THE KING AND HIS WIVES Rosa del Rosario portrays one of the wives of the Siamese monarch in the 1946 film, Anna and the King of Siam, portrayed by Rex Harrison. Looking on is another "wife", Evelyne de Luzuriaga.
In the 1920s, Hollywood beckoned with promises of
stardom, fame and fortune to aspiring performers and actors, budding ingénues,
ambitious directors and starving artists. Indeed, of the thousands who swarmed
to Tinseltown to audition and answer casting calls, many were rewarded with
film roles, and turning an elite few into international celebrities.
The first wave of Filipinos to arrive in Los Angeles
coincided with the rise of Hollywood. They, too, were lured with the prospects
of employment that the blossoming film industry offered. In 1929, Metro-Goldwin
Mayer sounded out a casting call for extras for the movie “The Pagan”. Hordes
of Filipinos went to audition, and many passed the 5 foot height limit set for
these extras. For decades—in movies like “She” (1935, starring Randolph Scott, RKO
Radio Pictures) and “The Real Glory” (1939, a Spanish-American War film
starring Gary Cooper ), Filipinos were often cast in savage native-type and
service-type roles, uncredited and underpaid. They would find more job security
in the periphery of Hollywood as waiters, busboys, bartenders, cooks,
chauffeurs and househelps.
Filipino star-wannabes would wait for the postwar 1940s
before they could see one of their own claim a legitimate acting role in a
Hollywood film. Kapampangan Rosa del Rosario (aka Rosa Stagner), an
American-Filipina mestiza from Bacolor, was already an established star in pre-war Philippine
movies when she, on a visit to the U.S.,
caught the eye of an American director who was casting Asians for his movie. She won the role as one of the king’s 14 wives in the film classic, “Anna and the King of Siam” in 1946 (to be redone as
the musical “The King and I” in 1954). She was unbilled, however, in this Rex
Harrison starrer. That same year, she appeared as Celia in the “The Border Bandits”,
opposite Johnny Mack Brown and in “An American Guerrilla in the Philippines”.
More than a decade later, another artist with roots in
Lubao would carve her own niche in Hollywood: Ruby Neilam Salvador Arrastia aka
Neile Adams, actress-singer-dancer and wife of 60s hottest Hollywood male star,
Steve McQueen. She moved to the U.S. after the war where she took dancing lessons.
The pert and pretty Neile found herself being cast in shows and musicals, and
one of her early appearances was in “Pajama Game”, staged at the Carnegie Hall.
She moved on to TV and films, with credits
in the 1952 movie, “Grubstake” and as Patsy St. Claire in “This Could Be The
Night” (1957). Husband and wife appeared in a memorable episode in “Alfred
Hitchcock Presents”. Separately, Neile had a recurring role in the TV series
“Five Fingers” as Rita Juan in 1960, and went on to guest star in top TV shows thrugh the 60s,70s and 80s, like “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, “Love American Style”, “Bob Hope Show”. “The Bionic Woman”, “ The
Rockford Files”, “Fantasy Island”, “Vega$” and “Hotel”. In 1986, she wrote “My
Husband, My Friend”, a biography of her husband Steve, who had died of cancer
in 1980. Coincidentally, Neile’s son (Chad McQueen) and grandson, Steven R.
McQueen (Jeremy Gilbert in “The Vampire Diaries”), are both actors. A nephew,
Enrique Iglesias, is a singer and an occasional actor.
Before being known as an international jetsetter, Angeles-born
Minda Feliciano flirted with modeling and acting. In the U.S., she started
auditioning for acting roles and, in 1959, won a regular slot (she played the
hula-dancing receptionist, Evelyn) in the popular TV series,”Hawaiian Eye”,
produced by Warner Brothers. Today, she is also well-known as Michael Caine’s-ex.
