Biography
Rod Lauren, recognized as both a vocalist and performer on screen, endures in public memory chiefly through his 1960 pop success titled "If I Had a Girl." Entering the world as Roger Lawrence Strunk in Fresno, California, on March 20, 1940, he spent his upbringing in the nearby community of Tracy, where he played trombone as part of the local high school marching ensemble. Upon completing his studies, Strunk launched a nightclub singing career across the Fresno region, supported by a group known as the Buddies. His conventional crooner style stood at odds with the dominant rock & roll trends of the era, prompting a 1959 contract with the RCA label under the adopted name Rod Lauren. The debut ballad "If I Had a Girl" delivered his sole Top 40 placement, whereas follow-up singles such as "A Wild Imagination" and "Listen My Love" drew minimal response, and later Chancellor outings including "A Searcher for Love" and "I Ain't Got You" drew still less notice. Lauren nonetheless sustained headlining engagements at venues throughout southern California and Las Vegas while venturing into acting, appearing in a 1962 episode of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The next year he took the lead in the B-movie The Crawling Hand. Traveling to the Philippines in 1964 to film the wartime feature Once Before I Die, he encountered the emerging Filipina actress Nida Blanca; after more than ten years of alternating between Manila and Los Angeles, the pair married in 1979.
Once his recording and screen careers had long faded, Lauren established permanent residence in Manila, where his visibility persisted through Blanca's ascent as one of the nation's most cherished performers via her starring role in the enduring sitcom John en Marsha. On November 7, 2001, however, Blanca was discovered stabbed to death. A hired assassin identified as Philip Medel admitted to the killing yet asserted that Lauren had arranged the murder of his wife. The case commanded extensive coverage across Filipino outlets, and although Lauren underwent questioning, authorities never brought formal charges against him. In January 2002 he received permission to travel back to his Tracy birthplace to care for his ailing mother; after she passed and he declined to return to Manila, murder charges were lodged. While employed at a local Sears store, Lauren faced arrest and detention pending an extradition proceeding; in November 2003 a U.S. Magistrate rejected the extradition request and ordered his freedom because Filipino officials had not furnished adequate proof of culpability. "The only thing the Philippine government had implicating me was the written confession of this person, Philip Medel, who I had never met," Lauren said later at a press conference. "He recanted it, dramatically, in open court five days later." He subsequently operated a camera for Tracy's public-access television outlet. On July 12, 2007, at the age of 67, he ended his life by leaping from the second-floor balcony of a local hotel.
Once his recording and screen careers had long faded, Lauren established permanent residence in Manila, where his visibility persisted through Blanca's ascent as one of the nation's most cherished performers via her starring role in the enduring sitcom John en Marsha. On November 7, 2001, however, Blanca was discovered stabbed to death. A hired assassin identified as Philip Medel admitted to the killing yet asserted that Lauren had arranged the murder of his wife. The case commanded extensive coverage across Filipino outlets, and although Lauren underwent questioning, authorities never brought formal charges against him. In January 2002 he received permission to travel back to his Tracy birthplace to care for his ailing mother; after she passed and he declined to return to Manila, murder charges were lodged. While employed at a local Sears store, Lauren faced arrest and detention pending an extradition proceeding; in November 2003 a U.S. Magistrate rejected the extradition request and ordered his freedom because Filipino officials had not furnished adequate proof of culpability. "The only thing the Philippine government had implicating me was the written confession of this person, Philip Medel, who I had never met," Lauren said later at a press conference. "He recanted it, dramatically, in open court five days later." He subsequently operated a camera for Tracy's public-access television outlet. On July 12, 2007, at the age of 67, he ended his life by leaping from the second-floor balcony of a local hotel.