- Shelley Morrison
Infobox actor
name = Shelley Morrison
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birthname = Rachel Mitrani
birthdate = birth date and age|1936|10|26
birthplace = New York, New York U.S.
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spouse = Walter Dominguez (1973 - present)
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awards =Shelley Morrison (born Rachel Mitrani;
October 26 ,1936 ) is an American actress. Early in her career, she was sometimes also credited as Rachel Domínguez. Morrison has been a theater and television actress since the early 1960s, predominantly as a character actress in ethnic roles. Her most widely recognizable recent role has been as the Salvadoran maid Rosario Inez Consuelo Yolanda Salazar in the NBC comedy television series "Will & Grace " which she played from 1999 to 2006. She was a regular performer on the sitcom "The Flying Nun " playing "Sister Sixto", and she continued in television guest roles until securing a recurring role in the soap opera "General Hospital " in 1982. She has also been called a non-hispanic but is actually aSephardic Jew of Spanish descent.Biography
Early life
Morrison was born in
New York City , the only daughter of Sephardic Jewish parents originally surnamed Mitrani. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04236/365984-129.stm Shelley Morrison ] ] She was raised in theBronx, New York . Her father, Maurice Morris, was a clothing manufacturer. Morrison moved to California with her parents in 1946.Career
Morrison went on to study acting at
Los Angeles City College and landed early film roles in "Divorce American Style " and "How to Save a Marriage (And Ruin Your Life)".Her most widely recognizable recent role has been as the Salvadoran maid Rosario Inez Consuelo Yolanda Salazar in the
NBC comedy television series "Will & Grace ", which she played from 1999 to 2006. The role was originally created for a brief one-episode appearance, but Rosario was so popular with viewers that the character became a regular. In addition to sparring with her libertine and very spoiled employer, Karen Walker, played byMegan Mullally , the Rosario storyline has also allowed her to marry the gayJack McFarland , played by Sean Hayes, in a marriage of convenience designed to prevent her impending deportation.In approximately 25 film appearances and 200 television appearances, Morrison has portrayed a maid or housekeeper on 32 separate occasions (including on "Soap", "Columbo" and the film "
Troop Beverly Hills "). Morrison had just recently informed her agent not to offer her any more "maid parts" when the call for "Will & Grace" came in.Battle with cancer
A bout with
breast cancer in 1988 forced her to undergo alumpectomy , and when the cancer recurred in 1998 she underwent a fullmastectomy . She also has battled lung cancer and underwent surgery which removed the upper third of her right lung. She lives with her husband of many years, Walter Domínguez, a Mexican-American, in a three-story apartment in Los Angeles - the same apartment in which her father had settled the family into five decades earlier. Morrison and Dominguez have no children of their own.Morrison revealed that she was diagnosed with
lung cancer in recent years, but that she is now inremission . However herbreast cancer , for which she was treated in 1988 and 1998, has returned.She endorsed U.S. Congressman
Dennis Kucinich for President in 2008, actively fundraising, contributing to his campaign, and seeking votes for him.References
External links
*imdb name|id=0607314|name=Shelley Morrison
*tvtome person|id=16311|name=Shelley Morrison
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