3 veteran actors pass away

Within days of each other, three veteran actors passed away, casting a pall of gloom over the movie industry.

Cesar Ramirez, local movies’ Mr. Muscleman of the ‘50s, noted for strongman roles like that of Bernardo Carpio under Sampaguita Pictures (which discovered and groomed him), died last July 17. Two of his children with the late Alicia Vergel are Ace and Beverly.

Oscar Moreno, father of Boots Anson-Roa and matinee idol of the late ‘40s, passed away yesterday at 4:30 a.m., and Vic Vargas on the same day, at 2 p.m.

Moreno died of cirrhosis of the liver and kidney and renal malfunction at the National Kidney Institute, while Vargas suffered a stroke at the San Juan de Dios Hospital.

Moreno, 81, had 10 children, the eldest of whom is Boots Anson-Roa. He was the first leading man of Gloria Romero, and was also paired with Carmen Rosales and Tita Duran, mother of Francis Magalona.

"He would relate to us how he supported former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos (she was still single then) during a screen test," recalls Boots.

His last film was Lollipops and Roses, starring Nora Aunor and Victor ‘Cocoy’ Laurel, in the `70s.

Vargas, 64, contracted typhoid fever in Subic and suffered a stroke shortly after he returned to Manila. He slipped into coma and was confined at the Intensive Care Unit, where he was attached to a respirator for weeks.

He was introduced in the 1962 action-drama Diegong Tabak, where he played the title role. Before he was hospitalized, Vic was named Best Actor at the seventh Manila Film Festival for El Vibora. One of his last TV appearances was a guest role on Home Along Da Riles.

Moreno’s remains are at Funeraria Paz, Araneta Avenue, where he will be cremated on Thursday, July 24. He will entombed at the Sacred Heart Church in Makati, where the remains of his parents lie, after the cremation.

Vargas’ remains were cremated last night.