Lina Romay

Rosa María Almirall Martínez (25 June 1954 – 15 February 2012), known by the stage name Lina Romay, was a Spanish actress and filmmaker. She often appeared in films directed by her long-time companion, and later husband, Jesús Franco. She appeared in approximately 109 Franco films made over a 30-year period, from 1973 to 2010. She sometimes used the pseudonyms Candy Coster and Lulu Laverne. Although Romay was listed in the credits of several of Franco's films as a co-director, actor Antonio Mayans stated in a recent interview that Franco used to credit her in that manner for business reasons, and that she never actually co-directed any of the films. However, she contributed occasional plot ideas and assisted in the editing room.

Early life
Romay was born Rosa María Almirall Martínez in Barcelona in 1954. After graduating high school, she studied the arts, married actor/photographer Ramon Ardid (aka Raymond Hardy), and began acting in stage productions.

Career
She began appearing in Jesús Franco's films when they met in 1972, adopting the stage name Lina Romay after an actress and jazz artist from the 1940s (who only died in 2010).

Her husband Ramon Ardid was working for Franco as a still photographer at the time, and she met Franco through him. She acted in over a hundred feature films, most directed by Franco. The majority of their films together were in the erotic film genre (including many X titles featuring unsimulated sex scenes), but she also appeared in many of his horror, comedy, and action/adventure films as well. Among the better known of her horror films are The Bare Breasted Countess (1973), Barbed Wire Dolls (1975) and Jack the Ripper (1976). Ardid co-starred with her in several of Franco's films until he realized she was having an affair with Franco in 1975. Romay and Ardid finalized their divorce in 1978, and Ardid stopped working with Franco after 1980.

Personal life and death
Lina Romay and Jesús Franco lived as a couple for almost four decades but only officially married on 25 April 2008. She died from cancer at the age of 57 on 15 February 2012 in Málaga, Spain. Franco died soon after in 2013.

