Ronaldo confesses: I am a Cry Baby!

Half a century in showbiz has taught Ronaldo Valdez a lifetime of lessons.

Saturday afternoon, we sit for a casual chat at a corner of Dulcinea (on Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City) over green tea (mine) and coffee with cheeseburger (his). He has just finished dubbing for Seven Sundays, his latest movie under Star Cinema showing nationwide starting today, Oct. 11, directed by Cathy Molina-Garcia and starring the “come-backing” Aga Muhlach, Dingdong Dantes, Cristine Reyes and Enrique Gil.                                                            

“I play their dying father who is trying to make up for lost time,” starts Ronaldo who can’t hide himself behind silvery hair and thick mustache and beard that make him the perfect colonel endorser of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), his third commercial after Emperador (with son Janno Gibbs) and Ensure (with wife Marife “Baby” Ylagan). “My character is an OFW who has been working so hard abroad to give his family a good life, only to realize when he retires that he has neglected his family. His dying wish is to spend as much quality time with his children before he dies, especially on Sundays...for seven Sundays.”                                                          

Between bites of his sandwich and sips of his coffee, Ronaldo expresses amazement at the passage of time in the past five decades when he saw stars come and go, many of them hardly leaving any imprint at all.

“Like the dubbing,” he notes. “Before, we would dub reel by reel and when we committed mistakes, we would do it all over again. Today, ang bilis! Errors are easily corrected with the computer.”                                                                  

In the next breath, he rues the attitude of young stars.

 “They should know how to respect senior stars. They don’t even know how to say ‘Hi!’ Dinadaanan lang nila. My wife Baby said that maybe they were too shy but I disagreed. Paano sila magiging mahiyain samantalang nasa showbiz sila, mga sikat sila.”                            

Or maybe they are too overworked, too sleep deprived by the rat race, making hay while the sun shines, that they forget about good manners.                                                                    

“I don’t think so,” protests Ronaldo who has starred with the industry’s brightest stars (Susan Roces, Amalia Fuentes, Pilita Corrales, et al). “There was a time when I was doing four movies at the same time on a per-day basis, but I never missed greeting everybody on the set including crew members.”

With his “children” in Seven Sundays, Ronaldo confirms that the shoot was a breeze (showing was advanced so Direk Cathy had no choice but to scrap her usual “35-shooting-day” calendar to meet the new playdate).                  

“We were like a family on the set, the atmosphere was relaxed. Cathy was cool, meticulous, mabusisi. I enjoyed working with my ‘children’,” adds Ronaldo who has done almost every character in the book. “It’s my first time to work with Dingdong, Enrique and Cristine at mahuhusay sila. Magaan ka-trabaho. I can easily relate to young people. I am young-at-heart. “(At 70-plus), I still feel 35. With Aga, ang dami na naming nagawa, including Miguelito: Batang Rebelde (1985), directed by Lino Brocka for the Muhlachs’ own company and May Minamahal (for which Ronaldo won a Best Actor grand slam). Aga brings out the best in you...in any actor for that matter.”                                                          

Believe it or not, Ronaldo, one of showbiz’s macho men, is a Cry Baby.                                      

“Yes,” he admits, “iyakin ako. I cry easily, I am emotional. My movie-watching days with Baby are Tuesdays and Thursdays. As soon as the movie starts, especially if it’s a love story, umiiyak na ako. Baby would ask, ‘Bakit ka umiiyak?’ I would reply, ‘Eh, naiiyak ako, anong magagawa ko?’ Hehehe!” Same reaction as soon as Ronaldo read the Seven Sundays script.                                          

“They were laughing at me because after a few pages, tumutulo na ang luha ko. Mababaw ang luha ko; I get easily carried away by a sad story.”                                                                          

The father role touches Ronaldo’s soft spot because of his own experience with his long-lost American father whom he met for the first time during his first US trip in 1988.                        

“I really took effort to trace him. He met me at the airport with his wife and he hugged me tight. His wife was nice. I felt relieved because I almost gave up hope of meeting him. At one point, I told myself, ‘Bakit ko siya hinahanap samantalang hindi naman siguro siya interesadong hanapin ako?’ But then, I thought, ‘What if he dies or I die without us seeing each other?’ I’m glad I didn’t give up.”

In real life, Ronaldo describes himself as a cool father to Janno and Melissa who have given him and Baby four grandchildren,

Two from Janno (both girls) and two from Melissa (a boy and a girl).

“I never spanked them,” shares Ronaldo. “They grew up to be well-mannered, mababait na mga bata.”

When he guested on Magandang Buhay, the mid-morning Kapamilya show hosted by Jolina Magdangal, Karla Estrada and Melai Cantiveros, co-star Enrique told Ronaldo that he had a “surprise” for him and promptly escorted Melissa in.

“Umiyak na naman ako,” says Ronaldo, unembarrassed.

Actually, according to Ronaldo, although known as a drama actor he’s fun and funny off camera.

“I am the comedian in the family, and not Janno who is serious like Dolphy.”

Each of his wins for May Minamahal was highlighted by different “gimmicks.”

“In one awards night,” recalls Ronaldo, ”I fell on my knees clutching my trophy, as if I was praying. In another awards night, kunwari nag-collapse ako. That was the comedian in me.”

In fact, he broke onto the showbiz scene as a comedian in RVQ Productions’ Kaming Taga-Ilog with Dolphy (also the producer and his discoverer) and Susan Roces.

“I changed screen names several times. I was known as Ronnie Rios, then Ronaldo Romano, and then Raul Suarez before Dolphy (and Panchito) changed it to Ronaldo Valdez. My initial dream was to be an acrobat, influenced by the movies that I’d been watching at that time. I could walk on tightrope and trapeze.”

Thank heavens, he ended up a versatile actor who could do drama and comedy (particularly those directed by Danny Zialcita like Mahinhin vs. Mahinhin in which he and Dindo Fernando play screaming-gay rivals, May Daga sa Ilalim ng Lungga also playing the same role, etc.).

As he takes his last bite of his cheeseburger and last sip of his coffee, Ronaldo notes with a certain sadness.

“Most of my contemporaries, directors and actors, are gone,” specifying Zialcita and Dindo. “I think my only remaining contemporaries are Dante Rivero and Tommy Abuel.”