblyn starred with Bonnie Murray in 1982’s Human Highway. He choreographed the film and wrote it together with Dean Stockwell.
He and Murray welcomed their daughter — actress, writer, and director Amber Tamblyn in 1983. Amber was about seven when Tamblyn discovered that he had an older daughter he didn’t know about — China Faye Tamblyn — with artist Elizabeth Anne Vigil in the ’60s.
‘I’ve said that I was an only child for many years, and I realize now it was a mistake saying it,’ Amber told Parade in 2009. “But, when I was seven years old, a young girl came to my door and said that she was my father’s daughter. It was true. He had a brief affair with her in the 1960s. Her name is China, and she’s an artist and a welder. We’ve become close.’
Tamblyn was reunited with Beymer, his West Side Story costar in Twin Peaks. He played Dr. Lawrence Jacoby in the series and later reprised the role in the 2017 revival.
Tamblyn is 86 and has almost 100 credits in film. He most recently played Dr. Montague in the 2018 Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House, which was inspired by Jackson’s novel of the same name.
The fans loved seeing Tamblyn make a brief appearance on the program, many decades after his appearances in The Haunting.
Mike Faist will assume the role Riff during the revival.
Rita Moreno, left, has been one of the most beloved and venerated stars in Hollywood since she played Anita in 1961 on the big screen. This actress was 89 when she attended Tuesday’s Hollywood premiere of West Side Story.
Puerto Rican-born Moreno had to don brownface in order to portray Anita in this musical
Rita Moreno as Anita
Rita Moreno from Puerto Rico was cast to play Anita Bernardo’s girlfriend. Maria is Maria’s close confidante.
She was born Rosa Dolores Alverío in Humacao, Puerto Rico, where she was called ‘Rosita’ as a child. She moved to New York City in 1936 with her mother after her parents split. Her younger brother was left behind.
After her mother got remarried she took her stepfather’s name, Moreno.
Before she became a child actor, Moreno learned dance moves. When she was 11, Moreno was hired to record Spanish versions of American films.
Two years later, she made her Broadway debut as Angelina in Skydrift in 1945, which led to offers from Hollywood agents.
Moreno was first seen in the 1950 movie So Young, So Bad. Although she was initially credited with Rosita Moreno’s role, Rita became her first major screen role.
After a number of bit parts, she appeared opposite Gene Kelly in Stanley Donen’s musical Singin’ in the Rain in 1952. In 1956, she was cast as a Burmese slave for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I.
Moreno became frustrated by the stereotypical sexuality or ethnic roles that were given to her during this period.
Moreno won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress, which made her the first Latin American actress ever to be awarded an Oscar.
Marlon Brando and the actress had a turbulent on-again-off-again affair that lasted for eight years. It began in 1954. In 1954, they were photographed on Desiree.
An appearance on the WBURRadio show Here and Now, 2011, she recalls being the “resident utility ethnic” in Hollywood during the 1950s and 60s.
Similar issues were faced by the actress in West Side Story. She and her castmates had brownface to film 1961’s adaptation.
She explained that although we all shared the same makeup color, it was very different times.
‘I remember saying to the makeup man one day — because it was like putting mud on my face, it was really dark and I’m a fairly fair Hispanic — and I said to the makeup man one day, “My God! I don’t understand why we have to all be one and the same colour. Puerto Ricans are French and Spanish…” And it’s true, we are very many different colors, we’re Taino Indian, we are black some of us.
I was shocked to hear that the makeup artist actually told me “What?” Are you a racist?”‘ “Are you a racist?” she asked. ‘I was so flabbergasted that I couldn’t come back with an answer.’
Earlier this year, Moreno told Good Morning America that she almost dropped out of the film because one of the songs had a lyric that was ‘disparaging to Puerto Rico.’
NPR interviewed her and she revealed that she originally intended to sing “Puerto Rico”, a song about the island with tropic diseases.
Stephen Sondheim was there, however. At the request of a producer the lyrics were changed to “Puerto Rico”, which means: “Puerto Rico,”
Betty Wand sang A Boy Like That for Anita, while she performed her own vocals for America and Quintet.
Moreno claimed that Brando’s infidelity, and his abuse of her made it so difficult for her to commit suicide. She went on to star opposite him in in the 1968 film The Night of the Following Day, pictured
Moreno wed Leonard Gordon, a cardiacologist in 1965. Two years later, they had their first child, Fernanda Luisa Gordon. This 1982 photo shows the family.
Moreno was awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This made her the first Latin American actress in Oscar history.
Marlon brando was her on-again, off again love affair that began in 1954, and continued for eight years.
Moreno, who wrote in the eponymous 2011 memoir about her affair, said that she was subject to his abuse and cheating.
Brando married two different women over the course of their relationship, and when she got pregnant with his child, he had her get a botched abortion that left her bleeding for days.
This relationship was such a distressing experience that she attempted to kill herself.
‘When I tried to do away with myself, I wanted to do it because I couldn’t take the pain anymore of the relationship I had with Marlon Brando,’ she said.
