IN FRATERNAM MEAM: WHERE ARE THEY NOW: THE FILIPINO MOVIE STARS OF YESTERYEARS: PART ONE

IN FRATERNAM MEAM

Monday, August 16, 2004

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: THE FILIPINO MOVIE STARS OF YESTERYEARS: PART ONE

if some of the readers of my blog was not yet born and cannot remember or recognized the name of this Filipino actress, just read. it's worth knowing this actress.

(Abstracted from Filipinas magazine by Dedette Sison-Santiago)

DELIA RAZON " The Sunshine Girl"

If there's one actress who has reached rock bottom and managed to smile through it, that would be Delia Razon.

She is a resilient mother of three and a doting grandma of nine.

The woman known as the "Sunshine Girl"because of her zest in life amid trials and hardships now punctuates her stories with sighs as she shows off pictures from childhood and as a full fledged movie star.

Born Lucy Mae Dulin Grytzin Iloilo City to a German father, Karl Grytz, and a mother of Filipino-Spanish descent, Lourdes Espinosa Cortez, the charming actress started helping the family at an age when she should have been going to school. She is the youngest of two children. "My father dies when I was only two years old having developed pneumonia after he tried saving a laborer from drowning," she recalls.

Shortly after her father's death, the girl was placed under the care of her maternal grandfather, while her mother left for Manila to work in a dress shop. Young Lucy was in the sixth grade in Colegio de San Angel when the war broke out. She was 14 yrs old when she came to Manila to join her mother during the Japanese Occupation and worked as a file clerk at the US Army's Depot 17 on Highway 54. She was later employed in the cards department of the National Development Corp. where she worked for several months until a strike forced the company to close down.

Most of her free time was spent at the movie studios gawking at stars like Rogelio Dela Rosa, Leopoldo Salcedo and Oscar Moreno. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think that someday I would be playing opposite such big starts,"she says.

"It was never my ambition to become an actress, I wanted to become a Nurse,"
she confesses.But as luck would have it, she was spotted by Fernando Poe, Sr. when she danced with a group for the future widow of Pres. Ramon Magsaysay, Liza Banzon-Magsaysay in the late '40s.Through as friend, Poe Sr, asked her to try the movies.
"Ay dili ko! Masuko man si mama(I didnt want to because Mama would get angry)".Nevertheless, with much prodding from Oscar Moreno, whom she met in one of her countless visits to Sampaguita Pictures, she relented and had a bit part in a Fred Montilla-Paraluman starer. "Nothing came out of it though".Or so she thought until a knock came from LVN Studios one day.

"I was peeling potatoes at home with Mama when someone from LVN came and said they needed mestiza extras for a Mila Del Sol film. Mama gave her permission for just one movie," she smiles.

But that was only the beginning of what was to be a fruitful movie career for the barrio lass.Dona Sisang signed her up for an exclusive contract with LVN Studios and gave her the screen name DELIA RAZON.

Her debut movie titled "Prinsipe Amante" opposite Mario Montenegro launched her to full stardom. She became a household name.

In 1954, Razon filmed "Luksang Tagumpay"with Eddie Rodriguez and Jaime de la Rosa.She was nominated as best actress in the FAMAS(Filipino Academy of Movies and Sciences)

Following "Luksang Tagumpay"Razon made equally challenging movies and in a span of eight (8) years was able to shoot 48 films, naming "Dose Pares", "Medalyong Perlas","Dalagang Taring",""Lapu Lapu",and "Luksang Tagumpay"among her favorites.

She had fallen in love and been disillusioned. "But the one thing that hurt me most was when Mama got very sick.",she says. Her mother died of cancer at the age of 46, leaving Razon helpless and distraught for the most part after her death. "I love Mama very much and I"m glad I spent time with her before she died. It was very painful and for some time I felt like dying, too. But life had to go on in a most positive way. Work was the best theraphy for me after her death."

Razon stopped making movies in 1956 and got married to a businessman Aurelio Reyes. She was at the peak of her career when she quit, but she says it was intentional. "I wanted to take care of my family"."I can't say I did'nt miss the movies, but then again I wanted to be there for my children all the time. No regrets."

In the 1960's she tried politics and served as a barangay captain in Quezon, City. "It was an entirely different experience but one that gave me fulfillment nevertheless," quips Razon.

Today, the seventy-somthing Delia Razon counts her family and friends as the "constraints"in her life.Razon goes dancing with her friends, sometimes meeting up with her contemporaries for LVN affairs. She has also found solace in prayer and meditaion. "God is good."He has not abandoned me through all those years. Though there are many difficult moments in my life, He was with me all the way. I cannot ask for more." she says.

posted by infraternam meam @ 12:23 AM

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