Hilda Koronel (right) and husband Ralph Moore Jr.
For actress Hilda Koronel, who was first seen on the big screen via Lino Brocka’s “Santiago” (1970), the best part about celebrating her 50th anniversary in the biz was that she “is still here, loved and recognized … Three generations are watching my films and are learning from them.”
Hilda, currently based in the United States, started her movie career in November 1969 as a talent of Lea Productions. She was paired with Ed Finlan, Walter Navarro, Tirso Cruz III and Jay Ilagan, who eventually became her husband.
She won the best supporting actress award for “Santiago” from the Filipino Movie Arts and Sciences (Famas) Awards, making her its youngest recipient at 13. Her other films with Brocka (National Artist for Film), such as “Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag” (1975) and “Insiang” (1976), won Famas recognitions, as well.
“My films are still being studied in schools. They are still shown on our local channels, and even abroad,” she told Inquirer Entertainment. “Even the young ones still know me because they say I’m the favorite actress of their moms or grandmothers. I feel old, but I love it!”
She also did “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” in 1974, and “Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising” in 1977. In the ’80s, she was part of memorable films like “Sana, Bukas Pa ang Kahapon,” “Working Girls,” “Beloved,” “Angela Markado,” “PX,” “Crying Ladies,” “Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan?” and “Babangon Ako’t Dudurugin Kita.”
Hilda said it pleased her that Filipinos were still watching her films with interest, “especially Brocka’s films. It’s just fun to still be remembered—and I’m talking about my body of work, not me per se. To be remembered after 50 years is precious.” she declared.
In 2018, “Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag” was listed as among the greatest films from around the world by The Criterion Collection, a New York-based home video distribution company. “Insiang,” meanwhile, is the first Filipino film to be shown at the Directors’ Fortnight of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1978.
Along with Brocka’s “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” and “Three, Two, One,” the movie “Insiang” was streamed on Netflix in 2014.
These days, Hilda, who goes by the name Susan Moore, busies herself with taking care of her husband Ralph, as well as her pets, and tending their garden. “I also love to travel and see places I’ve never seen before,” she added. “But what would make me really happy is to see my children and grandchildren every year, at least. I miss them very much.”
Hilda has six children—Karen Patricia, Ixara Valerie, Leona Paula, Clara Isabel, Martina Gabrielle and Diego Sebastian.
“We are all scattered. One is in New Zealand, one is in Singapore, one is in Minnesota and the others are in Manila. It’s hard. I miss them terribly,” she shared with Inquirer Entertainment. “I only have my son here and my daughter-in-law, and I thank God for it. I miss Manila, too. It will always be home to me.”
She was last seen on the big screen in Olivia Lamasan’s romantic drama “The Mistress” (2013), where she won a Luna Award for best supporting actress.
When we asked if she missed acting and if she would be willing to return to Manila for it, Hilda said: “Sometimes, but not really. I get a lot of offers every year, but I will only do one that excites me. Plus, I’m getting old. I don’t like scripts that require me to cry from beginning to end. My health is more important to me now than anything else. We shall see what offers we have for 2020.” The TV series “Los Bastardos” was offered to Hilda last year, but she had to turn it down because of a gallbladder operation, and that “there were some complications [in my schedule]. They needed me already in Manila in three weeks [but I couldn’t leave immediately].”
Hilda at 13 with Ed Finlan
Hilda was born Susan Reid to a Filipino mother and an American father, who was a serviceman in Clark Air Base in Pampanga. She has appeared in around 45 films, many of which are considered critically acclaimed. But Hilda swore that she “never wanted an acting career. I was, and still is, a very shy person.”
“For my family, though, being an actress was all they ever wanted for me,” she recalled. “We were poor and for them—since people always said I’m so beautiful, ‘Mag-aartista ‘yan paglaki,’—that was the path they took me on. I must say, it worked.”
“Santiago” was a turning point for her, Hilda said. “I started to enjoy it (acting),” she declared, adding that the best part was doing the weekly drama program, titled “The Hilda Show” with Brocka, for almost six years. “That was my training ground. Aside from that, I remembered Lino saying, ‘You were made to do drama.’ So we took that route, and we were successful.”
However, Hilda admitted that there was a time when she felt “truly burned out already, but I had children to take care of. It’s not as if you can just go and change careers, especially if you’re very successful in the one you’re in already.”
“I love my job, and I think my passion for it shows,” Hilda declared, but she quickly added that she hated the “business side of it.”
“The haggling, the bouncing checks, the power tripping of some producers,” Hilda said as examples. “In the old days, we didn’t have managers—at least, I didn’t. I wrote my own contracts.”
Hilda will be celebrating her birthday on Jan. 17. She said she wished to travel, then see her children and grandkids. “I wish we could all be together on my birthday,” she mused.
She also said that she never wished for any of her children and grandchildren to follow in her footsteps as an actress. She preferred for them to finish school and “get a great job.”
The actress pointed out: “Show biz is hard work. If you don’t have the stomach for it, it could ruin you. Plus, it’s temporary. Actors come and go. The ones with staying power are rare. There are so many beautiful people in the industry, but that (beauty) is not the only thing that can make you. There are a lot of other factors to make a star.”Hilda said one of her grandchildren had wanted to be an actress, “but we really wanted her in school. Period.”