True to form, Marlene Dauden left two weeks ago the way she arrived two weeks earlier – sans fanfare.
She came home from San Francisco to bury Manuel, her only surviving sibling, and hardly had time to seek out old friends even if she wanted to.
But she did make a "Hello, how are you?" call to Conversations. A meeting with her was arranged at the shop of her good friend Ben Farrales (who lent Marlene the dress she’s wearing in the photo below) in Malate, Manila, where we embarked on a sweet-nostalgic trip down Memory Lane, updating us on what she has been up to since she turned her back on her career as one of the country’s Top Drama Icons (in the company of Charito Solis and Rita Gomez, both gone, and Lolita Rodriguez who’s now also based in California).
If the new generation of movie fans will ask their mothers and grandmothers, they will be told that – yes, yes, yes! – Marlene Dauden was the Original Soap Queen (Salamisim, Panagimpan, etc.), the perennial "other woman" in love-triangle dramas (Sapagkat Kami’y Tao Lamang, etc.). She was plucked out of the St. Scholastica’s College campus by the late Starmaker (also The Original) Dr. Jose R. "Doc" Perez of Sampaguita Pictures with which Marlene was under contract before she turned freelancer. Her fans were still sniffing from Marlene’s movie/TV dramas when the declaration of Martial Law in 1972 prompted her family (husband Nonggoy Hernaez and their then small children) to pack their things and migrate to California where Marlene learned to enjoy a laid-back life as private citizen.
Well, not that private, really.
"Many people still recognize me," confirmed Marlene. "They are curious how I am doing in America."
Once, she related, one of her grandchildren was asked by her teacher if she had a grandmother named Marlene Dauden. The puzzled girl said, "Yes, I do." Told by the teacher (yes, a Filipina) that her grandmother was once a popular actress in the Philippines, the girl breathlessly called Grandma Marlene and told her the "amazing" story.
Several years ago during her homecoming, Marlene starred in a poignant drama entitled Siya’y Umalis, Siya’y Dumating.
That, in a way, sums up Marlene’s low-key coming and going.
How long have you been in San Francisco?
"Well, my family and I migrated in 1969. I went there permanently in 1972 when Martial Law was declared. We live in San Francisco’s Bay Area."
It has been a long time – 32 years!
"But I came back in 1974 to do a movie for LEA Productions called Siya’y Umalis, Siya’y Dumating, directed by Mitos (Villarreal). Then, sometime in 1978, I also did a movie called Kung Kaya Mo Kaya Ko Rin with – could you imagine – Christopher de Leon as my leading man."
You left at the peak of your career. Didn’t you have any regrets? Hindi ka ba nanghinayang?
"Oh, yes, nanghinayang din ako. But then, you have to make a decision where... you know, where you’re really going. If you have a family, you can’t help but make a choice. I was torn between family and career. I prayed hard at that time. I asked God for a sign. And I did receive a sign – the declaration of Martial Law. Pareng Eddie (Rodriguez) called. Sabi niya, ‘Mare, bumalik ka na. Gagawa tayo ng pelikula with Lolita Rodriguez.’ I told him, ‘I don’t think I can.’ He asked, ‘Why, what’s the problem?’ Then my mother died and nobody would babysit for my children so that stopped me from coming back."
People remember you for many films, especially Sapagkat Kami’y Tao Lamang with Eddie and Lolita (directed by Armando de Guzman), the film that started the love-triangle trend in Local Movies. Do you remember how many films you, Eddie and Lolita did together?
"Wow, a lot! More than 10. I also did movies only with Eddie and other actresses, like Babae Ikaw ang Dahilan with Amalia Fuentes, shown during a film festival. I won an award for that movie. What were the films that I starred in? Oh, my God, I can’t even remember the titles now! I was under contract with Sampaguita which usually gave you six movies a year. I must have done almost 30 movies with Sampaguita and several more as a freelancer."
What do you consider the most memorable among your movies?
"Sapagkat Kami’y Tao Lamang. It gave a big boost to my career as a freelancer. It’s also my husband’s favorite. He just loves that movie! When we’d go to a club in the Bay Area, Nonggoy would hum the song to the pianist and the pianist would start playing the song everytime we were there."
