Romy Schneider

Romy Schneider a.k.a. Romy Schneider-Albach (September 23, 1938 - May 29, 1982) was an Austrian actress. She was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach-Retty in Vienna into a family of actors that included her paternal grandmother Rosa Albach-Retty, her father Wolf Albach-Retty and her mother Magda Schneider. After Magda's divorce in 1945, she took care of Romy and eventually also supervised the young girl's career, often appearing alongside her daughter, who had made her film debut already in 1953, aged 15. Young Romy's career was also overseen by her stepfather, Hans-Herbert Blatzheim, a noted restaurateur who Schneider indicated had an unhealthy interest in her.

Related Topics:
September 23 - 1938 - May 29 - 1982 - Austrian - Actress - Vienna - Rosa Albach-Retty - Wolf Albach-Retty - Magda Schneider - 1945 - 1953

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In the film Mädchenjahre einer Königin (Girlhood of a Queen, Ernst Marischka, 1954) Romy Schneider for the first time portrayed a royal. Interestingly, this Austrian movie is about the early years of Queen Victoria, in particular her first encounter with Prince Albert. Schneider's breakthrough, however, came with her portrayal of Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria -- later to become Empress Elisabeth of Austria -- in the romantic biopic Sissi (1955) and its two sequels (1956 and 1957).

Related Topics:
Ernst Marischka - 1954 - Queen Victoria - Prince Albert - Bavaria - Elisabeth of Austria - Sissi - 1955 - Sequel - 1956 - 1957

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Fed up with the saccharine image these movies had bestowed upon her, Schneider leapt at the chance to star in the much more sombre Christine (1958), a remake of Max Ophüls's 1933 film Liebelei (itself based upon a play by Arthur Schnitzler). It was during the filming of Christine that Schneider fell in love with French actor Alain Delon, who co-starred in the movie. Schneider became engaged to Delon in 1959, and the couple moved to Paris.

Related Topics:
1958 - Remake - Max Ophüls - 1933 - Arthur Schnitzler - Actor - Alain Delon - 1959

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This meant the beginning of Schneider's international film career, which also brought her to Hollywood (Good Neighbor Sam, a 1964 comedy with Jack Lemmon, and the 1965 movie What's New, Pussycat? with Woody Allen). Mainly, however, Schneider stayed in France, working with film directors such as Orson Welles (Le Procès of 1963, based upon Franz Kafka's The Trial) and Luchino Visconti (Ludwig, a 1972 film about the life of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, in which she played a much more mature Elisabeth of Austria). "Sissi sticks to me just like oatmeal," Schneider once said.

Related Topics:
Hollywood - Good Neighbor Sam - 1964 - Comedy - Jack Lemmon - 1965 - What's New, Pussycat? - Woody Allen - Film directors - Orson Welles - 1963 - Franz Kafka - The Trial - Luchino Visconti - 1972 - Ludwig II of Bavaria

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Romy Schneider's private life was rather turbulent. Dumped by Delon in 1963, she married (1966) and divorced (1975) Harry Meyen (1924 - 1979), a German actor who committed suicide. The couple had a son, David-Christopher (1966 ? 1981). In 1975 Schneider married Daniel Biasini, her private secretary; they separated in 1981. Her daughter by her second marriage, Sarah Magdalena Biasini (b. July 14, 1977), an actress, startlingly resembles her mother and has been a target of German tabloids for quite some time.

Related Topics:
1963 - 1966 - 1975 - Harry Meyen - 1924 - 1979 - Suicide - 1981 - Daniel Biasini - Sarah Magdalena Biasini - July 14 - 1977 - Tabloid

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Even after the breakup of her relationship with Alain Delon, Schneider continued starring in films with Delon (La Piscine -- The Swimming Pool -- of 1969). Of her other films, the macabre Le Trio infernal (1974) with Michel Piccoli is worth mentioning. In 1980 she starred in Bertrand Tavernier's prophetic La mort en direct (Deathwatch), based on D. G. Compton's novel, playing a dying woman whose last days are watched on national television via a camera implanted in the brain of a journalist (Harvey Keitel). Her last film was La Passante du Sans-Souci (The Passerby, 1982).

Related Topics:
1969 - 1974 - Michel Piccoli - 1980 - Bertrand Tavernier - La mort en direct - D. G. Compton - Harvey Keitel - Sans-Souci - 1982

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A heavy smoker all her life, Schneider also took to drinking in her later years, especially after the sudden death, on July 5, 1981, of her 15-year-old son, who was found impaled on a fence at his stepfather's parents' house, which he was apparently attempting to climb. When Romy Schneider was found dead in her apartment in Paris, France in 1982, aged only 43, rumour had it that she had committed suicide by taking a lethal cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills. However, no post-mortem examination was carried out and she was officially declared to have died of cardiac arrest.

Related Topics:
Smoker - July 5 - 1981 - Paris - France - 1982 - Post-mortem - Cardiac arrest

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