Whatever Happened to Shirley, My Darling?

Remember Shirley Gorospe?

Celia Rodriguez was on the other line, asking.

Yes, of course, I told Celia. How can I not remember Shirley Gorospe?

Back in the late ’50s and early ’60s, Shirley and Zaldy Zshornack were the reigning loveteam at Premiere Productions, the counterparts of Susan Roces and Eddie Gutierrez, and Amalia Fuentes and Romeo Vasquez at Sampaguita Pictures, and Luz Valdez and Robert Campos at LVN Pictures.

Baby boomers have grown up on a generous dose of Shirley-Zaldy romantic flicks as they did on those of Hollywood loveteams like Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue (A Summer Place), Elvis Presley and, among other leading ladies, Ann Margret (Viva Las Vegas) and a few others.

It was love at first sight between Shirley and Zaldy – and the rest of the Filipinos who became eventually enraptured by the loveteam’s movies (among them, Sweethearts and Shirley, My Darling). The moment Shirley landed at the airport on a Northwest flight from the US in 1956 as Miss Philippines-California, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a polka-dotted dress, she instantly won the hearts of the kababayan she was seeing for the first time.

How can I forget Shirley Gorospe, I told Celia (who also started her career at the Premiere lot).

Celia is co-starring in the sitcom Ang Ganda ng Lola Ko on QTV 11 (Friday nights, 8:30 to 9:30) with Gloria Sevilla, Baby O’Brien and Bella Flores, and she’s trying to convince Shirley to appear as guest in one episode. "She’s a good copy for your Conversations," Celia added.

So I sought out Shirley at her large house at the BF Homes Executive Village in Parañaque City last Monday afternoon, where she lives with her brother Teddy (visiting from the US) and her son Geno, married with three children.

Widowed in November 2002 when Zaldy succumbed to complications of diabetes, Shirley said they first lived at a house she built at Ayala Alabang when they came back from more than two decades in California. They sold that house and she’s planning to move back to the US as soon as she sells her Parañaque house which, she said, "feels like an empty nest" after Zaldy died.

Despite the years, Shirley looked beautiful, reed-thin like the model that she was should be (thanks to regular rounds of golf).

Over a merienda of turon and tea, we recalled the sad and happy milestones in her life.

Zaldy’s death caught you by surprise, didn’t it?

"Oh yes, it did! He wanted to shave his two-month-old beard. That was after lunch. I was a bit shocked when I saw his face – it was red, as if all sunburned! But he just kept on going and going and going, shaving and shaving and shaving. So I gave him some ice because the razor was burning his face. That early evening, my son noticed that Zaldy’s face was starting to get swollen and his eyes were getting puffy. Zaldy said, ‘Really?’ So I called his doctor. It turned out that he had a bad case of allergy, a rare kind. What made it worse was that he had been diabetic (for more than 30 years) and he was on insulin. So I gave him the medicine that his doctor told me to give him. Before midnight, everything was going haywire. His blood sugar was going up, his blood pressure was going up! We rushed him to the hospital and he was given oxygen. He was conscious all the time. The next day, his blood sugar and his blood pressure went down. He was asking his doctor, ‘How long am I going to be in here?’ The doctor told him, ‘If the numbers (blood sugar and blood pressure) stay normal, maybe you should be home in three days.’ At 5 o’clock that afternoon, the numbers went up again, so he was rushed to the ICU. He stayed there for two days, on respirator and a few other tubes attached to his body. He never recovered. He was 64."

His death abruptly ended a long and happy marriage.

"We got married in March 1958. We had our ups and downs but we survived them all. I got married young. I grew up in the United States and once you get married, your mind is made up to be a housewife. But no, I didn’t quit showbiz right after our wedding. In fact, I stayed for 15 years!"

Let’s do some flashback...When did you first come to the Philippines?

"In 1956. My trip here was part of my prize as Miss Philippines-California. My father is Ilocano, from Sta. Catalina, Ilocos Sur. My mother is Portuguese."

Oh, I thought you were a Miss Philippines-Hawaii.

"No, that’s a misconception. I was born in Hawaii, all right, but I was never a Miss Hawaii-Philippines. I stayed for two months. It was my first time to visit the Philippines. I first met Zaldy during my courtesy call on President Ramon Magsaysay in Malacañang. Zaldy was there with a group of basketball players, actors who played basketball. There were other stars from Sampaguita Pictures. It was also during my first visit that I met the Santiagos of Premiere Productions. Then, I went back to the US. I was done with college, so I decided to work for the Bank of America."

How did Premiere make the offer?

