An exhibition of her portraits is at Anemoi Art Gallery, London, from 14 September. Through Her Lens, by Eva Sereny, is published by ACC Art Books. Then, in my mid-40s, I had a meeting with someone from a top Hollywood agency who said: “Yours is an interesting story, but there is a problem: you’re a woman and you’re not 20 years old.” When I started directing commercials, I’d be passed over for young men straight out of university. But when my short film The Dress won a Bafta in 1985, a journalist asked me about it. At the time, I didn’t really think about being a woman photographer. View Romy Schneider, Rome (1971) By Sereny Eva Vintage silver print 24 x 35,5 cm Signed Edition. I started working on films and went on to do countless magazine covers. When I went back to Italy everyone was thrilled. Three days later, they published a full page of my photographs entitled: “Preparing for the 1980 Olympics.” When a journalist asked me about being a woman photographer, I got quite annoyed Who do I go to?” Fortunately, nothing was happening that day. I got on a plane to London and, without an appointment, walked into the foyer of the Times and said: “I’ve got some photos. The outbreak of WWII found her father on business in England, where he remained, stranded, to be joined by his wife and daughter. Her father, Richard, was a chemist, and her mother, Eva, was an actress. When people saw my pictures, they’d say: “They’re great.” But I didn’t believe them – it was too easy to say. At different times in her life, she lived in London (where she died), Rome, and Sydney. A friend of mine was head of the Italian Olympic committee and he asked me to document sports centres he was setting up across the country. My husband created a dark room for me in the basement and I started fiddling about with his old Rolleiflex. I remember sitting beside him in the hospital thinking: “My God, but for a few seconds, I would be a widow. My children were five and seven when my husband had a car accident. In the late 1960s, I was living in Rome with my family. I’d hide behind people and avoid wearing bright colours, so as to pass unnoticed. ‘I was more interested in Alain Delon’ … Burton as the Russian revolutionary in the film.

Romy in Rom by Eva Sereny