PHILIPPINE CINEMA'S QUIET REBEL By Bibsy Carballo Everyone knows that movie people have such short memories. Visibility is the key word in the industry. Out of sight, out of mind. But no so in the case of Boots Anson Roa. Hardly had her plane taxied into the Ninoy Aquino airport when Boots was already readying herself for her first movie and taping assignments. First to contact her was LEA Productions with whom she had worked many times in the past, among them in Wanted Perfect Mother, Tanikalang Dugo, Villa Miranda, Itik-Itik. The movie, Doring Dorado, NBI where she plays leading lady in an Eddie Garcia action vehicle. Next was Star Cinema for Joey Javier Reyes' family drama with Aga Muhlach in Ikaw Sa Buhay Ko. Then, Donna Villa and Carlo Caparas snapped her up for The Myrna Diones Story with Kris Aquino. Boots found herself shuttling from movie set to TV studio for interviews, tapings, and pictorials. It almost seemed that 11 years had not transpired in the interim. This may seem strange to many in the industry today, but then Boots Anson Roa has always been some sort of a rare bird of the movies, a quiet rebel if there is such a thing. To begin with, she is the only actress to successfully chart a career when she was already married. Her insistence on using her married name would have been poison to anyone else starting in showbusiness today. "I had been married for four years with two kids," Boots recalls, when she started work on Eddie Rodriguez' El Perro Gancho in 1968. It was a gamble to begin in this manner. Apparently, in the case of Boots it paid off. The quiet rebel went against the rules and won and up to the time she left the country in 1982 was busy shooting at the rate of eight to ten pictures a year. There was even a time, Boots says, when she shot 14 pictures in one year and would be scheduled on three movie sets on the same day. She must have been one of those who introduced the "lagare" system in the movies. The Ultimate Professional Boots also managed to keep her private life private without arousing the ire of the press. She was never involved in any showbiz scandal and whenever there was any hint of anything unsavory about her, this was usually dismissed peremptorily as ridiculous. This is because Boots was and still is, the almost perfect person. As an actress, she is the ultimate professional and will appear promptly on the set come hell or high water. She has not lost her acting prowess and to this day remains a "take-one" actress. As a person, she is genuinely interested in people, which makes her concerned about everyone who touches her life. In all the years that we have known her, she has not said a bad word about anyone and she has never lost her temper. As others would say, Boots Anson Roa is an angel, and you better believe it. Although many would joke about it, Boots was an ultraconservative (wearing long shirts instead of bathing suits in a beach scene) in a filed where one was expected to bare, be controversial and get into squabbles in order to be noticed. Boots was none of these, and yet again she managed to become a star. And the best thing about it was all it was on her own terms. Her favorite Movies Even while her father Oscar Moreno was already a matinee idol with Sampaguita Studio, there was no encouragement from him for her to try the movies. Boots remembers having been active in stage plays but once she decided to give the movies a try there was really no turning back. As of last count Boots had made 75 pictures from 1968 to 1982 when she left for the U.S. Her last picture was Viva Films P.S. I Love You were she played the mother of Sharon Cuneta and which was also Viva's very first movie. Although she did many roles close to her heart particularly the "ERAP" series with vice president Joseph Estrada (winning the FAMAS best actress in 1972 for Tatay na si Erap) she likes best her role in Tanikalang Dugo megged by Totoy Buenaventura where she played schizophrenic and won best actress in one of the local festival. There are also some assignment she feel sorry for not having done. One is Jerry de Leon unfinished opus Juan dela Cruz for FPJ Production Boots never even got to start filming. Another Peque Gallaga's Oro, Plata, Mata for which she recall already having received a downpayment but which was delayed in conflict with her schedule to live for the U.S.