How it all began for Gloria

(Conclusion)

Gloria Romero’s first film project outside Sampaguita Pictures was Lea Production’s Bilanggo (opposite Jess Lapid).

She was so excited to start work on the film that she reported to work early (which she always does even to this day) only to find an empty set with no one else other than a few crew members. After a good cry, she began to appreciate all the more the studio system in Sampaguita that stressed the importance of professionalism.

This was probably the reason why, in spite of her freelance status, she kept coming back to her mother studio to do more films. One was Paula (serialized in Liwayway) where she played mother to Gina Pareño. Then, there were the Marcos bio-films Iginuhit ng Tadhana and Pinagbuklod ng Langit where she played Imelda Marcos.

Doing films outside Sampaguita, however, allowed her to work with other big names in the industry. Huwag Kang Sisingit, for instance, was a casting coup because it featured the Nida Blanca-Nestor de Villa and Gloria Romero-Luis Gonzales love teams for the first time in one film.

In the war movie Patria Adorada where she was part of a congregation of nuns massacred by the Japanese, she had the chance to work with Joseph Estrada.

Produced by Estrada’s JE Productions, Patria Adorada is quite memorable to Gloria because it was her first film ever where her screen character died.

Four years later, she not only died in the film, but also joins the living dead as an aswang in Vilma Santos’ Lipad, Darna, Lipad. In the beginning, she was hesitant to accept the role, but Emmanuel Borlaza persuaded her to go over the script first and she found the part interesting: a schoolteacher in the morning and an aswang at night.

Although fans were horrified at the idea of a movie queen turning into a creature of darkness, she says she does not regret accepting the role."Penitensiya lang ’yung pakpak," was her only complaint about the aswang part.

That wasn’t her last aswang role. She reprised the part in Romy Suzara’s Anak ng Aswang (also with Vilma Santos). The film is unforgettable to her if only for the fact that it was her first time to lie down inside a coffin. In the beginning, she didn’t want to do the scene. And she didn’t care even if the coffin cost P75,000, which was very expensive at a time when the exchange rate was only P7-$1. She was scared to lie down inside a coffin and that was that. But when she realized she was starting to cause delay in production, she ran one hand over the satin interior lining of the coffin while psyching herself up that she was only doing a film, jumped right in and finished the scene.

One film that was supposed to resurrect her career to its former glory was Juan de la Cruz. Produced by FPJ Productions, it gave her the chance to finally work with the great master, Gerry de Leon. When told that Manong Gerry wanted her for the part, her initial reaction was: "Are you sure it’s Gloria Romero he wants?"

Yes, it was Gloria Romero Gerry de Leon wanted. "It’s going to be a different Gloria Romero that they will see here," he told her. In this film that spans three generations, she plays a married woman raped by a Spanish official (Tony Carreon) – "and enjoys it."

On her first shooting day – set in the walls of Intramuros – Gloria was so scared, she didn’t have to be motivated. "Sa takot ko, tumulo na lang ang luha ko," she remembers.

After her first scene, Manong Gerry approached her and said very casually, "It’s okay. But you’re doing it all wrong!"

Too bad for Gloria, just when her working relationship with Gerry de Leon was going fabulously well, the master got seriously ill. He eventually died and Juan de la Cruz remains unfinished to this day.

The latter part of the ’70s wasn’t particularly kind to Gloria Romero.

Although she continued doing films, her roles were mostly insignificant. Even her name wasn’t billed properly. As she herself describes it, "Sometimes it was up there. Sometimes it was down there. Sometimes it wasn’t even there."

But thanks to the efforts of Regal and Viva Films in the early ’80s former movie queens like her were again given importance by the industry. Once more, she enjoyed prominent billing – along with the young stars of the era.

It was also around this period when she "loosened up a bit" and credits Mario O’Hara’s Condemned for it. Playing a syndicate queen who makes life miserable for Nora Aunor, she says that Condemned was a turning point in her career because she was no longer afraid to take in really bad and scheming characters after that.

When the neurotic mother-in-law role was therefore offered to her in Ishmael Bernal’s Nagbabagang Luha, she readily accepted the part and even won a Film Academy Award Best Supporting Actress trophy for it. The year before, she also received the same honors in the Star Awards for playing the infidel wife in Saan Nagtatago ang Pag-ibig? by Eddie Garcia.

She was also wicked in Elwood Perez’s Bilangin ang mga Bituin sa Langit and in Laurice Guillen’s Kapag Langit ang Humatol.

In 2000, as a fitting tribute to her 50 years in the movies, her career was gloriously crowned with a series of Best Actress trophies from various award-giving bodies for playing the matriarch suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in Guillen’s Tanging Yaman.

But she refuses to rest and bask in the glory of past achievements. Tonight at the 27th Gawad Urian, she is again the running for Best Supporting Actress in Maryo J. de los Reyes’ Magnifico where she plays the grandmother stricken with cancer.

Gloria Romero has given 54 years of her life in local movies. She has been with the industry in good times and in bad. Admirably, even during the period that she was getting a raw deal from independent film companies, she never shortchanged the viewers by giving lackadaisical performances. A versatile actress, she gave – and continues to give – excellent portrayals of various characters whether in drama or comedy.

The announcement of her selection as this year’s recipient of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino’s Natatanging Gawad Urian has been welcomed with cheers by industry members and a still adoring public that knows her from her more recent films and regular TV appearances.

In our hearts, she is still the movie queen widely recognized for her talent, dedication and professionalism.

Hail to the queen!