Penella, Emma

(1930-2007)

   In a period dominated by brittle beauties and meek personalities, Emma Penella clearly stands out as one of the greatest female screen presences of her generation. Although her film debut was dubbing Amparo Rivelles in La duquesa de Benamejí (The Duchess of Benamejí, Luis Lucia, 1949), directors and producers objected to her raspy voice, whose carnality and earthy voice clashed with their notion of feminine virtue. She appeared in Los ojos dejan huellas (The Eyes Leave a Trace, José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, 1952), Los peces rojos (The Red Fish, José Antonio Nieves Conde, 1955), and Carne de horca (Condemned to Hanging, Ladislao Vajda, 1953) before acting for the first time with her own voice in Juan Antonio Bardem's Cómicos (Actors, 1954). From then on, a number of solid performances followed through the decade, including her two protagonists for women-specialist Manuel Mur Oti in Fedra (1956) and in El batallón de las sombras (Battalion of Shadows, 1957). Penella's role in Luis G. Berlanga's El verdugo (The Executioner, 1963) remains one of her best-remembered appearances: in her part as daughter and wife to an executioner she projected a disarming fleshly candor. She was also good in Lola espejo oscuro (Lola Dark Mirror, Fernando Merino and José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, 1966) and in La busca (The Quest, Angelino Fons, 1967). In the early 1970s, she starred in two quality adaptations of 19th-century novels, Fortunata y Jacinta (Fortunata and Jacinta, Angelino Fons, 1970) and La Regenta (The Regent's Wife, Gonzalo Suárez, 1974). In the latter, she was a very credible Ana Ozores, one of the greatest and most complex characters of 19th-century Spanish fiction. After the Transition, she had iconic supporting roles in Padre nuestro (Our Father, Francisco Regueiro, 1985), El amor brujo (Love the Magician, Carlos Saura, 1986), and La estanquera de Vallecas (The Vallecas Tobacconist, Eloy de la Iglesia, 1987).