Broke and toothless, Gina picked herself up, dusted herself off, and went on with her life, with the same kind of pluck and good humor that often distinguished her onscreen characters, and which probably accounts for her lasting appeal.
As far as she can recall, Gina has only had one dream.
“Noong bata pa lang ako, pag tinatanong ako kung ano ang gusto ko paglaki ko, ang sagot ko palagi, ‘Gusto kong maging artista,’” says Gina. “Talagang iisa lang ambisyon ko bata pa lang ako. (When I was a child, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d say, ‘I want to be an actress.’ I only had one ambition, even as a child).”
The actress was born Geraldine Acthley in 1950. Her mother, Patricia Dory Ocura, originally hailed from Bacolod City. Her father, Bouffard Acthley, was a German-American who stayed in Manila long enough to father Gina, but not long enough for her to remember him.
“That’s why all I remember as family growing up was Mommy and me, because she was also an only child and she never remarried,” Gina recalls in Filipino. “Wala akong lolo, lola, ate o pinsan. Takilyera si Mommy sa Mayfair Theater sa may Avenida, siya yung nagpupunit ng ticket. (I had no grandparents, sisters, or cousins. Mommy was the ticket girl at the Mayfair Theater on Avenida, she tore the tickets).”
Drawn to movies
Gina grew up in an entresuelo (mezzanine flat) in the rough-and-tumble neighborhood of Gagalangin, Tondo. It wasn’t so much her mother’s job as a ticket taker at the Mayfair that drew her to the movies, as some inborn need that made her want to perform.
“We didn’t have a TV then,” she recalls. “I really just wanted to act. It was in my blood. When I was home and Mommy was at work, I was free to act as much as I wanted on the street corners.”
When she was 3, the entresuelo burned down. The fire erased all traces of Bouffard Acthley, although her mother told her that she was the spitting image of her father, a female version.
From an early age, Gina had to pitch in to make ends meet. When she was 10 or 11 years old, she actually drove a tricycle near Bormaheco, near J.P. Rizal. “We were living on Sampaguita St. Near Zapote St. there was a tricycle stand, at ako lang ang kaisa-isang babae na pumapasada. Dahil nag-iisa akong babae, palagi nila akong binibigyan ng tip. Akala nga nila tomboy ako. Gerry ang tawag nila sa akin. Tapos nagtitinda ako ng maruya pag araw ng Linggo, umiikot ako sa karerahan, sa may Hipodromo. (I was the only girl who drove a tricycle, so I was always getting a tip. They thought I was a tomboy, and they called me Gerry. Then I sold fried bananas on Sundays, I would go around the racetrack.) Survival, eh. I had to earn money.”
Years later, when she was signing autographs at the lobby of the Life Theater in her first movie premiere, someone asked her if she was Gerry, the tricycle driver. She replied proudly, “Oo, pero hindi na ako tricycle driver, artista na ako ngayon. (I’m no longer a tricycle driver, I’m an actress now.)”
Dancing queen
The Beatles were on the radio when Gina got her first break. In 1964, she won a dance contest on the TV program “Dance-O-Rama,” then hosted by Pete and Boots Anson Roa. She was chosen “Miss Dance-O-Rama Queen of the Day,” then “Miss Dance-O-Rama Queen of the Week.”
That was all it took. One day the postman delivered a slip of paper to her home. It was a call slip from Sampaguita Studios. On it, Dr. Jose “Doc” Perez, the studio head, had written: “Please see me immediately.”
Apparently, he had seen her on TV and spotted star quality. Gina jumped at the chance, even though she was only in her second year of high school at the Immaculate Conception school in Balut, Tondo. It was a moot point anyway, since the good sisters kicked her out when she entered show business.
Back then, they did things differently in the movies, especially in Sampaguita Pictures. Potential stars were carefully chosen and slowly groomed, often over a period longer than the average show business career today, before they were given their first big break. Gina spent her first eight months as an extra, for three pesos per appearance. She then graduated to small supporting roles, often playing the sister of the leading lady, usually Liberty Ilagan or Susan Roces.
Sampaguita Studios was like a finishing school, Gina says. Stars-in-training were taken under the wing of Marichu Maceda—“Manay Ichu”—to learn the social graces, which clothes were suitable for daywear and which for evening, which spoon to use for which dinner course, and so on.
“Never wear white shoes after 5 p.m., I still remember, unless they’re satin,” she recalls. “Kung hindi, pauuwiin ka. Ako madalas mapauwi. May pagka-loka-loka ako, eh. Papagalitan ka naman ni Dr. Perez pag napauwi ka. (Otherwise, they would send you home. I got sent home a lot. I was a bit crazy. Then Dr. Perez would scold you if you got sent home.) ‘See me immediately,’ ‘Please see me without fail.’ I would collect my call slips.”
