Stella Strada's life was 'parang pelikula'

THEN: Jan. 23, 1985 — 26 years ago.

The sudden death of Stella Strada, tagged as a sex goddess by the tabloids, put back curiosity on the lives of movie stars to the fullest force. We want to know what they really are like. Warts and all. The headlines blared all the sordid details, even some little bit of gossip picked up by some reporters as they lined up to see how Stella looked in repose. Most of the fans, those who have seen her in the barest, will now try to say a prayer or two for the sordid thoughts in the past. They admit that they used to think of Stella that way. Some of the curious once would like to see how she was made up in death. There she was, wearing the white dress that producer Robbie Tan bought for her because in real life, she always wanted to wear white.

Some friends in the business like Irma Alegra and Sarsi Emmanuelle grieved for her and the former even voiced her own fear of death. Lately, baring all has the special attention of Mrs. Katigbak. It seems, Stella closed the year which earlier also summoned colleague Claudia Zobel to a fast exit. Will this finally alter the bomba trend, someone asked me through her tears.

Once upon a time, Stella was Suzette Bishop, in a different place and a different time. But her life was just as muddled, with no permanent home and whispers of sexual molestation at an early age. Her father, then, was not around, and her mother was reported as dead. When Stella surfaced on the scene, other facets of her life surfaced as well, and now added up to the folio of Stella that is becoming stranger than fiction.

“Parang pelikula,” some friends would tell her whenever she let them get some glimpses of her life. Only, in her case the sordid details were real and the pain was real, too. Perhaps it was the same pain that led her to drug dependence and the highs and lows that these brought. Her already weakened emotional fiber was about ready to snap.

Three weeks ago, I got her phone number, a very secret one it seemed, from Oskee Salazar whom I promised not to divulge as my source. I called her up for my editor for a possible cover pictorial for WT. The phone number was in an apartment in P. Tuazon which meant that she must have moved since then. Stella was sleeping and it was her aunt who answered. She was more concerned about who gave me the number than the message I was delivering about a magazine cover pictorial. Her aunt told me to call again and in my irritation I told her aunt to tell her to call me. Two days later, I got word that she did but when I called back she was out again. The saddest words in the English language: what might have been!

Stella Strada died at 17. A newsmaking sudden death that had people thinking about their own mortality. Just when things were shaping up for Stella… such an ill-timed demise.

But death is always new. According to a West African proverb, it is conceit that makes us think that death should have a better sense of timing. Or is it hope? We read Shakespeare and we chose to think that there is a predictable pattern of growth and decline and we feel gypped if someone (especially those we care for) doesn’t fix the timetable. No one wants to live up to 90, unless you ask a man like Statesman Carlos P. Romulo.

On the eve of Stellas’ death, I was one of the judges in a costume contest in See True. There was a portion which had soothsayers predicting next year’s big event. A woman fortune-teller predicted that Stella and Sarsi would get better roles and have a rosy future. At the time she was announcing this, Stella must have been in the throes of despair and just about to tie the cord around her neck. This lady should retire from fortune-telling especially on television.

But those who are in the know thought of Stella as a victim of people’s greed and duplicity. And perhaps her death was her way of freeing herself from them. May she rest in peace, finally!

NOW: May 11, 2011 — 26 years later.

The death of Stella coming soon after the death of Claudia Zobel changed the bomba trend. Most so-called bold stars wanted to act or go into comedy. Robbie Tan, the Seiko Films boss who discovered Stella, himself has gone into comedy most of the time as co-producer of Vic Sotto’s M-ZET hit films. Oskee died a few years ago. And even the popular See True is no more. The popular TV show died with Inday Badiday.

The big film companies like Star Cinema, Viva, Regal and GMA Films are responsible for some good films in later years, veering away from the bold genre. Even Rosanna Roces, who started bold, has become a good actress. It is not anymore the season for bold films.