How I remember Lolita

It’s a one way road to fame…a mad charade…a game…that soon you’ll even forget your name…there is no turning back from your one way road to fame

Those lines from the song One Way Road to Fame written by Jose Mari Chan came to my mind yesterday when I received the sad news that Lolita Rodriguez died in Hemet, California, where she lived with her American husband after she retired more than three decades ago, leaving behind a sterling record of classics consisting of all genres — comedy, drama, action.

She was 81, born on Jan. 29, 1935, in Majayjay, Laguna, to an American father, William Charles Clark, and Filipino mother, Carmen Maiquez, survived by children Maria Dolores (Birdie), Eduardo Jr. (Bogey) and Maria Carmen (Par), all named after golf, her favorite sport.

Joe Mari wrote One Way Road to Fame as theme song for Stardoom (LEA Productions), in which Lolita plays stage mother to the late Walter Navarro, directed by Lino Brocka who was Lolita’s good friend and who directed her in several other movies including the ground-breaking Tubog sa Ginto (as the wife of a closet gay played by Eddie Garcia, with Mario O’Hara as the driver whom the couple shares); the landmark Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (the 1975 drama that launched the career of Christopher de Leon); Ina, Kapatid, Anak; Tatlo, Dalawa, Isa; and Ina Ka ng Anak Mo. Like Lolita, Joe Mari was a Brocka favorite who handled the musical direction of several Brocka films.

According to singer Radha, one of Bogey’s two children, her grandmother passed away on Monday, Nov. 28, at 9:40 a.m. at Genesis Care Center in Hemet where she was under hospice care. She suffered a stroke last September and was recovering.

Lolita was discovered by Sampaguita Pictures. After playing an “extra” in an Eddie Romero movie in 1953, Lolita (then 18 years old) was introduced in Ang Ating Pag-ibig, starring Pancho Magalona and Tita Duran. She was the Brown Beauty (the epitome of Kayumangging Kaligatan) who went on to play all kinds of roles ranging from comedy (the memorable Jack en Jill as a tomboy with Dolphy as her effeminate brother; Sabungera; Kanto Girl, Wen Manang, etc.) to action (Kapitan Lolita Limbas, Sa Kuko ng Lawin, etc.) to drama in which she excelled, starring in such films as (aside from those by Brocka), Batas ng Alipin, Kundiman ng Puso, Trudis Liit (also starring child star Vilma Santos), Pitong Pagsisisi, Sino ang Maysala and many more.

It was Lolita, together with Marlene Dauden (now based in the US) and Eddie Rodriguez, who popularized the love  triangle drama in the 1963 drama Sapagkat Kami’y Tao Lamang, directed by Armando de Guzman, a recurring theme that has evolved through the years, still a favorite staple among local producers not just in films but also in TV shows.

While reaping acting awards along the way, the trio starred in similarly-themed dramas including Kasalanan Kaya?, Saan Ka Man Naroroon? and Kapag Puso’y Sinugatan.

I remember Lolita from the many times that I interviewed her, for the Weekly Nation, Variety Magazine (of the old Manila Times), Weekly Graphic, Sunday Times Magazine (also of the old Manila Times) and Expressweek magazine.

• In an early ’70s interview, I asked Lolita how she liked the idea of starring in a movie with Nora Aunor (who was then emerging as a big star after winning in Tawag ng Tanghalan). She smiled and said, “And what will I do while Nora is singing?” Famous last words. Not long after that, Lolita starred with Nora in the Brocka movie Ina Ka Ng Anak Mo which won them both awards.

• Asked what her frustration was, Lolita said, “I have always wanted to be a singer” (to which Radha said, “I didn’t know that!”). But she did sing (using a ghost singer) in her role as a nightclub singer in Laura (Sampaguita Pictures) and also as a club singer (finally using her own voice!) in the Brocka movie Lunes, Martes, Miyerkoles, Huwebes, Biernes, Sabado, Linggo which was about the entertainers in Olongapo.

• In another interview, she said that her dream role was to play a man but she lost that chance to Dindo Fernando (who plays a mentally-challenged man who killed his wife, based on a true story) in Mortal, directed by Mario O’Hara.

• Lolita also did theater, starring in Larawan (Tagalog version of Nick Joaquin’s Portrait of the Artists as Filipino, also directed by Brocka) with Charito Solis. Along with Rita Gomez, Lolita and Charito were reputed to be the country’s top drama greats. Rita died in New York in 1987, followed by Charito a few years later.

In 1985, Lolita was lured out of retirement by Vivian Velez who produced (under her own Amazaldy Films) and starred with Lolita in Paradise Inn, directed by Celso Ad. Castillo.

“Celso gave me the story about a mother and daughter and I loved it at first reading,” recalled Vivian. “I told Celso, ‘I’d do it only if Lolita would play my mother.’ I looked for Lolita’s relatives in Manila and got her contact number in the States. I flew to California to talk to her. I wanted to meet her at her home (in Hemet) but she said it was a bit far. ‘I’m going to L.A. and let’s meet there,’ she told me. It was easy talking to her. She said she liked the story and she wanted to work with Celso. And also, she added, ‘I want m y husband to see na artista rin ako.’ We closed the deal and she flew to Manila.”

On the set, Lolita proved to be an actress’ actress.

“She was punctual, very professional,” noted Vivian. “If the call time is 7 a.m., she would be on the set at 6 a.m. prepared with her lines. She was sociable but most of the time, she would be quiet in her little corner. Her only request was to have a small kitchen because she loved to cook. After we finished shooting, she would ask me to go to her place, ‘I cooked pasta for you,’ she would say.”

And what was the best piece of advice that she got from Lolita?

“Be professional, concentrate, focus on your work,” remembered Vivian who, with Lolita, would win awards for Paradise Inn.

Lolita’s last film was Lucia, made in 1992 for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for the 1992 London International Environmental Film Festival where it won Best Film. Lolit who also won best actress in a festival in Germany, played the title role, a fisherman’s wife in a small fishing village whose livelihood was endangered by an oil spill. The family moved to a reclaimed area in Manila then to the Smokey Mountain. Lolita’s family was played by Gina Alajar, Suzette Ranillo, Lorenzo Mara, Nanding Josef, Mario Escudero, among others.

Mel Chionglo, director of Lucia, recalled, “I first worked with Lolit in Regal Films’ Ina, Kapatid, Anak (1978) where I was both scriptwriter and production designer. Actually, growing up in Lucena, Quezon in the ‘50s, I was a movie fan of Lolit and her films produced by Sampaguita like Gilda, Jack en Jill, Sino ang Maysala, among others. So, on the set of Ina, Kapatid, Anak, I had immediate rapport with Lolit. Off the set, she was a simple, quiet, straight-talking person who loves Japanese food.

“As an actress, she was sharp, intelligent, and subtle, a complete pro, arriving early and in costume, for the day’s shoot. Her lines memorized, she would sit in a corner and look at the set. Imagine her running through the alleys of the Smokey Mountain and actually rummaging through the pile of garbage. I remember we met only once before the shoot of Lucia to discuss her role. She already had her hair dyed a light golden brown. She asked, ‘Mel, di ba ganito ang buhok ng mga nakatira sa tabing dagat?’ I could only nod in agreement.”

According to initial plans, Lolita would be buried at Diamond Park, near Hemet.

“Aunt Birdie has yet to finalize plans,” said Radha. “They still have to catch up on sleep because they were up the whole night with Lola Lolita.”

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