WHAT I'VE LEARNED
EDDIE GARCIA
89, actor and filmmaker
I started in 1949, after I got discharged from the Philippine Scouts in the U.S. Army. I was stationed in Okinawa for three years, as [part of the] occupational troops. In 1949, the Philippine Scouts were disbanded by President Quirino. He wanted his 29,000 men back, so the Philippine Scouts were disbanded. But I had a choice to re-enlist in the U.S. Army. So I said I’ll just goof off for about two months in Manila and then go back to Okinawa to re-enlist. And then my commanding officer said, “You come back, you re-enlist, then I’ll send you to officer’s candidate school.” When I was here, I met a guy, George Sanderson, and he said, “Ed, let’s try the movies. Manuel Conde needs seven guys to play in Siete Infantes de Lara.” It was a sword-swashbuckling film. I said, “No, I have to go back and re-enlist.” He said, “Come on, let’s try it.” So I said okay. We went to see Manuel Conde, he said, “Come back in three days—we’ll give you a screen test.” So when we went back, there were about forty guys who were screen tested. He said “Come back after ten days and I’ll choose seven.” So we did. After ten days, we came back, and he chose seven—and we were chosen. The late Mario Montenegro, Johnny Monteiro, Albert Madison, George Sanderson, Terry Campillos, and Jimmy Castellvi. So I wrote, to my commanding officer, I said “Sir, I’m sorry, I cannot come back to re-enlist. I’m going to join the movies.” He answered back and said, “Good luck, Garcia.”
If I didn’t join the movies, probably I’ll be, dead, six underground in Korea, because that [was the start of] the Korean war. And if I survived that, in Vietnam. If I survived that, I’d be a retired colonel. So that’s destiny.
I never dreamed of being an actor. I always wanted to be a soldier—I wanted to make it my career. Everybody has a dream. Somebody says “I want to be a lawyer,” “I want to be a doctor.” And me, it happens to be “I want to be a soldier.”
In Sampaguita, it was very disciplined—they were very specific about time. There was one actor, his weekly allowance went to fines, because every minute you’re late, you’re fined. If your call time was eight o’clock, you’d be there before, or at eight sharp. Because if you go in at 8:10, you’re fined. Punctuality is very important.
I’m usually earlier than the call time. Because my motto is, “What you could do today, do it now, so you could do something else tomorrow.”
"I play villain roles. When I’m hated, that means it was a good job."
