WHEN I asked my friends, Chitong Rivera and Romy Carlos, who their favorite actresses were, they were initially stumped. Romy then cited Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep, who are among contemporary cinema’s most talented actresses. Before he “discovered” them, however, he preferred the bosomy Jane Russell, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren and Marilyn Monroe!
Chitong left the room, but had no answer when he came back. In fact, he asked who Mirren was! I told Romy I couldn’t stand the close-up shots of Helen, and I couldn’t believe that a young and sexy Roman stud would fall for her in “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.” He agreed, but pointed out that she was good in unconventional roles: “She was even credible when she played an undercover agent alongside Bruce Willis,” he argued.
Laida of the UP Alumni Association staff shared that her favorite actress was the iconic beauty, Audrey Hepburn. I recalled that the European import won an Academy Award for her first Hollywood movie, “Roman Holiday,” with Gregory Peck. Hepburn is also the top choice of my chum, Joonee Gamboa, and ballet dancer, Franklin Bobadilla.
Exemplary life
I also thought of Ann Blyth, because she was a perennial favorite among my students in Catholic schools—which was understandable. She led an exemplary life as an actress during the era of Monroe, Ava Gardner and Elizabeth Taylor. When she finally married a physician, she retired from the Hollywood scene to raise her children. Last I heard of her, she appeared in a stage production of “King and I,” with Filipina singer, Eleanor Calbes.
On the other hand, Zeny chose feisty Susan Hayward and Greta Garbo. What surprised me was her choice of Linda Christian, one of the wives of Tyrone Power. The couple visited the Philippines in the ’50s, when Power shot the war film, “An American Guerrilla in the Philippines.”
Dheng, another UPAA staff member, picked Liz Taylor, “kasi maganda siya.” The actress was paid a million bucks for starring in “Cleopatra.”
I realized that only Romy chose talent over physical beauty—though he admitted that, in his younger years, he was attracted to the buxom Jane Russell. In “The Outlaw,” producer Howard Hughes even “invented” a special bra for her, to better show off her signature attraction! Indeed, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.