Romy Schneider

Romy Schneider (23 September 1938 29 May 1982)was an Austrian-born lm actress who held German andFrench citizenship. She started her career in the GermanHeimatlm genre in the early 1950s when she was 15.From 1955 to 1957 she played the central character ofEmpress Elisabeth of Austria in the Austrian Sissi trilogy.In 1958 she met Alain Delon and they became engaged;Schneider moved to France where she made successfuland critically acclaimed lms with some of the most no-table lm directors of that era. Her engagement to De-lon ended in 1963 and Schneider subsequently marriedtwice. The son from her rst marriage died in an acci-dent in 1981 when he was 14. In May 1982, aged 43,Schneider was found dead of cardiac arrest in her Parisapartment.

1 Early lifeSchneider was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach inNazi-era Vienna, six months after the Anschluss, into afamily of actors that included her paternal grandmotherRosa Albach-Retty, her Austrian father Wolf Albach-Retty and her German mother Magda Schneider. Afterher parents divorce in 1945, Magda took charge of Romyand her brother Wol, eventually supervising the younggirls career, often appearing alongside her daughter. Hercareer was also overseen by her stepfather, Hans HerbertBlatzheim, a noted restaurateur who Schneider indicatedhad an unhealthy interest in her.[1][2][3][4][5]

2 Early careerRomy Schneiders rst lm, made when she was 15,was Wenn der weie Flieder wieder blht (When theWhite Lilacs Bloom Again) in 1953, credited as RomySchneider-Albach. In 1954, Schneider for the rst timeportrayed a royal, playing a young Queen Victoria in theAustrian lm Mdchenjahre einer Knigin (known in theU.S. as The Story of Vickie and in Britain as Victoria inDover). Schneiders breakthrough came with her por-trayal of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, in the romanticbiopic Sissi (1955) and its two sequels, Sissi The YoungEmpress (1956) and Sissi Fateful Years of an Empress(1957), all with Karlheinz Bhm, who became a closefriend. Less stereotypical lms during this busy periodinclude Robinson soll nicht sterben (The Legend of Robin-son Crusoe, 1957), working with a young Horst Buchholz,

and Monpti (1957), directed by Helmut Kutner, againwith Buchholz.Schneider soon starred in Christine (1958), a remake ofMax Ophls's 1933 lm Liebelei (itself based upon aplay by Arthur Schnitzler and starring her mother MagdaSchneider). It was during the lming of Christine thatSchneider fell in love with French actor Alain Delon, whoco-starred in the movie. She left Germany to join him inParis and they announced their engagement in 1959.Schneider decided to live and to work in France, slowlygaining the interest of lm directors such as OrsonWellesfor The Trial (1962), based upon Franz Kafka's The Trialand was introduced by Delon to Luchino Visconti.Under Viscontis direction, she gave performances in theThtre Moderne as Annabella (and Delon as Giovanni)in John Ford's stage play 'Tis Pity Shes a Whore (1961)and in the lm Boccaccio '70 (segment: The Job). In1962 Schneider played Anna in Sacha Pito's produc-tion of Chekhov's play The Seagull, also at the ThtreModerne. A brief stint in Hollywood included a star-ring role in Good Neighbor Sam (1964) a comedy withJack Lemmon, while Whats New Pussycat? (1965), al-though American nanced, was shot in and around Paris.Schneider co-starred with Peter O'Toole, Peter SellersandWoodyAllen; the lmwasmade from his rst screen-play.Schneider and Delon decided to split up in 1963 althoughthey remained close lifelong friends. They continued towork together in such lms as La Piscine (The SwimmingPool, 1968), which revitalized her career, and The Assas-sination of Trotsky (1972).

