The veteran and “oldest active actress” in Philippine cinema Anita Linda dies at the age of 95, Wednesday.
Director Adolf Alix, Jr., shared the news on Super Radyo dzBB, which was confirmed by Anita’s daughter Francesca Lake-Legaspi.
Alix said Anita peacefully passed away due to old age on Wednesday, June 10, at 6:15 a.m.
“This is a very sad day for me. I am trembling as I am gathering my thoughts… The great Anita Linda has passed away this morning at 6:15 AM. Prayers for her soul. My condolences to her family and her children, Francesca Legaspi and Fred Osburn,” the director said in an Instagram post.
Anita Linda starred in numerous award-winning films like “Lola,” Alix’s “Adela,” and “Ang Babae sa Bubungang Lata,” which gave her the FAMAS Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 74, making her the oldest actress to receive such recognition.
Also read: Andrea Bocelli survives COVID-19
Anita Linda dies at 95
Anita was born Alice Buenaflor Lake on November 23, 1924, and turned 95 this year, making her just a few years younger than the Philippine cinema itself (100 years).
Linda remained active in the film industry as she reached her eighties, appearing in such films as Aishite Imasu 1941: Mahal Kita (2004), You Are the One (2006), and Ouija (2007). In 2009, she returned to television, starring in the ABS-CBN drama Tayong Dalawa as Kim Chiu’s ruthless Chinese grandmother Lily and in the upcoming ABS-CBN horror suspense primetime series Florinda (TV series).
She garnered widespread acclaim in 2008. She starred in the independent film, Adela (2008), directed by Adolfo Alix, Jr. For her performance playing the loneliness of a woman celebrating her 80th birthday alone when her children failed to visit her, she was cited as Best Actress in the 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival (Southeast Asia Film Competition), as Best Actress by the Young Critics Circle, and as Best Actress (tied with Judy Ann Santos) at the Gawad Tanglaw Awards.[7] The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden praised Linda’s performance as “quietly transfixing”. Anita Linda was given the ENPRESS Lino Brocka Lifetime Achievement Award.
In January 2009, Linda was unhurt in a mugging incident that occurred while she was aboard a taxicab. In October 1950, Linda’s sister Mamey was murdered in a robbery attempt at the home they had shared; Linda herself was unharmed after she and her nieces had locked themselves in a bedroom to evade the burglars.