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| Birth Name(s) : Rosemarie Magdalena Albach-Retty |
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Full Romy Schneider Biography
Romy Schneider (born September 23, 1938 in Vienna, died May 29, 1982 in Paris, aged 43) was an Austrian, German, and French actress.
She was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach-Retty in Vienna into a family of actors that included her paternal grandmother Rosa Albach-Retty, her Austrian father Wolf Albach-Retty and her German mother Magda Schneider. After her parents' divorce in 1945, Magda took charge of Romy and her brother Wolfi, eventually supervising the young girl's career, often appearing alongside her daughter. Romy made her film debut in Wenn der weisse Flieder wieder blüht (1953), at the age of 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.
In the film Mädchenjahre einer Königin (The Story of Vicky / Victoria in Dover ) (1954) Romy Schneider for the first time portrayed a royal. This Austrian movie is about the early years of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, in particular her first encounter with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Schneider's breakthrough came with her portrayal of Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria, the later Empress Consort of Austria, in the romantic biopic Sissi (1955) and its two sequels, Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956) and Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957). Less stereotypical films during this busy period include Robinson soll nicht sterben (The Legend of Robinson Crusoe) (1957) putting her among a stellar cast and opposite a young Horst Buchholz, and Monpti (1957), directed by Helmut Käutner and again opposite Buchholz.
Soon tired of the saccharine image these movies had bestowed upon her, Schneider was eager for 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. She abruptly left Germany to join him in Paris, creating a national scandal. Schneider became engaged to Delon in 1959. It was to be a pivotal point in both her personal and professional life.
Schneider stayed in France, slowly gaining the interest of film directors such as Orson Welles for The Trial (1962), based upon Franz Kafka's The Trial and was introduced by Delon to Luchino Visconti.
Under Visconti's direction, she gave metamorphic performances in John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and in the film Boccaccio '70 (segment: "The Job"), where her delicate, feline beauty and fierce sensuality contrasted with the more obvious charms of Anita Ekberg and Sophia Loren (Coco Chanel made her costumes). A brief stint in Hollywood included appearances in Good Neighbor Sam, a 1964 comedy with Jack Lemmon, and 1965 What's New, Pussycat? costarring Peter O'Toole, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen who also wrote the screenplay.
Romy Schneider's private life continued turbulently. Dumped by Delon (they never married) in 1963, she married (1966) and divorced (1975) Harry Meyen (1924–1979), a German director and actor who later committed suicide. The couple had a son, David Christopher Meyen (1966–1981). In 1975, Schneider married Daniel Biasini, her private secretary; they separated in 1981. Their daughter Sarah Magdalena Biasini (born July 14, 1977) is also an actress.
Schneider continued starring in films with Alain Delon. On a break from filming after marriage and motherhood, she soon realized she wanted and needed to continue working as an actress. "Just then," she later remembered, "Alain called me up and asked if I exclusively had husband and children on my mind, or would be interested in doing a movie".
Worth mentioning among her other films is the macabre Le Trio infernal (1974) with Michel Piccoli, and what may have been her greatest performance, a chilling turn in Garde à vue with Michel Serrault and Lino Ventura (1981).
In 1980 she starred in Bertrand Tavernier's prophetic Deathwatch (La mort en direct), 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).
Schneider began drinking alcohol in excess after the sudden death of her 14-year-old son David on July 5, 1981. David had attempted to climb the spiked fence at his stepfather's parents home when he punctured his femoral artery. He got himself off the fence and into the house for help but by the time the ambulance got him to the hospital he had lost too much blood and died. When Romy was found dead in her apartment in Paris on May 29, 1982, it was suggested that she had committed suicide by taking a lethal cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills. However, no post-mortem examination was carried out. She was declared to have died from cardiac arrest. She was 43 years old when she died. Her tombstone at Boissy-sans-Avoir in the Canton of Montfort-l'Amaury bears the name Rosemarie Albach. Alain Delon, who organised the funeral, arranged soon after for her son David to be buried in the same grave.
Following her burial, it became known that her companion Laurent Petin had buried her with a large amount of gold jewelery, which led to her tomb being ransacked by thieves. She was later reburied in a more secure means. These circumstances were similar to that of Benny Hill after his burial. |
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