“It was embarrassing and I was letting him walk all over me. And I hated myself so much — it was a very strange reason. I wanted to get rid of myself because I don’t think I deserved to live. The pills were prescribed to me.
Moreno married cardiologist Leonard Gordon in 1965, and they welcomed their daughter, Fernanda Luisa Gordon, two years later.
Moreno is the new Valentina in Spielberg’s much-anticipated adaptation of West Side Story. She also executive produced the film
Moreno is pictured here at West Side Story’s Hollywood premiere. He is one 16-time EGOT winner: An Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony.
Ariana deBose will be playing Anita, an actress, singer and dancer.
After being married for three consecutive years, she was reunited in 1968 with Brando in The Night of the Following Day.
Moreno was one of sixteen performers to win an EGOT, which includes an Oscar, Emmy and Grammy as well as a Tony.
She won a Grammy for her contributions to The Electric Company Album in 1972, and she took home the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in 1975 for her performance in the musical The Ritz.
Moreno then went on to win an Emmy Award Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1977 for her appearance on The Muppet Show.
Her Emmy award made her third Latina and first Latina recipient of all four major entertainment awards. In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.
Moreno, who is now 89, has nearly 160 movie credits, and a role in West Side Story. In the film, she plays Valentina (a new character) and also produced it.
Ariana DeBose plays Anita in this remake.
George Chakiris played Bernardo, Maria’s older brother and leader of the Sharks, in the film (left). He has 60 credits in film. In October 2021, he is pictured (right).
Chakiris, pictured with Rita Moreno, won won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Bernardo in the film
George Chakiris is Bernardo
The role of Bernardo — Maria’s older brother and leader of the Sharks — went to singer, dancer, and actor George Chakiris in the 1961 film.
Unlike many of his co-stars, who were child actors, he was born in Ohio to Greek immigrant parents. After only one year, he left college to go to Hollywood. His film debut was in the song chorus of Song of Love (1947).
Throughout the 1950s, Chakiris earned small dance and chorus roles in a number of musical films, including Gentleman Prefer Blondes in 1953. One of his dance roles in Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ music number was as a choreographer.
After growing frustrated at his inability to succeed in Hollywood, the actor moved to New York one-year into West Side Story’s Broadway run. Riff, a London-based production of West Side Story, was his audition. When the musical premiered in London in 1958, it received rave reviews.
When Chakiris tested for the film adaptation a few years later, he ended up being cast as Bernardo while Russ Tamblyn played Riff.
West Side Story’s success led to numerous film and television roles for Chakiris, who appeared on Fantasy Island in the 1980s, pictured
Chakiris, Rita Moreno, and Russ Tamblyn are pictured at the footprint and hand ceremony to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of West Side Story’s Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
David Alvarez plays Bernardo
His performance in Puerto Rican is a character that he plays, and for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is of Greek heritage.
Chakiris was the leading role in 1962’s Two and Two Make Six. He also appeared in the 1963 film Diamond Head with Charlton Heston and the 1964 war movie 633 Squadron with Cliff Robertson.
He made a successful career out of his pop singing success in the 1960s and was able to have a handful of minor hits. He continued acting until the 1990s, appearing on TV shows like Superboy, Pale Blood and The Girls of Lido.
Chakiris (87) has 60 credits in film. His last appearance before retiring was on a 1996 episode of the British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. However, he recently played a bank manager in the 2021 film Not to Forget.
The actor also turned his hobby of making sterling silver jewelry into a career with the launch of his George Chakiris Collection.
Bernardo will be played by David Alvarez in the remake.
William Bramley portrayed Police Sergeant Krupke during the 1957 Broadway Broadway production of West Side Story. Later, he reprised the role of the beat cop for the 1961 movie. At the age of 57, he died.
Bramley was first seen in West Side Story. Later, he appeared in a number of films and television programs.
Brian d’Arcy James will be portraying the officer in the new West Side Story
William Bramley will be the Police Sergeant Krupke
William Bramley was Police Sergeant Krupke during the 1957 Broadway Broadway production of West Side Story. He later played the role again as the beating cop in 1961’s film.
He was born in New York City, and graduated in 1953 from Bucknell University. While a student at liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, he was involved in the Cap and Dagger Club theatrical organization.
His role in West Side Story marked his film debut, and he went on to appear in the films Gunpoint (1966), Madigan (1968), Revenge of the Cheerleaders (1976), and The Wild Life (1984).
Bramley played a variety of roles on television throughout his life. His roles included the TV movie Ready for the People (1964), Michael O’Hara the fourth (1972), as well as Tough Girl (1981).
His TV appearances as police officers were not uncommon. Star Trek second-season episodes featured him as the policeman. An episode of I Dream of Jeannie also had him playing the role of a policeman.
Bramley, among other things, made guest appearances on TV’s Bonanza and Straightaway as well as Kentucky Jones, Lassie and Bewitched.
After a short illness, he had over 100 credits in acting when he passed away in California at the age of 57.
Brian d’Arcy James will be portraying the officer in the upcoming West Side Story.