Rita Moreno Awarded National Medal for the Arts

Tony Award winner Rita Moreno was awarded the National Medal for the Arts on Thursday, February 25 in Washington, D.C., according to a report in The New York Times. She was given her medal by President and Mrs. Obama.

Other awardees are the actor and director Clint Eastwood; singer and songwriter Bob Dylan; designer Milton Glaser; artist and architect Maya Lin; opera singer Jessye Norman; artist Frank Stella; conductor Michael Tilson Thomas; composer and conductor John Williams; and Joseph P. Riley Jr., the mayor of Charleston, South Carolina. The Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the School of American Ballet were awarded medals as well.

Moreno won the Tony Award for The Ritz. She also won the Academy Award for her performance in West Side Story; the Grammy Award for her recording of The Electric Company; and two Emmy Awards for her television performances in The Rockford Files and The Muppet Show.