Marian Patalinghug, better known as Donna Villa, was a Filipina film producer and actress. Villa began her career in the entertainment industry as an actress. One of her early roles was in the 1977 film ''Namangka sa Dalawang Ilog'', which starred

Romeo Vasquez Ricardo Alandy Sumilang (April 9, 1939 – May 2, 2017), also known by his stage name Romeo Vasquez, was a Filipino actor and former matinee idol of Philippine cinema. Career Vasquez was discovered by director Armando Garces who saw him whil ...

Gloria Romero Gloria Anne Borrego Galla (December 16, 1933 – January 25, 2025), known professionally as Gloria Romero (), was an American-born Filipino actress. Regarded as the "Queen of Philippine Cinema", she appeared in over 250 motion pictures and t ...

and

Alma Moreno Venesa Moreno Lacsamana (born May 25, 1959), professionally known as Alma Moreno (), is a Filipino actress and politician. Early life Moreno was born in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur to her parents Frank Lacsamana, from Pampanga, and Jean Moreno. Ac ...

. Originally from

Lapu-Lapu City Lapu-Lapu, officially the City of Lapu-Lapu (; ), is a highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 497,604 people. It was formerly known as Opon, which was ch ...

, Donna Villa was married to film director

Carlo J. Caparas Carlo Magno Jose Caparas (March 12, 1943 – May 24, 2024) was a Filipino comic strip creator and writer-turned film director and producer. He is best known for creating such Filipino superheroes and comic book characters as Panday, Bakekan ...

, with whom she had a son and a daughter. Donna Villa and Caparas were known as the "Golden Couple" and were credited with the "Massacre Era" of the Philippine film industry in the early 1990s. With Caparas, she produced the 1990s films ''The Vizconde Massacre'', ''The Myrna Diones Story (Lord, Have Mercy)'', and ''The Lilian Velez Story: Till Death Do Us Part''. One of her last films was the 2017 feature ''

Kamandag ng Droga ''Kamandag ng Droga'' () is a 2017 Philippine film directed by Carlo J. Caparas. The film tackles how illegal drugs affect the lives of four teenagers. Production ''Kamandag ng Droga'' was directed by Carlo J. Caparas, an admitted supporter of Pre ...

'', which was influenced by President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

's war on drugs. Donna Villa died at the age of 57 on January 17, 2017, at the

University of Santo Tomas Hospital The University of Santo Tomas Hospital (''simply'' UST Hospital or USTH) is a hospital located at the University of Santo Tomas. The hospital has two divisions, a clinical teaching hospital that offers inexpensive medical care for indigent pa ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

. Initial reports stated that she died from cancer, although her exact cause of death was not disclosed by her family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donna Villa Filipino film producers 2017 deaths Filipino film actresses