Lina Romay RIP
by Keri O’Shea
When a burgeoning DVD market began to become accessible to me, a little more than a decade ago, I was delighted to be able to investigate the glorious technicolour worlds of Eurohorror and Eurosleaze – entire new genres, which I had only encountered previously as lurid, nudity-laden stills in books and cult film magazines. Given the chance to correct my lack of knowledge, I threw myself straight into the cinema of directors like Jean Rollin, Leon Klimovsky – and of course, as my last feature for this site will testify, the lunatic, wonderful, incomprehensible, excessive and distinct films of Jess Franco.
As I got to know this director’s work before I knew very much about his personal circumstances, I was struck by the appearance, and reappearance, and reappearance, of a beautiful though sullen, fierce-eyed young woman. Who was she? Although she appeared under a few different names, and despite the fact that she never worked under her birth name, this young woman was best known to us as Lina Romay – itself the name of an actress whose career had preceded hers. One thing is beyond any doubt, though: she was Jess Franco’s muse. Her presence in his movies as an actress and in his life as his partner shaped everything he has done up to this point. And, let’s face it – he’s been the ultimate dabbler, trying out various genres broadly within the horror and exploitation categories during his career.
But, whether he’s got it right or got it wrong in his career, you could always rely on Lina to be the ultimate pro – whatever he’s thrown at her down through the years, she’s never turned in anything other than a good performance. If you think I’m exaggerating, by all means, pick up any one of the one-hundred plus titles she has appeared in. She never disappoints. In an odd way, the sort of gravitas she lent to her roles, be they good or bad, has become a key part of Franco cinema. Had she played it for laughs, the whole thing would have broken apart. Lina Romay deserves her place as one of the most iconic female stars of cult film.
Sadly, Lina lost her battle with cancer last week – leaving her long-term partner Jess Franco behind. When I heard the news, I thought immediately of a clip I saw recently, of Jess receiving a Lifetime Achievement award (or a ‘Goya’) for his contributions to film. He’s an older man now, and he’s been in poor health for many years, but you don’t need to be a Spanish speaker to see how pleased he is to receive a plaudit. Watch the clip, please. Look who’s with him, still, after over thirty years together, and look how strongly she features in the brilliant montage of his work.
My heart goes out to him. And – Lina, I know you can’t hear any of this, but thank you, it’s been a pleasure, and perhaps most importantly, it’s been fun.
3 comments
There’s nothing greater in this world than the love of good woman. Godspeed, Lina.
I found that Goya awards clip incredibly touching. There are more clips of them both, as an older couple, on Youtube, and it is wonderful to see the affection between them.
I saw ‘Jess and Lina on Lina and Jess’ (If I’ve got that the right way round), which I believe is an extra on the release of Macumba Sexual – as you say, incredibly touching.