Veteran Filipino actor and director Eddie Garcia who appeared in more than 600 film and TV roles dies aged 90 after fall on set left him in a coma
- Eddie Garcia, widely considered Philippines’ greatest actor, has died aged 90
- He died Thursday afternoon after slipping into a coma following a fall on set
- He appeared in more than 600 film and TV roles during his seven-decade career
- Garcia is the most-nominated and most-awarded actor in Filipino history
Eddie Garcia died aged 90 Thursday, two weeks after a fall on the set of his latest TV show left him in a coma
Eddie Garcia, who was widely considered to be the greatest Filipino actor of all time, has died at the age of 90.
Garcia, who starred in more than 600 film and TV roles during a seven-decade career, had been in a coma for two weeks after a fall on the set of his new TV show.
His condition worsened yesterday with ‘little sign of brain activity’ and he passed away on Thursday at 4.55pm local time, his family and agent confirmed.
Born Eduardo Verchez Garcia on May 2, 1929, Garcia worked as a Philippine Scout in the US Army for three years and was stationed in Okinawa in the aftermath of the Second World War.
He landed his first film role in 1949 with Siete Infantes de Lara, and rarely stopped working since then.
He went on to become the most-nominated and most-awarded actor at the FAMAS Awards – the Filipino equivalent of the Oscars – with 20 wins under his belt.
Among his accolades were five Best Actor awards, five Best Directors, seven Best Supporting Actors and a lifetime achievement award.
He is the only actor to have been inducted into the FAMAS Hall Of Fame in three different categories – Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director.
Garcia is viewed as the greatest Filipino actor of all time, having scooped more nominations and awards at FAMAS – the Philippines equivalent of the Oscars – than any other actor
While he remained largely unknown in the West, his best-known roles among Asian audiences include in the 1971 film Tubog sa Ginto, 1996’s Bakit May Kahapon Pa?, 2000 film Deathrow, and 2012 film Bwakaw.
In 1961 he made his directorial debut with Karugtong ng Kahapon, and went on to head up Magdusa Ka in 1986, Imortal in 1989 and Abakada… Ina in 2002.
Garcia was one of the hardest-working actors in the Philippine film industry right up until his death, telling CNN in April this year: ‘Retirement? Not in my vocabulary.’
He was working on his latest project, a TV show called Rosang Agimat, when he tripped and fell on June 8.
He was rushed to hospital with his family initially saying he had suffered a heart attack, though this was later revised to a broken neck.