Charito with Sampaguita stars and in Igorota

In the late ’60s, Charito Solis starred in Mga Pag-ibig ni Christine, opposite three leading men: Vic Vargas, Edgar Salcedo and Ramil Rodriguez. Christine was produced by VP Pictures, sister studio of Sampaguita Pictures. Which explained why Vic, Edgar, Ramil — plus Loretta Marquez — were in the cast. All of them were Sampaguita contract stars.

Vic was the studio’s action star, while Edgar, Ramil and Loretta belonged to the Stars of ’66 batch.

Even the supporting cast were mostly Sampaguita players. Christine was directed by Jose de Villa, also identified with the studio.

Charito was LVN’s homegrown talent, but she appeared in films produced by other productions.

In the ’60s, Charito starred in Luis Nepomuceno movies, noted for their high production values and technical polish. Among them was Igorota (Mountain Maiden), which gave Charito the 1968 FAMAS award for Best Actress.

Igorota co-starred Ric Rodrigo, Mario Monte (Montenegro shortened), Eddie Garcia, Fred Galang. Ric won Asia’s Best Actor award for Igorota. Charito herself merited Asia’s Best Actress award the previous year for Dahil sa Isang Bulaklak, a Nepomuceno film.

Charito’s other Nepomuceno starrers: The Hunted, Manila: Open City, Langit sa Lupa and Ang Pulubi. — RKC