Person Biography:
Lina Romay, born Rosa Maria Almirall on June 25, 1954, in Barcelona, Cataluna, Spain, is a stunningly comely and slinky brunette who has made a name for herself as one of the boldest, most sensuous, and enticing actresses in European horror and exploitation features.
Romay's cinematic pseudonym was taken from Lina Romay, a singer/actress who was part of Xavier Cugat's band in the 1940s. After graduating from high school, she studied the arts, married actor/photographer Raymond Hardy, and began acting in stage productions. It was in the early 1970s that she met Jesús Franco, a famous Spanish independent filmmaker, and eventually became his common-law wife and later his wife in 2008.
Romay made her film debut in The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1973) and went on to act in over 100 Franco films, showcasing her natural talent and ability to project a brazen, earthy, and uninhibited screen presence. Her most memorable roles include the Countess Irina Karlstein in Female Vampire (1973),Maria in Barbed Wire Dolls (1976),Juana in Ilsa, the Wicked Warden (1977),and Marika in Jack the Ripper (1976).
In addition to acting, Romay also worked as a writer, director, producer, and assistant editor on a handful of films. Despite her wild and outrageous screen persona, Romay was a quiet, soft-spoken, and self-effacing woman in real life, often dressing in frumpy clothes. She died from cancer at the age of 57 on February 15, 2012, in Malaga, Spain.
