Emilio "El Indio" Fernández Romo (Spanish: [eˈmiljo feɾˈnandes ˈromo]; 26 March 1904 – 6 August 1986) was a Mexican film director, actor and screenwriter.

Born in Sabinas, Coahuila, on 26 March 1904, Emilio Fernández Romo was the son of a revolutionary general, while his mother was a descendant of Kickapoo natives.

When he was a teenager, a fatal event[clarification needed] forced him to flee his home and enlist in the ranks of the Mexican Revolution.

In 1923, he took part in the uprising of Adolfo de la Huerta against the government of Álvaro Obregón, but this insurrection failed and he was sent to prison.

There he earned his living as a laundry employee, bartender, longshoreman, press assistant and finally as a stonemason for Hollywood studio construction, a circumstance that favored his foray into film as an extra and as a double for stars like Douglas Fairbanks.

[2] In 1930, he had an experience that significantly marked his career as a creator: his stay in the United States coincided with the arrival in the country of Sergei Eisenstein (Soviet film director).

He returned to Mexico in 1933, thanks to an amnesty granted by the government, with the decision to continue his film career, but during the first year he made a living as a boxer, a diver in Acapulco, a baker and an aviator.

In 1945, based on the history of American writer John Steinbeck (who adapted the screenplay in collaboration with him), Fernández filmed La Perla (a.k.a.

He directed three films with María Félix: Enamorada (1946), Río Escondido (1948, winner of Best Cinematography in the Karlovy Vary in Czechoslovakia) and Maclovia (1948).

Fernández worked as co-producer on The Fugitive (1947), a Hollywood film made in Mexico by director John Ford, which also featured del Río and Armendáriz and was shot by Figueroa.

He followed these in 1950 with urban films, Víctimas del Pecado, starring Ninón Sevilla, and Cuando levanta la niebla, with Columba Dominguez and Arturo de Córdova.

[3] He also acted in three films directed by Sam Peckinpah: The Wild Bunch (1969), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974).

With photographer Gabriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno, and actors Pedro Armendáriz, Dolores del Río, María Félix and Columba Dominguez, Romo conducted various productions that promoted both national customs and the values associated with the Mexican Revolution.

Their relationship was affected by Emilio's passion for Hollywood diva Dolores del Río and Gladys ended up leaving him.

Adela had been named sole heir of her father and took possession of his house, a fortress in the neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City, which Columba claimed as her own.