02/05/2023
Today in Philippine History
MAY 2, 1929
Award-winning actor and director EDDIE GARCIA was born on this day in Juban, Sorsogon.
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Born Eduardo Verchez Garcia on May 2, 1929 in Juban, Sorsogon, Eddie was the eldest child of Antonio Garcia and Vicenta Verchez. He grew up in a farm in Naga with his four siblings Mila, Efren, Menchu, and Santiago, raised by his grandparents.
(Garcia's family was among the descendants of Spanish settlers. Garcia's grandfather, who was a captain in the Spanish army when he came to the Philippines in 1870, married a lady from Pampanga and decided to settle in Naga.)
He studied at Sorsogon Elementary School before transferring to Manila where he finished high school at San Beda College. He took A.B. Psychology also in San Beda for three years. His studies was cut short when he joined the Philippine Scouts right after World War II in 1946 and was stationed as a military policeman in Okinawa, Japan. After returning, he was asked by his commanding officer to come back and enlist for another duty overseas, but by twist of fate he entered showbusiness at age 20 by accident.
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The following are excerpts from an interview with Ricky Lo for Philippine Star:
In 1949, while on furlough after serving for three years as a Philippine Scout, Eddie stayed with an aunt whose house was right across the Sampaguita Pictures Studios. He recalled that he would watch a shooting from the window of his aunt’s house. The late director Eddie Romero, who was then doing a movie starring Mario Montenegro, saw his namesake and encouraged him to try the movies. So, Eddie applied as one of the stars in Manuel Conde’s "Siete Infantes de Lara".
“I was then already with the US Army, ready to go to Okinawa to enlist as a CID agent”, Eddie remembered in that Weekend interview. “I had a good record as a Philippine Scout and the provost marshal in Okinawa was going to recommend me for a scholarship at an officers’ school in the US. Who knows, I might have come back an officer after that?”
“Had I remained in the US Army, any of three things could have happened to me — six feet under the ground because I might have fought in the Korean War; at kung saka-sakaling nakaligtas ako, I might have fought in the Vietnam War and got killed just the same. Or I would be a retired colonel today, just like my role in 'ML' (2018).”
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Due to his Hispanic features, Eddie was typecasted in playing villain roles. He was so effective that he won his first FAMAS awards as Best Supporting Actor for three straight years; for the movies "Taga sa Bato" (1957), "Condenado" (1958) and "Tanikalang Apoy" (1959).
In 1961 he directed his first movie "Karugtong ng Kahapon". In 1969, Garcia directed "Pinagbuklod ng Langit", a biopic about former President Ferdinand Marcos which won him his first Best Director award from FAMAS.
Eddie appeared in a total of 670 films and television shows as an actor, and directed a total of 37 films in his whole career. He had the highest number of appearances on films & television shows by a Filipino actor. He is the only individual to be inducted in three categories of the FAMAS Hall of Fame: for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director. Garcia is the only Filipino to receive the Asian Film Award for Best Actor.
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Throughout his life Eddie maintained a healthy lifestyle and continued to work in his old age, but unfortunately he met a freak accident while working on his last acting project. On June 8, 2019, Eddie was rushed to Mary Johnston Hospital in Tondo, Manila after tripping on a cable wire and hitting his head on the pavement during a shoot for an upcoming television series; the actual incident was captured on video.
After almost two weeks in a deep coma, Eddie was pronounced dead on June 20, 2019 at the age of 90. He was survived by his longtime partner of 33 years, Lilibeth Romero and his remaining children Erwin and Lisa Ortega (Eddie had two other children from his first marriage, eldest Eduardo Jr. and Elizabeth, both of whom had passed away before him). Before Lilibeth, Garcia was married to Lucilla Scharnberg who died of cancer in 1995.
With almost 700 film and television roles and a career spanning seven decades, Eddie Garcia is widely regarded as the "greatest Filipino actor of all time".
