Fernando Poe, Sr.

This article does not citeany references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this articleby adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiablematerial may be challenged and removed.

Fernando Poe Born November 27, 1916
San Carlos City, Pangasinan, PhilippinesDied October 23, 1951(aged 34)
Manila, PhilippinesSpouse(s) Elizabeth Kelley

Allan Fernando Reyes Poe (November 27, 1916 - October 23, 1951), better known simply as Fernando Poe, was a famous actor during the early cinema era in the Philippines. He was the father of the late Ronald Allan K. Poe, better known as Fernando Poe, Jr., who was an iconic and hugely popular actor, who had ran for the Philippine Presidency in 2004. Prior to his son's rise to fame, Poe had been known simply as 'Fernando Poe'. Since then, he has also been called Fernando Poe, Sr. to distinguish him from his son. He directed the first Darna film in 1951 before he died in the same year. As a leading man, he was often cast opposite Mona Lisa.

Poe had been rumored to be the model of the University of the Philippines’ famous statue — "The Oblation", although it was later revealed that it was actually Anastacio Caedo.

Personal background

Allan Fernando R. Poe had six children by his partner, Irish-American Elizabeth "Bessie" Kelley, namely Elizabeth, Ronald Allan (Ronnie or FPJ), Fernando II (Andy), Genevieve (Jenny), Fredrick (Freddieboy), and Evangeline. Poe and Kelly were married in 1940 after Ronald Allan was born.

Filipino actor Conrad Poe was his illegitimate son by actress Patricia Mijares.

The original spelling of his surname was Pou (pronounced almost like Poe) via his father, playwright Lorenzo Pou, a Balearic immigrant from Majorca, Spain, who established a mining business in the Philippines and married a Pangasinan woman named Marta Reyes.

Poe graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines in 1935 and the degree of Doctor of Dental Medicine from the Philippine Dental College in 1942.

During a film shooting, Fernando Poe died in 1951 after he permitted a rabid puppy to lick his wound.