[Non-Angel] A Dangerous Life: Tessie Tomas Nomination in iEmmy?

It has been widely reported in national TV like SNN (Showbiz News Ngayon) and national broadsheets like Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, and Philippine Star that Angel Locsin is the second Filipina that has been nominated in the International Emmy Awards. According to their reports, Tessie Tomas had been nominated in Supporting Best Actress category (sometimes they wrote best actress) in 1988 for playing the role of Imelda Marcos in HBO produced mini-series, "A Dangerous Life".


Brief Info on "A Dangerous Life"

This is a TV movie about the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines directed by Robert Markowitz and written by David Williamson. It was originally released as a six-hour HBO mini-series in the United States and was later edited down as a 162-minute television movie.

The drama focuses on two American journalists caught up in the revolution. Gary Busey stars as an American TV journalist, on the scene when the tempestuous situation in Manila boils over. He puts his own life on the line to get the inside story of the overthrow of the Marcos regime. By its very nature, most of the film had to be shot everywhere but the Philippines.

Cast Includes: Gary Busey, Rebecca Gilling, Tessie Tomas, Ruben Rustia, Laurice Guillen. Executive Producers: Jim McElroy, Hal McElroy, Lope V. Juban Jr.




To watch the video, click here or visit RedSeptember21 channel in youtube. Photos credit to veroli1974@missosology.

Trivia:

• Most of the filming was done in Sri Lanka because of security concerns.
• The producers McElroy & McElroy had previously been forced to abandon filming in the Philippines with a movie called The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). A similar title to "A Dangerous Life" - for which they arranged a two million dollar insurance cover against being forced out again.
• In the first drafts of the script, the characters Tony and Angie were simply boyfriend and girlfriend. In later versions it was thought that making them married would add more to their arguments and separation.
  

Nomination at the International Emmy?

This HBO mini-series was first shown in the United States. For this reason, it did not meet the criteria for the International Emmy Award which is given only to television programs initially aired outside the U.S. Secondly, the Best Actor and Best Actress categories were only added in 2005. To-date, there is no best supporting actress category for International Emmy awards.


Nomination at the U.S. Emmy?

I searched for any awards and nominations received by this miniseries but I found zilch, which is similar to what I found when I searched for Emmy nomination of Tessie Tomas and other performers.

So I used another route. I searched for the director's body of work. I found a couple of articles on Robert Markowitz which mentioned that under his direction, actors have received more than a dozen Emmy® nominations for their performances, with several winners among them but neither Tessie Tomas nor "A Dangerous Life" has been mentioned.

Many thanks to Kim@Twilight Angels forum/vkim3111@PEx for the tip on the links where we can check the previous Emmy winners and nominees. I checked the Daytime Emmys for 1989, 1988, and 1990. Also, I checked the Primetime Emmy database for a 3 year period for the following categories to cover all bases: outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or special, outstanding supporting actress in a drama series, outstanding lead actress movie in a miniseries or special, and outstanding lead actress in a drama series.

This article has been in my draft box for more than a week because I have been trying to validate the nomination of Tessie Tomas but to no avail. Kim, Angeladik (my regular chatmate in the shoutbox) and I have been trying to do cross-checking but we can't find any proof of the Emmy nomination of Tessie Tomas. I also sent a tweet to @darlasauler about this fact at the same time requesting SNN and broadsheets to do further research. She tweeted back her thanks but I am not sure if a research is being done because I saw an article of ABS-CBN today mentioning again that Angel is the 2nd Filipina to be nominated under the best actress category in the competition.

This article has not been written to discredit Tessie Tomas because I personally believe that she is a good actress. All we want is for reports in national TV and broadsheets to be factual. Angel should have the distinction of being the 1st Filipina to have been nominated in the International Emmy Best Actress category.


References: wikipedia, nytimes, imdb, iemmys.tv, allbusiness, zoominfo, soapoperadigest, tnt.tv, film.com, missosology, RedSeptember21@YouTube