Jesus Songco Lapid was a stuntman of Premiere, often doubling for more established stars. His stunts included riding horses, falling from cliffs, and getting shot at by villains. He doubled for action movie star
Fernando Poe Jr., which eventually led to a close friendship. In May 1960, during a visit to
Cebu City, Lapid managed to shield fellow actor
Zaldy Zshornack from knife-wielding assailants, receiving three stab wounds in his right arm while Zshornack fired two warning shots to scare away the assailants. When Poe ventured into film productions, he made Jess one of the regulars in his films, giving him roles that required real acting, rather than choreographed stunt actions. Jess rose to the occasion and proved to be a convincing character actor. Poe tried him out in
Pasong Diablo, in 1961. It was in the FPJ Productions,
Sierra Madre (1963) that Poe decided to give Jess the full star treatment—from a more prominent billing to major publicity exposures. But it was Jess himself who pulled it off, by turning in a sensational performance that erased all doubts about his just being a “mere stuntman”. It was Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions picked him up and eventually made him into a superstar in the movie “Kardong Kidlat” (1964) which became such a smashing success at the box office tills. He co-starred with
Vic Vargas in “7 Kilabot ng Barilan”. In 1966, he got to team up with
Gloria Romero in the film
Batang Muntinglupa, which would be the only movie they did together. The film also starred a young
Jay Ilagan. In 1968, Jess appeared alongside Poe Jr. and Estrada in “3 Hari”, an FPJ productions offering. As he was raking it in, he invested in his own film outfit, Jela Productions, and began producing his own movies. ==Personal life==