Shelley Morrison

Despite remaining on the periphery of character stardom for a number of years, New York-born character actress Shelley Morrison, who enjoyed a long and varied career on film, TV and the stage for decades, finally became a household favorite as the argumentative, razor-tongued maid Rosario Salazar on the enduring hit NBC comedy Will & Grace (1998), which she played from 1999 to 2006. Spanish-speaking Rachel Mitrani was born in the Bronx on October 26, 1936, the daughter of a Spanish-Jewish clothing manufacturer. She moved with her parents to Southern California when she was 10 years old. Following high school graduation, she studied acting at Los Angeles City College and began her career on the stage. Among her early theatre credits was an appearance in a national road production of "Orpheus Descending" and, as one of L.A.'s pioneering female producers, she mounted the West Coast premiere of "Sweet Bird of Youth." Despite her busy schedule on film and TV, Shelley would remain firmly entrenched in the theater as a performer, producer and director both here and abroad. Morrison was eventually honored with the "Eternity Award" for lifetime achievement at the Twelfth Annual Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival. Changing her stage name to "Shelley Morrison" in the late 1950's to avoid ethnic typecasting, Shelley broke into TV in 1961, finding bits on such prime-time shows as "Adventures in Paradise," "Outer Limits," "Dr. Kildare," "The Farmer's Daughter," "The Fugitive," "Gunsmoke," "Laredo," and "My Favorite Martian". Finding herself usually cast as a Hispanic or Native American, Shelley's most visible character during this period, and the one people remember with great fondness, was as the adorably shy but spirited Puerto Rican-born Sister Sixto, who had problems mastering English, in the gentle comedy series The Flying Nun (1967) which starred Sally Field as fellow novice Sister Bertrille and Madeleine Sherwood as their Mother Superior. Handed a Columbia Pictures contract, Shelley found minor parts in such film features as The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), link=tt0060219], Divorce American Style (1967), Funny Girl (1968), How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968), Three Guns for Texas (1968) and Mackenna's Gold (1969). Into the 1970's she found herself on such popular programs as "The Bold Ones," "The Partridge Family," "Marcus Welby," "The Rookies," "Soap," "Murder, She Wrote," "Sisters," "Columbo," "L.A. Law" and "Home Improvement," while showing up in such films as the romantic dramedy Blume in Love (1973); the Clint Eastwood directed drama Breezy (1973); the comedy spoof Rabbit Test (1978); the Neil Simon comedy drama Max Dugan Returns (1983); and as Rosa the maid in the adventure comedy Troop Beverly Hills (1989) starring Shelley Long. It was another standout maid portrayal, however, that became Shelley's favorite. In 1999, she joined the cast of the comedy hit Will & Grace (1998) as the peppery Salvadoran housekeeper who shared a caustic love/hate relationship with wealthy boss, Karen Walker, played by Megan Mullally. What was suppose to be a one-episode spot proved so hilarious as the two butted heads and traded wicked barbs, that the Rosario character became a strong, recurring presence during the entire first run of the show. In later years, Shelley became a two-time breast and lung cancer survivor. Following a fairly steady vocal role as Mrs. Portillo in the animated Spanish-oriented children's series Handy Manny (2006), the actress decided to retire. Asked to return to the "Will & Grace" show when it was resurrected in 2017, she politely declined. After Shelley's death in 2019 from heart failure following a brief illness, the death of "Rosie" was played out and mourned on an episode of the TV show. Shelley was survived by her writer/assistant director husband Walter Dominguez and their six sons and daughters -- all adopted through a traditional Native American ceremony. Long ago the couple embraced the spiritual Native American traditions of the Lakota Sioux and lived for decades in the same L.A. apartment building that her parents owned when she was a child.