The toast of West End and Broadway, Lea Salonga, has also
penetrated the U.S. showbiz industry, both as actress and singer. While still
with the hit musical ‘Miss Saigon’ . she was tapped to sing key songs for such
movies as “Aladdin” (1992) and “Mulan” I
and II ( 1998, 2004). She had a once-in-a lifetime experience of singing “A
Whole New World” at the 1993 Oscar Awards, which went on to win Best Song. Leas
was also seen on a 1995 TV film produced by Hallmark Hall of Fame, “Redwood
Curtain”. The film chronicles the search of an Amerasian piano prodigy for her
biological father, aVietnam veteran. Other credits include guest appearances
in hit TV series “ER” , “As The World Turns” and most recently, in “Crazy
Ex-Girlfriend”.
Young Ethan Dizon, whose father, Eric Dizon, traces his ancestry to the Dizons of
Mabalacat, made his acting debut as a 3 year-old child actor in the CBS hit
series, “How I Met Your Mother”, He then had guest roles in “Grey's Anatomy”, and “'Til Death”. His film
credits include: “Get A Job”, “Bad Words” ( with Jason Bateman), and the “The
Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete”, where he is best-known for playing
Pete. In 2017, he will be seen in
“Spiderman: Homecoming”. A gifted artist, he was nominated for Best Actor at
the NBCU Short Film Festival 2014 in "Paulie", where he played the
title role.
Rico Hizon made a name for himself as an international
journalist, but his credentials now include acting in a Hollywood film. In the
2016 film“I.T.” topbilled by Pierce Brosnan, the BBC correspondent portrayed himself
in this nail-biting thriller directed by John Moore. Rico Hizon’s mother,
Leonor Morales, is from Mabalacat.
Behind the camera, Kapampangans have also left their mark
in the American entertainment industry. Leading the way is the venerable Gorge
Sunga, who first joined CBS as a production supervisor of “The Judy Garland
Show” in 1963, and later, “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”. He went on to
produce the hit TV shows "Good
Times," (1974) "The
Jeffersons," (1975) , “All in the Family”
(1974) “Three’s Company” (1976) and many
other successful serials. In 1989, Sunga was elected officer of the Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences. For his commitment to
diversity in television, an award in his honor was created and given yearly at
the Media Access Awards. The Sungas are from Guagua, Pampanga.
Two world-class film artists and technicians of
Kapampangan descent are currently making waves in Hollywood. Winston Quitasol, whose mother is from
Pampanga, has worked on many known animated feature films like Disney’s “Big
Hero 6”, where he was the senior lighting artist. He has also served as visual
effects technical director and lead digital compositor in some blockbuster movies
like “Ghost” (1990), his first movie project. Recent works include “SpiderMan 2”,
“ Iron Man 3”, “300: Rise of an Empire” and “Frozen”.
On the other hand, animator Jess Española, from Lubao,
made history when he was won the prestigious Emmy Award for his work on “The
Simpsons” in 2008 ( ‘Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind’ episode). The U.P. Fine
Arts graduate overcame poverty (he was raised by a single mother), and working
his way up, first, as an animator for Burbank Animation in Makati. He then
joined Optifex which did the Hanna-Barbera cartoons (Flintstones, Scooby Doo,
Jonny Quest) . Española did so well that he was sent to the U.S. mother studio
in the U.S. which led to opportunities after the Manila offices downsized.
Eventually, he moved to America, where Española worked at Film Roman for “King
of the Hill,”, one of the primetime shows of Fox that also includes Matt Groening’s
“The Simpsons”.
More recently, in the CBS TV sitcom “The Great Outdoors”,
Kapampangans were treated to an episode in which the characters of actors Joel
McHale and Stephen Fry, spoke in Kapampangan—albeit, with a thick American
accent—so they could disguise their secret plan to leave young campers in the
wild without their smartphones. The idea was conceived by story editor/ writer,
Kristine Songco, who sought the help of her father in crafting the dialogues.
The Songcos are a prominent family from Guagua.
While we have yet to see a Filipino actor conquer
Hollywood with the same degree of success as China’s Anna May Wong and Jet Li; Hong Kong’s Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan; Japan’s George Takei and Pat Morita; Taiwan’s
Ang Lee and Malaysia’s Michelle Yeoh, we are happy to note that a few Kapampangan artists are
leading the way towards the attainment of their great Hollywood dream--always ready
for anything--especially their close-ups!
