Sunday 4 March 2012

Lina Romay - 1954 - 2012



Lina Romay, who has died aged 57, was so much a part of the “world” of Jess Franco that it’s impossible to think of one without the other.
Although she was capable of portraying scarily deranged characters on film, in person she was the opposite – quiet, self effacing and apparently unremarkable. It was on screen that she really let it all hang out; literally in many cases. She and Jess, whom she met in the very early 1970s, went on a wild journey together, perhaps the wildest that any director/actor combo have ever travelled. Her willingness to do more or less anything in front of the camera gave Jess freedom to concoct the most outrageous scenarios, knowing that not only would she be willing to act them out, but would do so with a skill and commitment that could set the screen on fire.

Pointless to list her top performances – they all have a spark of magic. But the range of emotions she portrays in Lorna the Exorcist must surely rank as one of her very best.

I think we can safely say that there’ll never be another like her.

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