Anita de Castro: 'Gone too soon'

In 1949, an American mestiza, Anita Keefe, played leading lady to Carlos Padilla in two movies, Liwayway Pictures’ Ina ng Awa and Lawin Productions’ Alamat ng Perlas na Itim. But for the screen her American surname Keefe was dropped in favor of De Castro. Thus she was billed Anita de Castro.

But when Premiere signed her up, she was renamed Nora Madrid. She was cast in Kayumanggi with Leopoldo Salcedo and Ester Magalona, in Suwail, with Reynaldo Dante and Anita Linda, and in Anak ng Panday with Rosa del Rosario and Jose Padilla Jr.

Premiere was all set to give Nora Madrid even bigger roles when she died of typhoid fever at 22.

As the song goes, ‘Like a comet/Blazing ’cross the sky/Gone too soon. Like a rainbow/Fading in the twinkling of an eye/Gone too soon.’   — RKC