Selected filmography

 * The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1972), a.k.a. The Curse of Frankenstein; Lina's scenes as a gypsy girl only appear in the 1973 re-edited Spanish language version
 * The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff (1972) brief cameo role as a neighbor
 * Pleasure for Three (1973) a.k.a. How to Seduce a Virgin
 * The Perverse Countess (1973)
 * Maciste vs the Amazon Queen (1973) a.k.a. Lustful Amazons
 * The Erotic Exploits of Maciste in Atlantis (1973)
 * Female Vampire (1973) a.k.a. The Bare-Breasted Countess/ Erotikill (released in 1975)
 * Night of the Killers (1973) a.k.a. Night of the Skull
 * Linda's Hot Nights (1973) a.k.a. Who Raped Linda?
 * Tender and Perverse Emanuelle (1973)
 * Kiss Me Killer (1973) a.k.a. Sexy Blues
 * Exorcism and Black Masses (1974) a.k.a. Exorcisme
 * Celestine, Maid at your Service (1974)
 * Lorna the Exorcist (1974)
 * Les Chatouilleuses (1974) a.k.a. Nuns in Madness
 * Roland, the Sexiest Man in the World (1974)
 * Les Emmerdeuses/ The Troublemakers (1974)
 * The Obscene Mirror (1975) Lina only appeared in the 1975 re-edited hardcore Italian version of Jess Franco's 1973 film The Other Side of the Mirror
 * Julietta 69 (1975), a.k.a. Justine; Lina only appeared in the 1975 re-edited hardcore Italian version co-edited by Joe D'Amato
 * Midnight Party (1975) a.k.a. Lady Porno
 * Rolls Royce Baby (1975) (not directed by Franco)
 * Barbed Wire Dolls (1975) a.k.a. Frauengefängnis
 * Women Behind Bars (1975) a.k.a. Diamants Pour L'Enfer
 * Downtown: The Naked Dolls of the Underworld (1975)
 * Die Sklavinnen/ The Slaves (1975)
 * Doriana Gray (1975) a.k.a. Die Marquise de Sade
 * Jack the Ripper (1976) a.k.a. Erotico Profondo
 * Ilsa, the Wicked Warden (1976) a.k.a. Greta, the Mad Butcher/ Ilsa, the Wicked Warden
 * Wicked Women (1977) a.k.a. Women Without Innocence
 * Cocktail Special (1978)
 * Elles Font Tout/ They Do It All (1978)
 * Two Flowered Spies with Flowered Panties (1978) a.k.a. Opal of Fire: The Sex Merchants
 * The Girls of Copacabana (1979)
 * Erotic Symphony (1979)
 * The Sadist of Notre Dame (1979) a.k.a. Demoniac (censored version)
 * What a Honeymoon (1979) a.k.a. The Gold Bug
 * Mondo Cannibale (1980) a.k.a. White Cannibal Queen/ The Cannibals
 * Sex Is Crazy (1980)
 * Sexual Aberrations of a Married Woman (1980) a.k.a.Cecilia
 * Eugenie: The Story of a Perversion (1980)
 * The Girl in the Transparent Panties (1980) a.k.a. Pick-up Girls
 * The Night of the Open Sexes (1981)
 * Macumba Sexual (1981)
 * Oasis of the Zombies (1981) Lina only appears in the variant Spanish-language version Tomb of the Living Dead
 * Intimate Confessions of an Exhibitionist (1982)
 * Black Boots, Leather Whip (1982)
 * House of the Lost Women (1982)
 * The Hotel of Love Affairs (1982)
 * Mansion of the Living Dead (1982)
 * The Shadow of Judoka vs. Dr. Wong (1982)
 * Gemidos de Placer/ Moans of Pleasure (1982)
 * The Blues of Pop Street (1983)
 * Fury in the Tropics (1983)
 * Revenge in the House of Usher (1983)
 * The Treasure of the White Goddess (1983) a.k.a. Diamonds of Kilamandjaro
 * Lillian the Perverted Virgin (1983)
 * The Night Has a Thousand Sexes (1983)
 * The Sexual Story of O (1983)
 * Scarlet (1983)
 * Camino Solitario/ Lonely Road (1983)
 * Alone Against Terror (1983) a.k.a. The Monsters of Fiske Manor
 * Blood on my Shoes (1983)
 * How Much Does a Spy Cost? (1983)
 * Una Rajita Para Dos (1983) x-rated
 * Bahia Blanca/ White Bay (1984)
 * Last of the Filipinas (1985)
 * Bangkok, Appointment with Death (1985)
 * Travel to Bangkok, Coffin Included (1985)
 * White Slave (1985) unreleased
 * Lulu's Buttonhole (1985) x-rated
 * Lulu's Pacifier (1985) x-rated
 * Un Pito Para Tres (1985) x-rated
 * Entre Pitos Anda el Juego (1985) x-rated
 * The Watcher and the Exhibitionist (1986) x-rated
 * Las Chuponas (1986) x-rated
 * Para Las Nenas Leche Calentita (1986) x-rated
 * Slaves of Crime (1986)
 * Teleporno (1986) unfinished x-rated project
 * Bragueta Story/ Zipper Story (1986) unreleased
 * Phollastia (1987) x-rated
 * Falo Crest (1987) x-rated
 * Faceless (1988) a.k.a. Predators of the Night
 * Emerald Bay/ Esmeralda Bay (1987)
 * Downtown Heat (1990)
 * Killer Barbys (1996)
 * Tender Flesh (1997)
 * Lust for Frankenstein (1998)
 * Mari-Cookie and the Killer Tarantula (1998)
 * Dr. Wong's Virtual Hell (1999)
 * Broken Dolls (1999)
 * Red Silk (1999)
 * Blind Target (2000)
 * Helter Skelter (2001)
 * Vampire Blues (2001)
 * Vampire Junction (2001)
 * Incubus (2002)
 * Antenna Criminal (2002) documentary about the making of Franco's Blind Target
 * Killer Barbys vs. Dracula (2002)
 * Rossa Venezia/ Red Venice (2003) German production shot in Italy, not directed by Franco
 * Kárate a muerte en Torremolinos (2003) not directed by Franco
 * Flowers of Passion (2003)
 * Flowers of Perversion (2003)
 * See you later Cowabunga: La maldición del cenachero diabólico! (2004) not directed by Franco
 * Snakewoman (2005)
 * Paula-Paula (2010)