Leila Benitez: The last interview
Long before any lady announcer/host was able to duplicate her charm and intelligence, I baptized Leila “Lady Dean” in Student Canteen which she co-hosted with Bobby (Ledesma) and me. She was fun to be with...witty, well-read and without any air or superiority complex. Bobby and I are ninong to Leila’s eldest son Gerry. She was a true friend through thick and thin. We shared the same principles and stuck together at all times even against the greedy network titans. (That’s another story.) I am proud to have been her friend and confidant.
That’s how former Senator Eddie Ilarde remembers Leila Benitez who succumbed at 89 to complications of coronavirus last Wednesday, April 8, in New York City where she had been living since the early ‘70s.
As one of the original hosts of Student Canteen, the hit noontime talent show in the 1960s, Leila was a beloved television personality for more than two decades, a role model for Filipinas looking up to women who have set their own standards for class and professional accomplishment.
For the information of the millennials who glimpse her from their parents’ stories, Leila was the Philippine counterpart of Oprah Winfrey, the classic convent-bred colegiala with the looks, the social correctness and the fastidious way she spoke English, straight and pure English, not Taglish.
Born in Quezon City to a wealthy family of diplomats and educators, Leila had just finished high school at the College of the Holy Ghost (now Holy Spirit) when her parents sent her to the US under the care of General and Mrs. Carlos P. Romulo. She studied in three US schools, including Georgetown University (where her father, Eulogio Benitez, finished law, and she, Psychology).
Until her passing, Leila lived in an upscale condominium in the Big Apple. She had three sons (Gerardo Gabriel, Guillermo Antonio and Martin John) but none by her husband, Donald McCallum (founder of the first marketing and television research company in the US) who died sometime in 2015. (Input from Eddie Ilarde: Leila had two sons by Grau Roses and one by Merv Simpson. She was legally separated from both husbands.)
“His death left a big vacuum in my life,” admitted Leila in a 2017 STAR interview. “Since my husband passed away, I have trouble eating and sleeping. In fact, I have doubled up on my sleeping pills but when I do that it affects my stomach because I have a gastro problem. The doctors tell me, ‘Don’t drink when you go to bed.’ Easy to say, right? When I go to bed is when I think. I miss my husband. He was a great man. I miss his companionship. We were together for 38 years.
“But since I’m all alone now, I have to cope with it, especially at night. I pray and then I turn the TV on; it relaxes me. I’m so thankful that I have my sons and grandkids who often visit me. I am so lucky that I have a lot of good friends and I’m also well taken care of by my doctors. I take things as they come.”
She mentioned how she appreciated friends who would call her from Manila just to say “Hi, how are you?,” among them Eddie (fondly known by fans as Kuya Eddie because of his long-running program Kahapon Lamang that continues to air Saturday afternoons on DZBB).
“Eddie would call once in a while like during my birthday or Christmas. He told me that he is happy about what he’s doing but he’s no longer involved in politics. The Lopezes of ABS-CBN also get in touch. Imelda Marcos is also a good friend of mine; her son is married to my niece. My Student Canteen co-hosts Bobby Ledesma and Pepe Pimentel are, as you know, also both gone.”
Leila started as a scriptwriter in the mid-‘50s for a classical radio program, then as station manager in a leading FM station (DZYL) and as disc jockey when she got noticed by legions of young followers.
“After a while,” she recalled, “people would come and sit and watch me. So at the time the Lopezes decided to give me a bigger studio and have a live audience participation.” Then came the offer to host Student Canteen followed by Darigold Jamboree. She also produced and hosted The Leila Benitez Celebrity Hour on Channel 5, a top-rating talk show where a panel of outspoken political rivals were pitted against each other over cocktails.
In that 2017 STAR interview, Leila revealed that, at the peak of her career, she quit against her wishes. While with a European team promoting the Philippines, Martial Law was declared and TV shows were shut off the air. At her family’s advice, she didn’t return to the Philippines and instead settled down in the US. She got a job with the US Information Agency (USIA) as news anchor for the Voice of America, a program broadcast over 11 countries in Asia-Pacific. She was all set to join CBS News as a field reporter when she met McCallum, married him and settled down as a plain housewife.
When not watching American talk shows on TV, Leila said that she would accept invitations to emcee Filipino functions and events including those hosted by the Philippine Consulate. She would also dine out regularly with her sons, attend Sunday Mass and host dinners for relatives and friends.
Her last homecoming was in 2003 upon the invitation from ABS-CBN as special guest of the network’s 50th anniversary celebration.
“They sent me two first-class tickets for me and my husband and booked us in two beautiful hotel suites. Why two?,” she asked and added with a laugh, “because my husband snored.”
She got a big thrill at the PICC where the ABS-CBN event was held.
“They brought in every young boy and girl that I discovered in my show. They flew them in from around the world and they were presented before me. I thought that was a beautiful tribute. My husband told me, ‘You must have done something right’.”
Leila ended that memorable interview by saying, “Life has been good to me so I’m blessed. My sons would tell me, ‘Mom, we are lucky to have you.’ And I would tell them, ‘I’m lucky to be here’.”
(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)
- Latest
- Trending
