Hilda Koronel: One of Philippine cinema’s greatest actresses of all time

Hi! Society

Asian Journal

By Monet Lu

Published: December 14, 2013

http://asianjournal.com/lifestyle/hilda-koronel-one-of-philippine-cinemas-greatest-actresses-of-all-time/

The 3rd Beautiful Life Celebration Gala held last November was a huge success. It was an evening of appreciation, honoring the achievements of our fellow Filipino-Americans in Los Angeles.

It was an honor and a privilege for me to present the Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence in Acting/Performing Arts to one of Philippine cinema’s icons—the incomparable Hilda Koronel.

On that evening, after being introduced to Hilda, I immediately told her that when we were teenagers, I was one of the extras in her first lead role movie, Haydee.

I met her again during the filming of her movie Happy Hippy Holiday. I knew Hilda didn’t recognize me back then. But she was so elated and surprised when I told her about that story.

Time flies so fast that after so many years we finally met again, and this time I am presenting her an award recognizing her valuable contributions to the Filipino movie industry. God really works in mysterious ways.

Her rise to stardom began when she was introduced by Lea Productions, one of the established movie companies back then. She then worked with the late great director Lino Brocka in memorable movies such as Santiago,Villa Miranda and many more.

Even at a young age, she already made her mark as a venerable actress in the critically-acclaimed film Insiang. She proved that she was more than just a young star with a pretty face, after garnering praises for her performance from movie fans and critics worldwide.

From those films, Hilda won FAMAS and Gawad Urian awards and many more. I knew that a beautiful face like hers could captivate the Philippine cinema. She stood from her generation of teen stars because of her great and promising acting career. She reminded me of Ingrid Bergman, beauty and talent combined.

In 1970, at only 13 years-old, Hilda made history when she won the prestigious FAMAS Best Supporting Actress award for her acting role in Santiago.

Among her most remarkable movies include Crying Ladies, Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising, Maynila Sa Mga Kuko Ng Liwanag, Nasaan Ka Man, to name a few. Hilda is very picky when choosing the roles she will portray because of her passion and unparalleled dedication to her craft.

Hilda once again proved her acting prowess when she was cast in her comeback movie The Mistress and won several awards.

From her successful movie career, Hilda then moved to the United States to live a life away from the limelight with her husband Ralph Moore and son Diego who is 21 years old.

To this day, Hilda still possesses a classic beauty, one that represents the same glamorous actress that captivated fans and the whole Filipino movie industry. The Philippine cinema needs more actresses like her.

For me, she is one of the greatest actresses of all time, in line with Lolita Rodriguez, Vilma Santos, Nora Aunor, Charito Solis, among others.

An actress of perfection and passion, once again my friends, let’s give a big round of applause to the incomparable Hilda Koronel. Bravo!

***

Monet Lu is an award-winning celebrity beauty stylist with his own chain of Monet Salon across Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. Ultimately, Monet is known as an all-around artiste who produces sold-out fashion and awards shows, as well as unforgettable marketing campaigns. Monet is also the founder of the revolutionary all-natural beauty products such as Enlighten, your solution to discoloration. For more information, please visit www.monetsalon.com or email at monetsalon@aol.com

Published in Hi! Society

Roller-coaster careers: Hilda is an exception to the “rule”

By Nestor U. Torre
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Viewfinder
April 7, 2014 | 12:10 am

It can be instructive to note how popular actors’ portrayals deepen or weaken through the years and decades. Some very fortunate or focused stars are amazingly consistent—for instance, when you look back on Hilda Koronel’s entire career, you can’t cite a really bad or “off” characterization.

She was a standout as early as her “introducing” shot in “Santiago,” excellent as Ligaya Paraiso in “Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag,” and still superlative even as a mature actress in her occasional TV or film appearances in the last few years.

That’s why we cite Hilda as an iconic star who, like Nora Aunor, still has many potentially great portrayals left in her—so, indie filmmakers should be conceptualizing challenging projects for her, by all means!

But, Hilda is an exception to the “rule” for long-running thespic careers in these parts, which is one of unstable, “roller-coaster” progression. Take Christopher de Leon: Like Hilda, he was discovered and mentored by the late, great Lino Brocka, but his body of work is marked by ups and downs.

He was great in Eddie Romero’s “Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon” and Ishmael Bernal’s “Broken Marriage,” but some of his recent teleserye characterizations have been too jowl-clenching and nostril-flaring for comfort.

We still believe, however, that if another great director like Brocka, Romero or Bernal is able to focus his portrayal, Christopher has it in him to surprise and chasten us again!

Even the Nora Aunor hasn’t been spared from the roller-coaster lack of consistency of her characterizations. We feel that she was at her very best in Brocka’s “Bona,” where she was perfectly cast as the scorned and abused alalay of an action-film starlet (Phillip Salvador), and some of her more recent performances have also been exceptional. But, she went through a long period characterized by poor choice of roles, and the incursion of bad acting habits and tics, like her tendency (now happily gone) to make her chin “feelingly” tremble in particularly “heavy” dramatic scenes.

Simple reminder

Now that she has matured, both as an artist and as a person, Nora has learned that less is indeed more, and we’re all the better for it!

Still, it would be good for her to remind herself that she comes off relatively poorly when she attempts to play powerful and “important” characters like judges, and such.

This is not to limit her daring and ambition, it’s just a simple reminder that how a movie actor looks affects the range of people he or she can believably portray.

What about Vilma Santos? In our estimation, she was at her very best in Mike de Leon’s “Sister Stella L.,” where the Vilma we knew “disappeared,” and the young, activist nun she was portraying convincingly took her place.

But, Vilma has also had occasional low thespic moments, like the forgettable flick she once costarred in with Romeo Vasquez, in which, no longer in their teens, they “dared” to play gooey and giggly college students!

Of course, Vilma is much more consistently a standout these days, since she can only do a film every two or three years.

That should really be the attitude of all of our senior stars: Regard each of your occasional screen appearances like it’s going to be your last, because that’s how you will most palpably be remembered, especially by young viewers who may not be aware of your past thespic triumphs. In the acting biz, you are only as good as your last performance!

http://entertainment.inquirer.net/139111/roller-coaster-careers