483. Sampaguita Stars BERT LEROY JR. & LIBERTY ILAGAN for COCA COLA, 1963

TEEN STARS OF THE 60s, BERT LEROY JR. & LIBERTY ILAGAN, FOR COKE, 1963

COCA-COLA has been using local movie stars as endorsers and models of print ads as early as the late 1950s. Early models included Gloria Romero, Juancho Gutierrez and Fred Montilla.

In the 60s, local film studios began building up their own stable of artists, and Sampaguita Pictures was the most successful, securing for its stars lucrative commercial endorsements for Coke. Many appeared in Coke’s 50^th anniversary ads and in subsequent ads of the 60s like Eddie Gutierrez, Josephine Estrada and Jean Lopez.

These ads from 1963 show two popular Sampaguita teen stars of the decade: BERT LEROY  Jr. and LIBERTY ILAGAN.

BERT AND LIBERTY, part of the COKE ad series, 1963

Bert Leroy Jr. was born as Albert Leroy (25 Apr. 1944, Manila), one of 3 children of showbiz couple Nicanor (Bert) Leroy Sr. and radio personality Luz Mat. Castro. It was natural that he was introduced to films early, appearing at age 9 in “Diwang Kayumanggi”. He put his budding film career on hold to concentrate on his grade school in Sta. Rita Colleges where he was an honor student, and took up high school at San Beda, where he was an honor student.

Bert enrolled at the University of Santo Tomas to take up Commerce but only stayed for a year. It was said he re-entered showbiz in 1961, and, as he says "so I could buy my own car". The 18 year old was introduced in 1962 in a supporting role in “Tugtuging Bukid”. There must have been an attempt to cast him with Liberty Ilagan as a love team in these Coke ads from 1963, but in 1966, Bert found bigger fame when he was teamed up as Gina Pareño’s partner as part of the popular teen group of Sampaguita Pictures’ “Stars ‘66”. One highlight of his career is earning a FAMAS nomination as Best Actor in the 1967 drama, “Kung Bakit Pa Ako Isinilang”.

LIBERTY ILAGAN, solo ad for Coke, 1963

LIBERTY ILAGAN , on the other hand was born (6 Jul. 1943) was born to showbiz royalty; her father is National Artist and actor-director Gerry de Leon, famed for his nationalistic films like “Sisa”, “Diego Silang” and screen adaptations of  “Noli Me Tangere,” “El Filibusterismo,” “Diego Silang,” and “Sisa.” Her mother, Fely Vallejo, was an actress, sister of 1930s violin prodigy, Ernesto Vallejo.

Like Bert, Liberty started as a 3 year old child actress, appearing in “Isumpa Mo Giliw”in 1946. She stopped to take up pre-Law at Arellano University. But she was lured back to showbiz in her teens by Sampaguita and did many teen flicks like “Joey, Eddie, and Lito” (1961) , “The Big Broadcast” (1962), “Sweet Valentines” (1963) and “Jukebox Jamboree” (1964).

Eventually, she married Rod Ongpauco, an ex-actor who became a successful restaurateur (founder of Barrio Fiesta) , with whom she had 3 kids: Happy, Love and Soeng Ongpauco.

Both Sampaguita stars Bert and Liberty migrated to the U.S. after their fruitful showbiz careers. Bert  Leroy Jr., , now 80 years old, is marred with 2 sons and a daughter. Liberty, who had separated with Rod, remarried a U.S. lawyer, Carlos Lardizabal, and passed away on 17 Mar. 2020.

SOURCES:

Information about B. Leroy Jr. and L. Ilagan: Wikipedia

The Movie Database: https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1355492-bert-leroy-jr

Rappler: Former Sampaguita actress dies at 76 https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/254920-actress-liberty-ilagan-dies/

Phil. Daily Inquirer: https://entertainment.inquirer.net/189427/stars-66-50-golden-years-later