Veteran actor Pepito Rodriguez passes away at 83
Veteran actor Jose Maria Rodriguez, better known as Pepito Rodriguez, has passed away. He was 83.
His nephew, Hope Marco Neri Yutuc, announced that he died early Thursday morning due to pneumonia.
"Our beloved tito, former actor of #SampaguitaPictures and matinee idol Pepito Rodriguez, passed [away] at 4:05 this morning due to pneumonia. He was confined yesterday in the hospital," he wrote on his Facebook post.
Yutuc went on to describe him as a "gentle man, soft spoken, humble, and one who's very compassionate to many."
“Lumaban pa siya. Sabi niya sa akin, uuwi na kami bukas sa Antipolo. Nagbibiruan pa nga kami na itakas siya sa admitting room,” Abad recalled his final moments," Jecca Jamadre Abad recalled his final moments, per ABS-CBN News report.
Abad, whom Rodriguez helped raise, shared how generous the actor was.
“Anak po kami ng driver ng mommy at daddy niya. Nang namatay ang parents niya, binilin kami—hanggang siya na ang kumupkop sa akin at nagpaaral. Siya po kasama namin sa bahay, kami po kasama niya araw-araw,” she told the outlet, adding that Rodriguez also treated her kids like his grandchildren.
Rodriguez was one of the stars of Sampaguita Pictures for over three decades, maintaining his leading-man status from the 1960s through the 1990s. He was a prominent figure among the Stars ’66, an elite circle of ten young talents launched by the studio.
He starred in several films, including Sa Bilis Walang Kaparis, Dance-O-Rama, Juanita Banana, and Mga Batang Bakasyonista, among others, and was also popularly paired with Rosemarie Sonora.
In 2024, Rodriguez was conferred the Iconic Movie Actor of Philippine Cinema award at the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards alongside Coco Martin, Robin Padilla, Bong Revilla, Lito Lapid, Roger Calvin, Eddie Gutierrez, and Dante Rivero.
Most recently, in a January 2026 interview with Aster Amoyo, Rodriguez was asked how he wanted to be remembered.
“I don’t know. As long as I do good, love everybody, don’t talk anything bad about others,” he said.
