Dovie Beams Villagran (born Dovie Leona Osborne,
[Hermie Rotea, ''Marcos' Lovey Dovie'', Liberty Pub. Co., 1983,]
5 August 1932 – 30 December 2017) was an American
actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
, best known for having an illicit sexual affair with former Filipino President
Ferdinand Marcos from 1968 to 1970.
Early life
Dovie Beams was the daughter of Theodore Halems Osborne (1909—1975) and Mildred Esther Jakes (1913—2002).
Beams had first married and later divorced Edward Walker Boehms (1925—2016). She was granted a
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
due to irreconcilable differences in 1962. They had one child together on 24 September 1955, a daughter named Dena Boehms Walters.
After the sexual affair and scandal that ensued in the Philippines, Beams started her own real estate agency in
Glendale, California, and married her second husband, Sergio Fausto Villagran (born 1936). They divorced in 1988.
Recorded sexual affair with Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
In 1970, a huge scandal hit the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
over the stormy break-up between then President
Ferdinand Marcos and his mistress of two years, Hollywood starlet Dovie Beams. On many occasions, she had hidden a
tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...
under a bed while having sex with the president.
[
The recording of their sexual encounter was publicly played at the radio station of the University of the Philippines and consisted of the following segments:
* Breathing and moaning sounds of Ferdinand Marcos
* Act of physically moving while in the bed as stated by Ferdinand Marcos
* Verbally declaring “I will kiss you” as Beams giggled in return
* A plea to Beams (interpreted to be allegedly for performing ]oral sex
Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex p ...
)
* Ferdinand Marcos singing the Ilocano folk song “Pamulinawen” to Beams as a gesture of serenade.
Beams had arrived in the Philippines in 1968 to shoot the film ''Maharlika
The ''Maharlika'' (meaning freeman or freedman) were the feudal warrior class in ancient Tagalog society in Luzon, the Philippines. They belonged to the lower nobility class similar to the ''Timawa'' of the Visayan people. In modern Filipino ...
'', a film partially funded by Marcos and meant to glorify his alleged war exploits, in which she played opposite Paul Burke as a native Filipina. Before leaving the country, Beams held a press conference, and delighted the press and public by playing recordings of her trysts with Marcos. According to her, she was forced to publicize her "love affair" as "protection" since there were many threats to her life.
American historian Sterling Seagrave
Sterling Seagrave (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2017) was an American historian. He was the author of numerous books which address unofficial and clandestine aspects of the 20th-century political history of countries in the Far East.
Personal life
Bo ...
opines the following regarding the tapes:
According to Herminio Rotea
Philippine author Hermie Rotea wrote in his book on the scandal that Beams, besides weakening Marcos' status, had had a positive influence of empowering modern women in Philippine society:
Criminal arrest
In November 1987, Beams and her husband Sergio Villagran were arrested in Los Angeles County for committing bank fraud related to her real estate agency for the purpose of maintaining their luxurious lifestyle in Pasadena, California.
On 18 December 1987, Beams was given an eight-year sentence in prison while Villagran received a five-year sentence. Attorney Mr. James Ian Stang at the Los Angeles Superior Court
The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States.
The ...
testified for the prosecution.
Later years and death
On 7 October 2013, Imelda Marcos
Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictato ...
declared on a public televised interview with TV presenter Solita Monsod
Solita “Winnie” Garduño Collás-Monsod, popularly known as Mareng Winnie (born July 29, 1940), is a Filipino broadcaster, host, economist, and columnist. She had been the 5th Director-General of the National Economic and Development Aut ...
that Beams was innocent of her sexual encounter with Ferdinand Marcos Sr. She also alleged that Beams was ultimately used by foreign American agents as an indirect spy to disrupt the health and stability of her husband. Imelda Marcos also stated that she "pitied" Beams for being caught in the public scandal that ensued prior to her leaving the Philippines.
Journalist George Sison narrated how Imelda Marcos confronted Ferdinand Marcos Sr. one night after getting a tape that included audio recordings of Beams and Ferdinand Marcos Sr. having sex:
On 30 December 2017, Beams died in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
due to lung cancer and comorbidity, associated with both alcohol and long—term tobacco use.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beams, Dovie
1932 births
2017 deaths
American film actresses
Ferdinand Marcos