At that time, you were winning acting awards almost every year (to the point that one magazine, Weekly Nation, headlined with a ho-hum tone: Yes, It’s Marlene Again!). Do you remember how many trophies you’ve won?
"Well, I got my first nomination in 1957 and won my first Best Supporting Actress award (for Sampaguita Pictures’ Anino ni Bathala) in 1959. In 1963, I won another Best Supporting Actress award for Sapagkat Kami’y Tao Lamang. Then, I won my first Best Actress award for Larry Santiago Productions’ Sa Bawat Pintig ng Puso (with the late Zaldy Zshornack) and my second for Milarosa (also by LSP), with Eddie Rodriguez. Let me see... I think I got two Best Actress trophies, three Best Supporting Actress trophies and one each for my TV shows Salamisim and Panagimpan."
You were discovered in 1957 (a year before Susan Roces was).
"As a matter of fact, when Susan became a star, I think Sampaguita wanted to get a new one to be built up. And Doc Perez got me. I just graduated from high school then, from St. Scholastica’s. My first movie was Mga Ligaw na Bulaklak with Susan, Romeo Vasquez and Daisy Romualdez and Tony Marzan with whom I was being paired. I even did a comedy called Silveria (about a talking horse), my only movie with Dolphy."
Did you have any acting experience?
"Yes, in school. I always played the role of a man because I was tall (5’5"). I was also a ballet dancer in school and that’s why Doc Perez cast me in the title role as a ballet dancer in Rosa Rossini, my first-starring role."
Did you always want to be an actress?
"Oh, yes, I love acting. I really love it. It brings you to a different world."
You have mixed blood, ’no?
"My father was Spanish-Irish and my mother was Spanish-Filipino. We spoke Spanish at home. You know, I had to learn Tagalog when I joined showbiz. The scripts were given to me ahead of time so I could memorize my lines."
So you were active in movies for only 12 years (until 1969)?
"Actually, until 1972. After we left in 1969, I kept coming back and forth because I had a contract with ABS-CBN for Salamisim."
How has your life been in San Francisco?
"Okey naman. We’ve been there for 35 years. Everything is much simpler. At first, as wife and mother; and now, as a grandmother na rin. I have eight grandchildren from my three children (Margret, Cherry and Anna)."
Did you work when you were new in San Francisco?
"No, I was just staying home. But then, I started getting bored because I was used to being active. Nonggoy said, ‘What will you do?’ Sabi ko, ‘Bahala ako. I’ll find a way.’ And I did. I worked as an accounting clerk and then I joined the medical field, working with doctors."
Now you’re retired...
"... I retired last year but I got bored again, so I started working again last January."
Ibang-iba ba ang lifestyle mo doon?
"Iba. Ibang-iba. You don’t have maids, so you have to do all the household chores. Now that our children have their own families and living away from us, tulungan kami ni Nonggoy. But our youngest granddaughter, who’s 21, is staying with us for the meantime. Simple living lang kami. Very quiet."
What do you miss most about showbiz?
"No. 1: Acting. No. 2: My peers. ‘Yung samahan. It’s exciting to be with them, and the crew. You’re together for one month working together day and night, sama-sama sa lamayan at pagkain. Oh, I miss that a lot!"
In California, don’t you socialize with your showbiz colleagues, like Lolita Rodriguez?
"Lolita lives far from our place. (In Hemmet, also in California. – RFL) The one I often bump into in the beauty parlor is Rebecca (Quintana). Nonggoy and I hardly socialize. Ang social life namin is with our children and grandchildren."
Do you sell them your famous lumpia?
"Oh, how funny! What happened was that I would cook lumpia at home and my children would order. They would serve the lumpia to their friends who would, in turn, order from me. Not on a business scale, really. Hobby-hobby lang."
You and Nonggoy have been married for how many years?
"Wow, for 45 years already! I have a wonderful family. What’s the secret of our happy marriage? It’s not a secret – mutual love and respect. We got married secretly in church two years after I joined showbiz. We went steady for only two years. He was a star (basketball player in La Salle) before I was."
What will make you come back and stay longer? A movie/TV offer?
"Why not? But I must have my husband with me."
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)