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Tony Mordente, best known for starring in the original production of West Side Story, has died at 88. His family announced the news in an obituary stating the Broadway actor-turned-director died on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, he was born Anthony Charles Mordente Jr., a beer truck driver, in 1935. Per an article by the Hollywood Reporter, he found his love for dance early on after his mother put him in dance school at 13.
He attended the High School of Performing Arts and later won a scholarship to the American Ballet Theatre School, where choreographer Michael Kidd, who cast him in the 1956 Broadway musical adaptation of Li'l Abner as Lonesome Polecat, discovered him. He would leave Li'l Abner to join West Side Story a year later.
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Tony Mordente also starred in the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story
West Side Story is a 1957 musical centered on two feuding teenage gangs, the Jets and Sharks. Mordente played a Jet named A-Rab. The play also starred a Tony-winning actress and the actor's former wife, Chita Rivera, as the Shark girl, Anita.
Mordente married Rivera in 1957. When the production cast realized they were dating, the Jet boys did not speak with the actor as "they were really angry." During a May 2020 interview with Seth Rudetsky of Playbill, Rivera explained that the Jets and Sharks cast could not fraternize.
Tony Mordente, during his 2007 interview for PBS's American Masters, revealed:
"It just so happened that the the Jet boys didn't speak to me for about two weeks of rehearsal, I was completely shut out. I mean, they were really angry."
He continued,
"I sat down with them in the dressing room in a rehearsal period and I just said, 'Hey, look, guys, I'm part of the Jets. You know, I mean, what I'm doing out there is my personal life. We got to keep our gang together."
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Tony Mordente worked on West Side Story for fourteen months, and when it moved to London, he took over the role of choreographer, supervising the dancers whenever they played in the U.S.
When the production was made into a film in 1961, Mordente played a different Jet, Action. During his interview with Seth Rudetsky, the actor confessed he was disappointed to play Action but never questioned the switch because he wasn't sure he would like the answer.
Tony Mordente has since worked on Broadway as an actor or assistant choreographer on plays such as Li’l Abner (1956), Bye Bye Birdie (1960), and Ben Franklin in Paris (1964).
He was also a successful director, working on shows like Rhoda (29 episodes), Walker (37 episodes), M*A*S*H, The A-Team (5 episodes), and 7th Heaven (33 episodes). His choreography credits include variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
The actor-director divorced Rivera in 1966. They share a daughter, Lisa Mordente, who followed in her parents' footsteps, working on Broadway and even getting a Tony nomination for Best Actress in 1982 for her work in Marlowe. Mordente married Jean Fraser in 1978. The couple are parents to screenwriter Adriana Mordente.
