How stars reinvent themselves

MANILA, Philippines - Everyone wants to reach the top. That’s not so easy to do in showbiz (or anywhere else for that matter). Harder still is keeping your name up there. Once you get to the peak, you never want to come down. Since there’s no such thing as forever, most people in entertainment look for alternative ways to keep their name ablaze by reinventing themselves. Even movie queens  actually, especially movie queens  try to hang on to their positions and most of them do succeed. Last Tuesday, I already traced how Carmen Rosales, Nida Blanca and Gloria Romero maintained their queenly status. Here’s what the rest of them did.

Rosa Rosal  She may have made it to the top on a stack of villainess roles  making life miserable for the leading lady  but she made so many films for LVN Pictures and became extremely popular that no less than a fan magazine declared her the year’s top movie queen so early in her career. And today, Rosa Rosal will be the one member of entertainment who will leave a most remarkable legacy, not only as a performer, but as a humanitarian as well (after all, she is a Ramon Magsaysay awardee and recently voted Reader’s Digest’s Most Trusted). There is no greater way to be remembered than the option she took  and this was to do charity work.

Charito Solis  She was the drama queen, empress even. The late actress, who died on Jan. 9, 1998, was able to keep her name on top by insisting and demanding that she not be billed below anyone else, a privilege that she actually deserved because she was truly a great artist and proved this from her debut film Niña Bonita to the TV soaps she did for ABS-CBN prior to her death.

Susan Roces  The eternal movie queen, she sealed her position in the industry when she married the King, Fernando Poe Jr., and together they became a royal couple. From time to time in the past, she would go on a screen hiatus  whenever she felt like it  and concentrated on other businesses outside of showbiz. But each time she made a comeback the moviegoing public would always warmly welcome her by

Susan Roces and Amalia Fuentes

patronizing her movies. In the mid-‘80s, the films she made for Regal and even Viva were all monster hits. These days, even if she rarely accepts showbiz projects (her last was the miniseries she did for GMA 7 in December 2009 and it was much-heralded since that was a sort of comeback for the Queen), the name Susan Roces continues to sparkle and not once did her name ever lose its luster. I guess the key to her longevity was the fact that all these decades, she managed to command respect by conducting herself properly both in private and especially in public.

Amalia Fuentes  The industry  and even the public for that matter  is aware that she is well-off (and that is an understatement). The fact that she doesn’t really need to accept showbiz assignments anymore had worked to her advantage. You know how it is in this world: If you make yourself always available, people lose interest in you. But since the Elizabeth Taylor of the Philippines can afford to thumb her nose up on projects that do not appeal to her makes her even more desirable. It also helped that before she went on semi-retirement, she was able to establish a solid name for herself as a movie queen. She is also intelligent, articulate and speaks her mind  and how! The few times, she makes herself available for interviews, even the young generation who may not be aware of how popular she was in her prime sit up and listen to her every word. If there is one piece of advice Amalia Fuentes can give to young stars today, maybe it is to save, save, save. Since she doesn’t have to beg for work, she can tell the showbiz world to go hang and she’d just be fine.

Vilma Santos  She truly is Wonder Vi, the title role she played in the early ‘70s. While she had long been acknowledged as a legend in the field of entertainment (the original grandslam queen), who would have thought that she’d also excel in politics? As an actress, she is one of the greatest. Her former show in GMA 7, Vilma!, will also be remembered as one of the best musical/variety

Charito Solis and Rosa Rosal

programs in the history of Philippine television. And now she seems to be well on her way to greatness in politics. The truth is, most showbiz personalities opt to go into politics when their entertainment careers begin to fade. It’s the most ideal sanctuary for them: They get to keep their names in the public consciousness, while they continue to have a lucrative source of income. Unfortunately for us, not every actor-politician can be another Vilma Santos, whose reputation in the extremely sinful world of politics (worse than showbiz) remains untainted to this day. Most of them, sadly, end their careers in disgrace.

Nora Aunor  Is she finished? Not necessarily, especially if you review the history of her showbiz career. Somehow, she always manages to bounce back. Besides, even if she is unable to recover from the present state of her career (although she is supposed to start doing an international film in Canada), Nora is already made. No amount of setback can erase all her achievements as a superstar. The fact that we are still interested in her affairs  positive or not  only means that she is still newsworthy. And that’s the mark of a true movie queen.

On Thursday, I will discuss with you what could be Sharon Cuneta’s best alternative option to keep her megastar position.