"One day, I got a call from Cirio Santiago and he told me that Premiere was shooting parts of a movie called Sweethearts, directed by Gerry de Leon, in Disneyland and other places in L.A. Cirio asked me if I was interested in joining the cast and I said, ‘Fine. Why not?’And that’s how I got started in the movies."

When did Zaldy start courting you?

"Oh, right on my first visit here! The second time I met him was during a basketball tournament. He approached me and said, ‘Do you remember me?’ He was kind of mayabang. But he was very nice and very friendly, asking what else I was doing in the Philippines. I was then staying with my cousins. Zaldy said, ‘Can I visit you?’ Before I knew it, he was visiting, with the other stars of Lo’Waist Gang (among them FPJ), the movie he was then shooting. (The late) Boy Sta. Romana was with him and Bobby Gonzales. The whole Lo’Waist Gang! So the whole house went crazy! Then, he invited me to watch his shooting at Premiere and that’s how I met the Santiagos.

How long did you stay in the movies?

"Roughly 15 years. I did several movies – Sweethearts, Be My Love, Shirley, My Darling, You’re My Everything, Outside the Kulambo, Tipin, Basta Pinoy, Pitong Gatang, Ang Kanyang Kamahalan and Sa Bawat Patak ng Dugo. I even hosted a TV show called Shirley on Channel 5, first directed by Al Quinn and then by Zaldy."

Do you still remember what your last movie was?

"I think it was Honey & West with (the late) Bernard Belleza. It was an action picture. Most of my movies were musical and most of them with Zaldy as my leading man. In Be My Love, my leading man was Pancho Magalona. I even did a movie with Gloria Romero; it was called Honeymoon."

And then you got married in 1958.

"We eloped! We were afraid that my mother wouldn’t let me come back. It was Pancho and Ronnie (FPJ) who arranged everything. He said, ‘If you’re serious, I’ll arrange things for you!’ Pancho and I were then shooting Be My Love. We waited until my mom fell asleep before I slipped out of the house. Our (civil) wedding was held in Cainta. It was a comedy, just like our elopement. I didn’t understand Tagalog but Zaldy told me, ‘When I nudge your side, say ‘I do!’, say ‘Opo!’ so I kept saying ‘Opo, opo!’ So that’s what I did. When we signed the papers, I was asked, ‘Where were you born?’ Zaldy answered for me, ‘Tondo, Tondo!’ It was a quickie wedding. That happened in January 1958 and then in March we got married in church." (The marriage was blessed with two sons: Garizaldy, 44, an entertainer based in Chicago; and Geno, 31, married with three children.)

Your marriage lasted for 44 years. That’s quite an achievement, a record, considering that most showbiz marriages don’t last.

"To make a marriage last, you must be patient, you have to be broadminded. But did you know that after five years, I went back to the US and I divorced him."

Oh, is that so?

"It was too much already. You know, too much womanizing. He kept calling and calling, asking to be given another chance, and he had to court me all over again before I relented. Why shouldn’t? I loved him and we had a child. He went to the US and tore up the divorce papers."

When did you stop doing movies?

"In the early ’70s. But I continued modeling in the US for Ruben Panis who did my wedding gown. At that time, we were shuttling between the US and the Philippines until we finally stayed in L.A. But Zaldy would come back every now and then to do movies. After 20 years, we came back for good in the early ’90s."

Don’t you miss showbiz?

"When we came back, Zaldy and I did a dance number in Charlene Gonzalez’s show Keep On Dancing. After that, I haven’t done any other show. And then came Celia Rodriguez, a good friend from our Premiere days. She said she was having a show called Ang Ganda ng Lola Ko on QTV and she invited me to guest on it. I said, ‘Why not?’ Maybe in one episode, sometime in September. You know, I’ve always been showbiz. My mom named me after Shirley Temple because she said I looked like the child actress. I studied jazz ballet. I was a good dancer. I dreamed to be a Broadway star. I didn’t make it there but I found stardom in the Philippines."

How has life been since Zaldy died?

"I would play golf three times a week, as usual. That’s how I keep trim, walking as many as seven miles everytime I play golf. Zaldy and I used to play golf together a lot. You know, after Zaldy died, I thought, ‘What do I do now?’ Well, I’ve been trying to move on, eating out with friends. But everytime somebody would invite me out, I would say, ‘Oh, I would have to tell Zaldy first!’ and then I would stop. And that’s when I realize that Zaldy is gone! It has been four years and it’s as if he’s still very much around. Oh, well, I guess you don’t really get over it; you just learn how to live with it."

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