‘REGAL BABY’ Lily Monteverde in 2016 celebrates her 77th birthday at her home in Quezon City. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO Lily Monteverde, founder of film-TV production outfit Regal Entertainment, passed away on Sunday morning at the age of 84. Born on Aug.
19, 1939, she would have celebrated her 85th birthday this month. Monteverde, known in the movie industry as “Mother Lily,” died barely a week after her husband, Leonardo “Remy” Monteverde passed away on July 29. He was 86.
She is survived by her children Winston, Meme, Roselle, Dondon and Goldwin. In its statement, the family did not disclose the cause of death. But in 2013, Monteverde underwent surgery to remove a two-centimeter mass growth in one of her lungs.
She was later declared cancer-free. “We were never worried that we’d lose her to cancer,” Monteverde’s daughter Roselle Teo told Inquirer Entertainment in 2016 at a party celebrating the film producer’s 77th birthday. “As soon as she found out, she had it treated, then went back to her usual routine.
We never thought we’d lose her, because there was constant communication between us and her doctors,” Teo said. Monteverde produced more than 300 films since she founded Regal Films in 1962. Now called Regal Entertainment, the company is considered the oldest surviving film and television production company in the country.
It is now managed by daughter Roselle Monteverde-Teo. Regal produced films encompassing all genres—drama, comedy, romance,.