Gloria Romero: An inspiration to aspiring stars and new movie queens

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine entertainment industry has produced movie queens and versatile actresses with careers spanning decades.

An elite circle of few, however, have achieved such a feat of becoming a queen of Philippine movies and a relevant TV thespian-personality.

Veteran actress Gloria Romero belongs to that. Her combined body of work on the big and small screens is a testament to her glorious days that up-and-coming talents who aspire to become celebrities, and working celebrities who aim to become actors and established ones should look into and draw inspiration from.

Her life and times as a film and TV actress have laid out what one could consider a foundation or a blueprint in leading and living a legendary and successful career path.

In a STAR article published in 2011, Romero is described as “a walking lesson to aspiring stars and new movie queens.”

Among the reasons are her talent and professionalism, coupled with commitment and passion for the craft and genuine kindness to collaborators.

Thus, she enjoyed immense visibility, respect from showbiz industry and adoration from the public.

The celebrity and actress said she was happy when she worked and accepted a role, even if it was small, “and for as long as it is important (to the story).”

Like any established star out there, Romero’s showbiz career started from a dream of becoming an actress or a wish upon a star, as one may put it.

In Conversations with The STAR’s late Entertainment editor, columnist, book author and TV host Ricky Lo, written in 2000, Romero shared that her showbiz career jumpstarted in 1950 when she was only 16. After securing her high school diploma in Pangasinan back in 1949, she tried her luck at one of the pioneering film production companies in the country, Premiere Productions, and landed the bit player role of a tavern girl in the movie, “Prinsipe Don Juan” (1951), with the legendary Anita Linda as a lead star. Then, she was seen as an extra again in “Bahay na Tisa.”

From there, she continued doing small roles in movies such as “Kasintahan ng Pangarap” and “Bernardo Carpio,” produced by Sampaguita Pictures, one of the “Big Four” studios at that time, including Premiere, Lebran and LVN.

A movie fan herself, Romero recalled the thrill and excitement to seeing in person for the first time the biggest and brightest stars of her time when her nurse cousin accompanied the aspiring actress to Sampaguita.

Having her real name, Gloria Galla, as her screen name, she also played a nurse and had a dialogue in her fifth movie, as revealed in the conversation. She was given the chance to portray the kind daughter to the couple characters of established, veteran stars Alicia Vergel and Cesar Ramirez in “Madame X,” and a turning point in her career happened when Dr. Jose Perez of Sampaguita decided the young talent would work with a director and a tutor-coach for dialogues on set. The starmaker and film producer asked her to change her screen name to Romero (reportedly after Eddie Romero, her director in “Kasintahan sa Pangarap.”) The latter had more recall than Galla.

And that was the start of the glorious days of Gloria Romero as a film star and actress.

She was seen essaying and handling romantic, comedic and dramatic roles. Romero did a wide array of roles, ranging from the gorgeous to the deglamorized characters, and from wholesome/conventional to surprising/unconventional ones.

Asked about her favorite films by Lo, in the 2000 interview, Romero answered and gave a “rundown” of roles such as “Dalagang Ilocana,” which won for her first Best Actress award (1954) and first FAMAS trophy, and “Kurdapya.” She also liked her role as head of a gang in “Condemned” with now National Artist Nora Aurnor, and the teacher-aswang (shape-shifting creature) role in “Darna” with award-winning actress Vilma Santos-Recto.

Her sterling performance in “Tanging Yaman” (2000) won for her Best Actress awards at Luna/FAP Awards, Gawad Urian, FAMAS, and Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), and the MMFF Best Actress trophy for her final movie, the 2018 MMFF Best Picture “Rainbow’s Sunset.”

She also received Best Supporting Actress trophies from PMPC Star Awards for Movies (1987), Luna/FAP (1987 and 2003), FAMAS (1988), Gawad Urian (2003), and MMFF (2002) for the movies “Saan Nagtatago ang Pag-ibig;” “Saan Nagtatago ang Pag-ibig” and “Magnifico;” “Nagbabagang Luha,” “Magnifico” and “I Think I’m in Love.”

Over the course of her decades-long career, Romero starred in and appeared in different projects and worked with numerous stars, again from newbies to veterans. In The STAR 2011 story, also about her GMA primetime show, “Munting Heredera,” the film and movie actress gave pieces of advice to young stars in dealing with the demands of TV work.

“You need to love acting. It has to be your passion,” said she. “In any career you get into, you have to love it.”

As one could glean and learn from it, it’s the ultimate secret or ingredient to the veteran star’s longevity in the Philippine entertainment industry.

Gloria Romero, a queen of Philippine cinema, passed on Jan. 25 at the age of 91. But she will always be remembered as someone regal, poised, soft-spoken, kind and devoted to the art of portraying characters that touch the hearts and humanity of viewers.