She also got fines for coming late to shoots. “Fifty pesos ang binabawas sa sweldo. Every Thursday ang sweldo noon. Isang pelikula noon P8,000, hahatiin nila ng weekly. Pero yung mga damit provided nila, mga Pitoy Moreno. Dadamitan ka, pati sa mga interview. Pero masaya kami doon, parang may pamilya ka. (They would deduct P50 from your salary. Thursdays were paydays. You got P8,000 a movie, but they’d divide it weekly. But they provided the clothes, Pitoy Moreno. They really took care of you, even for interviews. We were happy then, it was like you had a family.)”
In Star 66
After two years, the studio bosses felt she was ready, and the newly-christened Gina Pareño was launched as a member of Star 66, Sampaguita’s crop of young stars that included Loretta Marquez, Blanca Gomez, Rosemarie Sonora, Sarah Calvin, Shirley Moreno, Dindo Fernando, Edgar Salcedo, Ricky Belmonte, Ramil and Pepito Rodriguez.
Gina proved to be the wild card in the bunch. Where most of the Star 66 bunch were prim and proper to the point of being stiff-necked, Gina exuded an unmistakable sexuality. For one thing, she was the only one who could properly fill out a bikini. (This was long before surgical augmentation became routine procedure.)
For another, she possessed an irrepressible streak, which nearly nipped her career in the bud. Gina had been given increasingly prominent roles, playing opposite Eddie Gutierrez in “Eddie Longlegs.” In 1968, she was to be launched in her first starring role opposite Lolita Rodriguez in “Mama,” when she became pregnant.
“Pinagalitan ako ni Doc Perez,” she recalls. “Hindi pa lumalabas ang unang pelikula na bida ako, buntis ako!(Doc Perez got mad at me. I hadn’t even come out in my first movie as a lead actress, and I was pregnant!)”
In those days, when women who became pregnant out of wedlock were still called “disgrasyada,” something like this could easily have been a career-ender. Sampaguita did their best at damage control, but with little help from Gina.
“Of course that was supposed to be kept hidden, you weren’t supposed to be going out, but I was very open so I got scolded a lot,” she recalls in Filipino. “Sabi ko nga swerte na lang ako. Nakasanayan lang ako ng tao nang ganoon. (I was just lucky, people got used to me being like that.)”
First comeback
In 1969, after she had given birth to her firstborn, a son, Gina made the first of her four comebacks playing the sexiest Darna up to that time in “Darna at ang Planetman,” opposite Vic Vargas. Gina got noticed for her prominent cleavage in the Darna costume, as much as for her performance.
By the time her contract with Sampaguita expired in 1974, Gina was ready to strike out on her own as a freelance talent. But she would still drop out periodically, usually when she was romantically involved and/or pregnant. She would have two more children, another son and a daughter Jannica, who recently tried her hand in showbiz. (Her eldest son has since passed away.)
The pressures of show business life always ended up straining her relationships, however, and Gina ended up like her mother, a single parent.
“I guess that’s the way it is,” she shrugs. “Nothing is permanent. The nature of my work is different, so they don’t understand. Maya’t-maya magpapaliwanag ka, nakakapagod, kaya bandang huli nagkakatampuhan na kayo. (You have to keep explaining, it’s tiring, so eventually you have a falling out.)”
She may have been unlucky in love, but she’s always been lucky in her career. How many actors have been around for four decades? Gina’s Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) filmography lists 70 entries, some of them landmarks of Philippine cinema such as Ishmael Bernal’s 1984 “Working Girls.”
While the rest of Star 66 have long since faded into memory, Gina is still around and still going strong. It might have been her versatility that ensured her longevity: first known as a sexy comedienne, she could also handle a bit of action.
Now that she has acquired the necessary gravitas, she is also favored for dramatic roles. Jeturian, for instance, already had her in mind for the title character in “Kubrador,” having worked with her before in “Pira- pirasong Pangarap.”
“Tanong ko sa kanya, paano atake doon (I asked him, how should I approach this)?” she recalls. “He said, ‘You don’t have to act. Effortless. Just relax.’”
Hurdling tragedy
The death of her long-time companion a few years ago was yet another tragedy to hurdle, but Gina has survived. Last year she became a household name for audiences who weren’t even born yet when she first played Darna, as Angel Locsin’s grandmother in the “Darna” teleseries. With “Kubrador,” Gina is in the middle of a full-fledged renascence, and she says her acting chops are better than they’ve ever been. (She also admits that she’s had a little work done on her face.)
“I’m more sensitive now, sobra, especially with emotions—I have so much to draw from,” she says in Filipino. “Grabe, I have so many experiences. Ang mga nangyayari sa iyo, sa umpisa masakit, habang nangyayari pa sa iyo, pero later on, magagamit mo. (The things that happen to you, they hurt while they’re happening to you, but you can use them later on.)
“Pero siyempre, you have to filter everything you’ve been through,” Gina qualifies. “You have to choose what was right and what was wrong. Mayroon kasing iba, dumaan na diyan pero parang absent. Dapat aware ka. Dapat bawa’t araw mo sa mundo, mararamdaman mo. (There are others who have been there, but it’s like they were absent. You have to be aware. Every day you spend in this world, you have to feel it).”
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