Icons Amalia Fuentes, Tony Mabesa take one last bow

Credit to Author: CHRISTINA ALPAD, TMT| Date: Sat, 05 Oct 2019 16:12:31 +0000

Two Philippine entertainment icons took their final bows within hours of each other this weekend.

Theater legend and award-winning actor Tony Mabesa passed away at 10:20 p.m. on October 4, according to a Facebook post by noted playwright Floy Quintos of Dulaang Unibersidad ng
Pilipinas (Dulaang UP), of which the veteran actor was founding artistic director.

 Mabesa was 84.

Quintos posted, “We, the family of Antonio Mabesa, are saddened to announce his passing. Sir Tony joined his creator at 10:20 this evening. He was surrounded by family and friends.

“Details of the wake will be announced tomorrow (Saturday). We thank you for your prayers. We hope you can respect the family’s wish for privacy at this time.”

The cause of Mabesa’s death was not immediately known.
Meanwhile, Alfonso Martinez, grandson of movie queen Amalia Fuentes also announced her passing on Facebook early Saturday.

“It is with great sadness that I, together with my siblings Alyanna and Alissa, inform you that our grandmother, Amalia Amador Muhlach, has taken her last breath this morning in the Philippines.
She is now reunited with her husband Joey Stevens, our mother Anna-Lissa Martinez and her ex-husband, our Lolo Bobby. We have prayed for nothing but peace for her and now she can finally rest. Our family only asks that you respect our privacy during this time and join us in praying for her soul.”

Arrangements for her wake and funeral are being made as of press time.

Multiple organ failure reportedly was the cause of Fuentes’ death. She was 84.

‘Lion of the Theater’

Antonio Mabesa in real life,Tony Mabesa the theater stalwart was born in Los Baños, Laguna on Jan. 27, 1935.

It is said that he began his artistic pursuit by directing plays at his alma mater, University of the Philippines (UP) Rural High School. The passion intensified when the young Mabesa witnessed a
UP Dramatic Club’s touring performance in their province, promising himself he would pursue Theater in college.

His scientist-father, however, urged Mabesa to take a pre-med course instead and the dutiful son that he is, Mabesa did so. He went to UP to take a pre-med course but he also joined the university’s Dramatic Club under tutelage of the late Philippine National Artist for Theater Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero.

Mabesa enjoyed two years of studying and acting on stage but realized he could not pass the requirements of UP’s College of Medicine, so he decided to return to Laguna in 1954 and finish Bachelor of Science in Agriculture instead.

Nevertheless, he kept his passion for the theater in his hometown and continued to act and even direct a play, his first being “Detective Story.”

Eager to learn more about his craft, Mabesa flew to the US. In 1965, he completed his Master’s degree in Theater Arts at the University of California-Los Angeles and another master’s degree in
Education from the University of Delaware in 1969.

Upon his return, he took a job at the UP’s Department of Speech Communications and Theater Arts and, not too long, after mulling over the idea of creating a campus-based theater season, established Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, now popularly known as Dulaang UP.

Dulaang UP was formally launched in 1976 with the production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”
In his theatrical career that has spanned more than six decades, Mabesa has done hundreds of shows.

Also a prized movie actor, he was last seen in the multi-awarded Joel Lamangan film, “Rainbow’s Sunset,” where he shared the lead with another showbiz pillar, Eddie Garcia, who also passed on in June.

‘Elizabeth Taylor of the Philippines’

Born Amalia Amador Muhlach on Aug. 27, 1940 in Naga, Camarines Sur,

Fuentes — who used his stepfather’s surname when she entered show business — was the eldest of three siblings. She was said to have German and Spanish lineages.

When her father died in the Second World War, she had to step up and provide for her family, so she entered the entertainment industry at the age of 15.

In 1956, she became a household name when she won Sampaguita Pictures’ “Mr. and Ms. Number One” alongside Juancho Gutierrez. That same year, she debuted in the comedy-drama film “Lydia.”

People took notice of the young Fuentes’ resemblance to Hollywood’s Elizabeth Taylor, thus earning her the moniker, “Elizabeth Taylor of the Philippines.”

From then on, Fuentes became one of the most in-demand actresses of her generation, starring in more than 10 movies annually and working with equally sought-after leading men like Fernando Poe Jr., Joseph Estrada, Eddie Gutierrez and Romeo Vasquez, whom she married in 1965.The union gave birth to their only daughter Liezl Martinez, who herself became an actress.

Vasquez and Fuentes’ marriage, however, only lasted for four years. Later on, Fuentes remarried, with American businessman Joey Stevens becoming her husband for 28 years before getting a divorce. They had an adopted son who passed away last year.

Fuentes’ only daughter Liezl, meanwhile, succumbed to cancer in March 2015, leaving behind her husband, actor Albert Martinez and their three children.

The veteran actress was last seen in ABS-CBN’s 2013 primetime series “Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala,” which starred Judy Ann Santos.

Fuentes had been bedridden for four years after suffering from a stroke in 2015. She died in the hospital, according to a radio dzBB interview granted by her nephew, former child actor Niño Muhlach.

She and Mabesa were recognized as Luminaries of local movies at the launch of the year-long celebration of the centennial anniversary of Philippine Cinema on September 11. Earlier in July, the Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors also named Fuentes one of its Icon awardees at the 3rd Editors’ Choice for Movies or The Eddys. Mabesa was also nominated in the Best Supporting category of the same award-giving body for Rainbow’s Sunset.

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