SUCCESS in Hollywood is dependent on many factors: To begin with, you?ve got to have talent, the ?it? appeal and a lot of luck. As Evelyn Mandac, the only Filipina ever to sing at the Met, declared: ?Sometimes, you have to be at the right place and time.? She could very well have added, ?and meet the right people.?

The ?right people,? of course, can be the producer, or an aggressive agent with the right connections. You?ll also need the right role and the proper vehicle?and a supportive partner: For instance, without Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton may well have stayed a relative unknown, like Edmund Purdom. He was without a doubt a fine actor, but it was Burton?s scandalous relationship with the beautiful actress that really brought him fame.

We remember many fine actors who came and left. Charlton Heston won an Academy Award for his performance in ?Ben Hur.? However, the epic film was boosted by the presence of Stephen Boyd, who was so strong an antagonist as Heston was as the movie?s hero. After the immense success of ?Ben Hur,? Boyd appeared in a series of films where he made his commanding presence felt. But, where did Boyd go in the ?70s?

Purdom had the looks of a matinee idol. But, after making quite an impression in ?The Student Prince,? where he lip-synched for the great Mario Lanza, he was seduced by Linda Christian, the ex-wife of Tyrone Power, and disappeared.

Years earlier, there was a handsome young actor named Tom Drake. He was so appealing that he appeared opposite Deanna Durbin. For reasons unknown, he likewise fell from ?grace? and ended up taking on a supporting role in a Dovie Beams film shot in the Philippines.

Romance

Then, there was the tall, dark and very handsome Farley Granger. He was a kilabot of the colegialas of my time, and appeared in such hits as ?The Rope? and ?Our Very Own,? where he portrayed a nice guy whose romance with Ann Blyth was complicated by Joan Evans as Blyth?s vixen-like sister. Farley had everything going for him, but the public soon got tired of him.

In the early ?70s, John Phillip Law won a horde of admirers after his appearance in ?The Russians Are Coming.? Then, he starred opposite Jane Fonda in ?Barbarella.? He was blonde, appealingly lanky, sensitive-looking and very handsome in the Brad Pitt-Robert Redford mold. But, like Granger and Boyd, he was here today, gone tomorrow!