A pictorial tribute to Nida Blanca

Did you know that Nida Blanca competed in the 1952 Miss Philippines contest (the winner represented the country in that year’s Miss Universe Pageant) where she finished one of the 12 semi-finalists? The crown went to Teresita Torralba Sanchez.

This is one of the little-known (or not-at-all-known) facts about Nida unearthed by Funfare’s "other beauty expert" and avid movie fan Celso de Guzman Caparas who’s collaborating with this corner in remembering the great actress via a pictorial tribute on the fourth anniversary on Sunday, Nov. 6, of her murder that has remained unsolved up to this very day.

"In that contest," said Celso, "Nida used her screen name and not her real name, Dorothy Jones."

That same year, Nida was named Best Supporting Actress by the FAMAS for her performance in the LVN war-drama Korea (directed by Lamberto Avellana) which was written by a young Manila Times reporter named Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino who gamely carried Nida’s makeup kit because he was courting her.

In his research, Celso discovered that before Korea, the then teenager Nida appeared as an extra in three movies: Manuel Conde’s Siete Infantes de Lara (shown on April 17, 1950), Sampaguita Pictures’ Umaga na Giliw (shown on June 18, 1950) and Balintawak Pictures’ Kundiman ng Luha (shown on July 13, 1950). Nida was screen-tested on Oct. 6, 1950 by LVN Pictures where she reigned as queen for more than a decade, doing mostly comedies opposite the late Nestor de Villa and later, when she turned freelancer, branching out to dramas which won for her more acting awards (one of the most unforgettable being Lino Brocka’s Miguelito in which Nida played the estranged mother of a baby-faced Aga Muhlach).

Two days before that fateful day in 2001, Nida and her husband Rod Lauren Strunk (named as suspect in Nida’s murder) showed up holding hands at the birthday party of Armida "Tita Midz" Siguion-Reyna on the night of Nov. 4 (also the birthday of Tita Midz’ son, director Carlitos Siguion-Reyna). There was no sign (premonition?) at all that Nida would be gone 48 hours later in a bloody/violent manner that shocked the nation and from which her family (especially only daughter Kaye) and friends haven’t recovered up to now, leaving them asking in desperation: When will we see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Footnote: Between Tita Midz’s birthday and Nida’s murder, Aga Muhlach and Charlene Gonzalez’s twins Atasha and Andres were born (they’re celebrating their fourth birthday at the Muhlachs’ farmhouse in Batangas).

Nida would have turned 70 on Jan. 6 next year (also Sharon Cuneta’s birthday).

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