Born in
Brooklyn, the son of a beer
truck driver, Mordente went to dance school at the age of thirteen. He attended the
High School of Performing Arts and won a scholarship to the
American Ballet Theater School. There, he was discovered by the choreographer
Michael Kidd, who cast him as Lonesome Polecat in the 1956
Broadway musical adaptation of the
Al Capp comic strip ''
Li'l Abner''. Mordente was then featured in the Broadway (1957) and
West End productions and
film version of
West Side Story, during which time he met his future wife
Chita Rivera, who played Anita in the original Broadway cast. In the stage version Mordente played A-Rab, and in the film he played Action. "He wanted to play his original role in the movie and was very disappointed to be Action and I asked why they switched his role," Seth Rudetsky wrote in
Playbill. "He said he never asked because sometimes you ask and you don’t like the answer. Regardless, he wound up being very featured in the movie." Mordente was the voice of Oliver Cool on the 45 rpm single recording, "Oliver Cool" b/w "I Like Girls" by Oliver Cool (Roulette R-4292). The record did not nationally reach any musical hit parade in the US, but was a big hit in Australia in 1961. He understudied the title role and served as assistant to
Gower Champion in
Bye Bye Birdie (1960) He next teamed again with Kidd for
Ben Franklin in Paris (1964) and the ill-fated ''
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966), which closed during previews. He received his first credit as sole choreographer for Here's Where I Belong'' (1968), which never made it past opening night. As an actor, Mordente had guest appearances on the tv series
Combat! and
The Outer Limits. He began to choreograph for television
variety shows, including
The Ed Sullivan Show and
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. Mordente began to direct for television in the mid-1970s. His credits include twenty-nine episodes of
Rhoda, ten episodes of
Matlock, thirty-seven episodes of
Walker, Texas Ranger, five episodes of
The A-Team, four episodes of
The Love Boat, and thirty-three episodes of
7th Heaven, in addition to episodes of
The Practice (1976),
Busting Loose,
Love, Sidney,
Family Ties,
Day by Day,
M*A*S*H, and ''
Burke's Law'', among other television shows. ==Personal life==