3 Later careerSchneider continued to work in France during the 1970s,most notably with director Claude Sautet on ve lms.Their rst collaboration, The Things of Life (Les chosesde la vie, 1970) with Michel Piccoli, was a great successand made Schneider an icon in France. The three col-leagues teamed up again for the noir thriller Max et lesFerrailleurs (Max and the Junkmen, 1971), and she ap-peared with Yves Montand in Sautets Csar et Rosalie(1972). Schneider portrayed Elisabeth of Austria againin Ludwig (1972), Viscontis lm about the life of KingLudwig II of Bavaria. This time she played the Empressas a much more complex, mature, even bitter woman.Sissi sticks to me just like oatmeal, Schneider once

1

2 5 DEATH

Schneider during the lming of Max et les Ferrailleurs

said.[6]

Other successes from this period included Le Train(1973), where she played a German-Jewish refugee inWorld War 2, Claude Chabrol's thriller Innocents withDirty Hands (Les innocents aux mains sales, 1975) withRod Steiger, and Le vieux fusil (1975). The gritty ThatMost Important Thing: Love (L'important c'est d'aimer,1974) garnered her rst Csar Award (Frances equiva-lent of the Oscar), a feat she repeated ve years later, inher last collaboration with Sautet, forA Simple Story (Unehistoire simple, 1978).On 30 October 1974, Schneider created one of the mostmemorable moments on German television. She wasthe second guest on Dietmar Schnherr's talk show Jespter der Abend (The Later the Evening) when she, af-ter a rather terse interview, remarked passionately to thelast guest, bank robber and author Burkhard Driest: Siegefallen mir. Sie gefallen mir sehr. (I like you. I like youa lot.)[7][8][9]

She also acted in Le Trio infernal (1974) with MichelPiccoli, and in Garde vue (1981) with Michel Serraultand Lino Ventura. An unpleasant incident occurred dur-ing this period with leading German lm director RainerWerner Fassbinder who wanted her to play the lead inhis lm The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979). Nego-tiations broke down when he called Schneider a dumbcow,[10] to which she responded by declaring she wouldnever work with such a beast. Fassbinder cast HannaSchygulla instead, reviving his professional associationwith an actress to whom he had also been oensive.Schneider starred in Bertrand Tavernier's Death Watch(La mort en direct, 1980) playing a dying woman whoselast days are watched on national television via a cameraimplanted in the brain of a journalist (Harvey Keitel). Itis based on David G. Compton's novel, Her last lm wasLa Passante du Sans-Souci (The Passerby, 1982).

4 Personal lifeFollowing the end of her relationship with Delon, Schnei-der married German director and actor Harry Meyen inJuly 1966. The couple had a son, David Christopher(19661981), but later divorced.In 1975, Schneider married Daniel Biasini, her privatesecretary; they separated in 1981. Their daughter, SarahMagdalena, is now an actress.David, Schneiders son, died at the age of 14 after at-tempting to climb the spiked fence at his stepfathers par-ents home, but punctured his femoral artery in the pro-cess. Schneider began drinking alcohol excessively afterthe death of David.However, Claude PtinSchneiders friendsaid thatSchneider no longer drank at the time of her death. Ptinalso said that Schneiders cardiac arrest was due to aweakened heart caused by a kidney operation she hadmonths before.[11]

At the time of her death, Schneider was in a relationshipwith lm producer Laurent Ptin.

5 Death

Grave of Romy Schneider and her son in Boissy-sans-Avoir

Schneider was found dead in her Paris apartment on May29, 1982. It was suggested that she had committed suicideby taking a lethal cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills.After another post-mortem examination was carried out,

8.1 Awards named after Romy Schneider 3

authorities declared that she had died from cardiac arrest.Her tombstone at Boissy-sans-Avoir in the Canton ofMontfort-l'Amaury bears the name Rosemarie Albach.Shortly afterwards, Delon arranged for David to beburied in the same grave.[12]

6 Enduring popularityThe French journalist Eugne Moineau initiated in 1984the Prix Romy Schneider. It is one of the most presti-gious award for upcoming actresses in the French lmindustry and is awarded by a jury each year in Paris inconjunction with the Prix Patrick Dewaere (formerly thePrix JeanGabin). In 1990, theAustrian newspaperKuriercreated the Romy TV Award in honour of Schneider.In 2003, she was voted 78th on the list of the greatestGermans in the German TV programme Unsere Besten(the German version of 100 Greatest Britons)the sec-ond highest ranked actress (Marlene Dietrich was 50th)on that list. Until 2002, the Austrian Federal RailwaysInterCity service IC 535 fromWien Sdbahnhof to Grazwas named Romy Schneider.[13][14][15]

