Comedy king Dolphy is dead
Falls to chronic pulmonary illness
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 11 July 2012 00:00
- Written by ETHEL RAMOS
By A Web design Company
THIS time it is true.
Comedy King Rodolfo “Dolphy” Vera Quizon died yesterday night at 8:34 p.m. at the Makati Medical Center, where he had been confined since June 9 for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
He was 83. He was supposed to celebrate his 84th birthday on July 25.
The Comedy King’s death was confirmed to ABS-CBN News by his longtime partner singer/actress ZsaZsa Padilla. He was with some of his children when he passed away.
A source close to the family said the burial will be at The Heritage in Taguig City.
The family wanted a three-day wake but ABS-CBN has appealed that he be taken for a while at the Dolphy Theater inside the network’s compound which was named after the actor.
The source said Dolphy will use a bronze casket which he bought a few years ago for around P100,000.
News of Dolphy’s death first broke in the microblogging site Twitter. There was confusion about the report as the media scrambled for confirmation.
There have been false reports and tweets of his demise before. Condolences from the movie industry flooded the social networking sites.
Dolphy was on dialysis for a while and his condition was getting better.
Dolphy was born in Pampanga to a Filipino-Chinese, Melencio Espinosa Quizon, and Salud de la Rosa Vera, of Spanish descent. He was later raised in Tondo, Manila.
Dolphy had undergone several surgeries and treatments: kidney stone removal, heart bypass and appendectomy but he still considered himself a happy man while still having the ability to entertain the nation with his physical humor and classical jokes.
The Comedy king started out as a struggling performer during the Japanese occupation until he was discovered by the late Fernando Poe, Sr. The latter gave him his first break as a character actor.
His comic talents were discovered in the films, “Jack en Jill” and “Facifica Falayfay”. Soon, he made many comedy films, alongside fellow comedians, Pugo, Tugo, Babalu, Panchito, Ike Lozada and German Moreno.
His role as John Puruntong in the comedy sitcom, John En Marsha with the late, Nida Blanca lasted for 17 years, and ending in 1990. In 1992, he took on the role as Kevin Kosme in another sitcom, Home Along da Riles which was reinvented into Home Along da Airport years later. In 2006, he had a show with his son Vandolph, John en Shirley, a spin-off to his longest comedy sitcom John En Marsha with Marciel Soriano and veteran actress, Susan Roces.
In 1999, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) named Dolphy as one of the “100 Influential Filipino Artists of the Century.
In 2001, Dolphy along with his sons Eric and Jeffrey Quizon gained international recognition by winning the Prix de la Meilleure Interpretation (the equivalent of a Best Actor-Best Actress award) in Brussels for portraying Walter Dempster, Jr., a.k.a. Walterina Markova in the movie Markova: Comfort Gay.
In 1998, Gawad Urian Awards conferred him Lifetime Achievement Award, and by the Cinemanila International Film Festival in 2000. He was also awarded Huwarang Bituin in 2005 by Famas.
His most recent award was the Grand Collar of the Order of the Golden Heart, which was conferred to him by President in November 2010.
The award is the highest given to a private citizen by the President of the Philippines. It’s other recipient was Helen Keller.
Several groups have urged the government to confer Dolphy National Artist.
Representative Salvador Escudero III, a board member of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), said that he believes the comedy king is worthy to be named as a National Artist. He said that Dolphy’s nomination and the subsequent approval of NCCA are needed to award him of the recognition.
