Actress Bella Flores dies early Sunday at 84

Veteran actress and screen villain Bella Flores passed away before dawn Sunday at age 84.

 

Flores was rushed to the Quezon City General Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m., singer Imelda Papin said.

 

"Noong pinadala namin dito, okay pagdating dito sa hospital (though) she could hardly breathe. (W)e were trying to revive her I think three times, hindi na na-revive. Pronounced dead siya 1:27 a.m. (When we brought her to the hospital, she could hardly breathe. We tried to revive her I think three times, but failed. She was pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m.)," Papin, who helped bring Flores to the hospital, said in an interview on dzBB radio.

 

She said Flores' daughter Ruby Arcilla had called her and said the veteran actress' blood pressure had plummeted to 86 over 44.

 

Arcilla, for her part, thanked Flores' friends in the industry who had given their support and prayers.

 

"Sixty-two years siya in showbiz, maraming lives na na-touch sa kanyang pag-arte (My mother spent 62 years in showbiz. She touched so many lives)," she said.

 

Arcilla said their initial plans include bringing Flores' remains to Loyola at Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City so they can be prepared for public viewing by noon.

 

Flores was born Remedios Papa Dancel in Sta. Cruz, Manila in 1929.

Flores was a college sophomore at Far Eastern University when she decided to go on a movie career, making her first movie - Balaraw (1950) - at age 14.

 

After taking a screen test at Sampaguita Pictures, she was given a four-year contract, with her first big role in Roberta (1951), as the cruel stepmother of then child actors Tessie Agana and Boy Alano.

 

Her other films with Sampaguita included:

 

 

She continued her villain roles on stage and television.

 

IMDB said Flores won the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) best supporting actress award for "Kaibigan ko'ng Sto. Niño" (1967), and was nominated by FAMAS for "Kilabot sa Makiling" (1959), and "Mga Batang yagit" (1984).

 

She earned the best supporting actress award from the Olongapo Film Festival for her performance in "Dugo ng Bayan" (1973).

 

Flores received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines in 1989.  — ELR/FRJ, GMA News