A movie about Schneiders life, titled Eine Frau wieRomy/Une femme comme Romy (A Woman Like Romy)was planned by Warner Bros. for 2009; Schneidersrole was going to be played by Yvonne Catterfeld.[16][17]The project was cancelled in July 2009.[18] A musicalabout Schneider, Romy Die Welt aus Gold (Romy The Golden World) was premiered in 2009 at the The-ater Heilbronn.[19] In November 2009 the ARD broad-cast the feature lm Romy with Jessica Schwarz in thetitle role.[20]

7 Filmography[1] L'Enfer remained unnished in 1964; it was released

as L' Enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot in 2009 by SergeBromberg.

8 Awards Bambi: 1957 nominated for Sissi

Bravo Otto

1957: Bronze 1958: Gold 1959: Silver 1971: Silver 1972: Bronze 1977: Bronze

toile de Cristal: 1963 as Best Foreign Actress forThe Trial

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Motion Pic-ture Drama: 1963 nominated for The Cardinal

Csar Award for Best Actress 1975: won for L'important c'est d'aimer 1976: nominated for Une femme sa fentre 1978: won for Une histoire simple 1979: nominated for Clair de femme 1982: nominated for La Passante du Sans-

Souci Deutscher Filmpreis Best Actress: 1977 for Group

Portrait with Lady PremioDavid di Donatello: 1979 LifetimeAchieve-ment

2008: Honorary Csar

8.1 Awards named after Romy Schneider Prix Romy Schneider, French lm award establishedin 1984

Romy, Austrian award established in 1990

9 References[1] Biography (in French). pipole.net. Archived from the

original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2007.Romy tmoignant par la suite de lintrt malsain quil luiportait.

[2] Biography and career (in Dutch). SeniorPlaza.nl. Re-trieved 28 October 2007. waarvan Romy later aangaf dathij een ongezonde belangstelling voor haar had

[3] Surkus, Andrea. Auch das noch Alice Schwarzer ent-deckt Romy Schneider als Frauensymbol (in German).Sddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 28 October 2007. undwill mit ihr schlafen

[4] Gretter, Susanne. Biography (in German & French).FemBio Frauen-Biographieforschung e.V. Retrieved 28October 2007. Il a clairement propos de coucher avecmoi.

[5] Leinkauf, Thomas (19 September 1998). Der Lieblingder Machos (in German). Berliner Zeitung. Retrieved 28October 2007. Blatzheim in ihrer Jugend mit ihr schlafenwollte.

[6] Romy Schneider Bilder einer Ikone (in German).Compress VerlagsgesmbH & Co KG. Retrieved 19 De-cember 2007. Sissi pappt an mir wie Griesbrei

[7] Und retten kann uns nur Heinz Schenk (in German).Stern. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2011.

4 10 EXTERNAL LINKS

[8] Beier, Lars-Olav (23 May 2007). Die Berhrbare (inGerman). Der Spiegel. Retrieved 14 February 2008.

[9] Je spter der Abend: Burkhard Driest and Romy Schnei-der on YouTube, (October 1974, 29 seconds) (German)

[10] Derek Malcolm Rainer Werner Fassbinder: The Mar-riage of Maria Braun, The Guardian, 28 January 1999.Retrieved 2 March 2009.

[11] ROMY SCHNEIDER NE S'EST PAS SUICIDE.Paris Match (Paris). Retrieved 2 June 2012.

[12] Delon, Alain (11 June 1982). Adieu ma puppel". ParisMatch (in French) (#1724). Retrieved 24 September2009.

[13] Neues Kursbuch by Thomas Prglhf, 23 November2002 (German)

[14] Question on Notice, Austrian Department for Trac,Innovation and Technology, 31December 2002 (German)

[15] Romy Schneider (Train) (Italian)

[16] Sander, Daniel (12 February 2008). Ein Soap-Sternchengibt den Weltstar. Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved14 February 2008.

