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Sunday, January 27, 2008

OCTOBER 4, 1967: (ROMEO) VASQUEZ HAS 50-50 CHANCE TO SURVIVE

Did you know that:
Actor Romeo Vasquez, popular action star of the 60s was in the brink of death and almost died. He cheated death after being stabbed and was given 50-50 chance by doctors to survive. Here's that front page news report from The Manila Times. The date: October 4, 1967---

Vasquez has 50-50 chance to survive

Romeo Vasquez, screen and TV star who was stabbed late Monday night at the studio of the Channel 5, was under sedation last night at the San Juan de Dios Hospital. He was given a 50-50 chance to survive the operation early yesterday morning by Dr. Fortunato Guerrero Sr., assisted by the latter’s son, and Dr. Cenon Cruz.

Vasquez, assailant, Robert Drake, 20, movie and TV bit player, was still confined in the Makati town jail. Drake surrendered immediately after the stabbing. He admitted the crime, saying that Vasquez used to humiliate him. He was accused by the police of frustrated homicide before Rizal provincial Fiscal Benjamin H. Aquino.

The stabbing occurred at 11:25 Monday night in the studio in the presence of a large crowd attending the recording. Vasquez was talking over the phone with his wife, Amalia Fuentes, when he was attacked.

The Manila Times/
October 4, 1967

3 comments:

TheCoolCanadian said...

From an old Manila Times, it was reported that the stabbing incident happened during a video-taping session where Robert Drake was splashed with water in the face by Romeo Vasquez. It was not required of Vasquez to do that, but he did it anyway, and that was the last straw for the young man.

Do you have any information on Mr. Drake at all? It seemd that after this incident, nothing was written about him. If you do, it would be interesting to know.

Maybe you should also post those scandalous cases in the 60s and 70s, namely the LUCILA LALU CASE, CARMELITA CALUPITAN CASE (where she cut off Castro's private part), the LUCITA SORIANO & STELLA SUAREZ' original version of "Thrilla in Manila" before the Muhammad Ali fight, that is :)

I also notice that your coverage of the BOMBA ERA does not include anything about SCARLET REVILLA, RICKY ROGERS and MICHAEL MURRAY, the three most popular personalities of that era. I have seen some old newspaper clippings of these three while researching on Filipino movies. I could be wrong, but they seemed to have surfaced as the most well-known personalities of the Bomba days.

I also encountered an ad, I believe, of a film starring Gloria Romero as a transexual! Very insteresting. I can't remember now the title, but the film was written by JUSTO C. JUSTO, and starring Blanca Gomez and Zandro Zamora. And talking of Zandro Zamora, he also made a movie with Artemio Marquez, the film version of a Bulaklak magazine serial by Mars Ravelo called TRAHE DE TRAHEDYA, with Marilou Deztresa and Ed Finlan. If you have the posters of these films, it would be interesting to see even if the film themselves are no longer in existence. I remember in the mid-70s when I visited a friend in his office at REPUBLIC SUPERMARKET on Rizal Avenue, there was a small storage room behind his office. It was unlocked, and I was really surprised to see rolls and rolls of BOMBA FILMS stored there at least 300 rolls). Looked like they were abandoned by the producer or the booking office. And again, the names of Scarlett Revilla, Michael Murray and Ricky Rogers were on the labels of these rolls.

James DR said...

The film you said starring Gloria Romero as a transexual is Avenida Boy. It's not Gloria Romero who portrayed the role of a homosexual but Rita Gomez, with Zandro Zamora in the title role, his first movie.

I agree with you that Scarlet Revilla, Ricky Rogers were the most popular personalities of the Bomba stars, including Yvonne and Rossana Ortiz who became award winning actresses.

Simon, I am with the coolcanadian to please post those scandalous cases in the 60s and 70s like Lucila Lalu case, Lucita Soriano and Stella Suarez case, Stella Strada suicide and Pepsi Paloma rape case.

Video 48 said...

Hi thecoolcanadian and Jimi! Yes, Scarlet Revilla, Ricky Rogers and Michael Murray were important personalities of that era. Well, I have to come up with Part Two. I vividly remember Lucila Lalu, the original chop-chop lady--- all were scared and we were not allowed to go out unaccompanied that time. Also the celebrated Maggie De La Riva rape case happened almost during that time.

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