Is the actor, uh, playing around?

When you see him on TV professing love for his actress-wife (yes, they are legally married despite some little "technicality"), you praise this actor for (finally?) mending his ways and being faithful and true.

But often in showbiz, actors don’t really mean what they say, their words don’t always match their actions, proving to all and sundry that showbiz has two faces, indeed!

Anyway, last March 23, the actor was in Bangkok with a woman not his actress-wife. For "safety," they took different flights. From there, they proceeded to Cambodia, this time on the same flight. Wasn’t the actor worried that, you know, he might be recognized?(His female companion is described by Funfare’s jet-setting DPA as "prettier than his actress-wife" but the DPA didn’t have any idea if she’s the same girl with whom the actor has a love child?)

No worry, the actor told a businessman-friend from Manila, "People in Bangkok and Cambodia don’t know that I’m an actor."

Hmmmmm. Playing around? Obviously, he’s not on a "diet" as far as girls are concerned.

The actor and his companion came back on March 29 on separate flights – for "safety," you know.

Asked the DPA, "Is he and his actress-wife having marital problems?"

What do you think?

Things you might not know about Paul Anka

Because he hit his peak in the ’60s, Paul Anka may be a darling to baby boomers but perhaps a bit of a "stranger" to the new generation of music-lovers.

Here are some trivia that should serve as introduction to Paul whose songs are, I’m sure, sung by teenagers without them knowing who the singer is:

• He was born on July 30, 1941 in Ottawa, Canada, of Lebanese descent.

• His childhood ambition was to be a lawyer or a journalist.

• He started singing at age 12.

• At 15, he won a supermarket contest to collect the most number of Campbell’s Soup wrappers. The prize was a train trip to Manhattan. After a year, he returned to Ottawa with $100 borrowed from his father and four songs he had written, one of them – you guessed it – Diana, a love song for the 18-year-old baby-sitter of Paul’s younger brother and sister. Diana placed No. 1 in the US hit charts in Sept. 1957.

• He wrote the song Lonely Boy for his mother who died of a liver disease.

• He wrote Puppy Love for then popular teen star Annette Funicello.

• He wrote My Way which was popularized by Frank Sinatra. In the Philippines, My Way is notorious for being a "killer" song. It’s the top pick of drinking buddies in karaoke bars and when sung off-key, the "singer" is usually roughed up (or is shot or stabbed to death) by other drunks nearby.

• Besides My Way and Let Me Try Again (also sung by Sinatra), Paul has also composed songs for other singers, including It Doesn’t Matter Anymore for Buddy Holly, She’s a Lady for Tom Jones, the theme song of the classic ’60s Hollywood war movie The Longest Day and It’s Hard To Say Goodbye, a duet he did with Regine Velasquez.

• His version of Autumn Leaves is, as far as this Paul Anka fan is concerned, the best by far. He seems to choke with emotion in the line that says, "Since you went away, the days grow long..." Listen to the song and you’ll agree with me.

• To date, Paul has recorded 125 albums, including in Japanese, German, Spanish, French and Italian; and sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

• He discovered Michael Bublé (also a Canadian), Corey Hart and David Clayton Thomas.

• Paul married model-beauty-queen Anne de Zogheb in Paris in 1963. They have five daughters and three young grandchildren.

(Reminder: I Did It My Way, Paul Anka Live in Manila will perform at the Araneta Coliseum on May 14 and 15. Tickets are priced at P6,000, P5,000, P3,000, P1,500 and P500, available at SM Ticketnet and the Araneta Coliseum box office, telephone 911-5555.)

Briefly noted

• Can you sue the government if you fall into a manhole in a public place and are nearly get killed? That’s what Mat Ranillo III is planning to do after he broke a rib when he fell into an 11-foot-deep manhole covered with a thin concrete slab on his way to the Batasang Pambansa. Mat was rushed to the FEU Hospital in Fairview, Quezon City, and then transferred to the Asian Hospital in Alabang City where Sen. Bong Revilla visited him. Bong assured Mat that he would support him if and when he does file a damage suit.

• After a considerable absence, Robin da Roza is back as host of the new lifestyle show Welcome Home, a perfect job for Robin who graduated from the Philippine School of Interior Design. Every week, Robin visits a different home every week and talks to the owner(s) how the house is designed. "We want to feature many different types of homes, from modest condominiums to historical ancestral mansions," said Robin (nephew of Gloria Diaz). "The only requisite is that the home must reflect the personality/character of the owner(s)." Produced by Star Events and sponsored by Boysen Paints, Welcome Home airs Sunday mornings at 11:30 on Studio 23.

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@phil-star.net.ph)