[17] Ich hatte eine Gnsehaut. Sddeutsche Zeitung. 12February 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2011.

[18] Catterfeld sagt Projekt ab, Focus, 27 July 2009 (Ger-man)

[19] Romy Die Welt aus Gold (German)

[20] Romy the movie at Sdwestrundfunk (German)

9.1 Literature Hans-Jrgen Tast: Romy Schneider Ein Leben auf

Titelseiten Schellerten 2008, ISBN 978-3-88842-036-8.

Michael Tteberg: Romy Schneider, Rowohlt Verlag2009, ISBN 978-3-499-50669-7

10 External linksMedia related to Romy Schneider at Wikimedia Com-mons

Romy Schneider at the Internet Movie Database

511 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses11.1 Text

Romy Schneider Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romy_Schneider?oldid=660886412 Contributors: AxelBoldt, KF, Olivier, Gabbe,Mic, Looxix~enwiki, Vanieter, Joy, Owen, Dimadick, JackofOz, DataSurfer, Philwelch, Nunh-huh, Alison, Explendido Rocha, Abu badali,Thincat, Kevin B12, Moribunt, Kate, D6, Rich Farmbrough, Nabla, CanisRufus, CeeGee, TMC1982, Rajah, Hektor, Philip Cross, Skyring,Stemonitis, FlaBot, Margosbot~enwiki, Iten, Str1977, Kernitou, Jared Preston, Hall Monitor, YurikBot, RussBot, Tresckow, Yllosubma-rine, Azucar~enwiki, Joel7687, Irishguy, Syrthiss, Wknight94, Homagetocatalonia, TheMadBaron, Garion96, Paul Pieniezny, Cappelle,SmackBot, Anastrophe, Eskimbot, Wakuran, Kevinalewis, Schmiteye, Kleinzach, Fromgermany, Sumahoy, Seduisant, BullRangifer, Cy-berevil, Soames, Michael David, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Tim bates, Michael Bednarek, Udibi, Tmangray, Xanderer, Drinibot, Pseudo-Richard, J-boogie, Cydebot, Lugnuts, MayaSimFan, Jmg38, Edwardx, Massimo Macconi, Darev, Amjaabc, Tangerines, Andrzejbanas,Nemissimo, VoABot II, Aussiebrisguy, Blackcat, Buzzlightyear, Just H, LorenzoB, Hoversh, MaggieRay, Johnpacklambert, DrKiernan,Yonidebot, Jerry, Yul88, Donmike10, Inwind, VolkovBot, ArnoldPettybone, TXiKiBoT, Loeb123, GcSwRhIc, Gspinoza, Pruxo, SieBot,Gavin1234, Gerakibot, Da Joe, Markus.zhang, Gisela941, Kumioko (renamed), Correogsk, Dabomb87, ImageRemovalBot, All HallowsWraith, D10, Eiland, PixelBot, 6afraidof7, Dealtthrice, Bartholome, Ure, Sdrtirs, Lord Cornwallis, Ohrbe, Brickcheney, Good Olfac-tory, Addbot, Adeli, Manuel Trujillo Berges, Smetanahue, JGKlein, 5 albert square, 20yearoldboyfromNY, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot,ArthurBot, Xqbot, Hoppelwopp, My rst is in ptarmigan, Ayuxstar, FrescoBot, Danglars3, ImageTagBot, Tinton5, Plasticspork, Ale AndQuail, Jonkerz, Anthony Winward, Hathawayfan, Linda974, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Darsuliam, Marrante, ZroBot, Jack McCormack,H3llBot, AVivanco, HandsomeFella, ClueBot NG, Sibylsaine, Angelo malvagio, Saztoon, Richf in mo, Jacob van Maerlant, Wild manof Pimlico, Cairo.Sweetie, Jksmith614, Ypen68, VIAFbot, Drap, Mainthinker, Gomuse17, Filedelinkerbot, KasparBot, Kurtnhate andAnonymous: 157

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Early life Early career Later career Personal life Death Enduring popularity Filmography Awards Awards named after Romy Schneider

References Literature

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