Romy Schneider

Romy Schneider (; born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach; 23 September 1938 – 29 May 1982) was a German-French actress. She began her career in the German genre in the early 1950s when she was 15. From 1955 to 1957, she played the central character of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the Austrian '' Sissi'' trilogy, and later reprised the role in a more mature version in Luchino Visconti's '' Ludwig'' (1973). Schneider moved to France, where she made successful and critically acclaimed films with some of the most notable film directors of that era.

Early life

Schneider was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach in Vienna, six months after the ''Anschluss'' of Austria into Nazi Germany, to actors Magda Schneider and Wolf Albach-Retty. Her paternal grandmother, Rosa Albach-Retty, was also an actress. Schneider's mother was German while her father was Austrian.

Four weeks after Romy's birth, the parents brought her to Schönau am Königssee in Germany where she and later her brother Wolf-Dieter (born 1941) grew up with their grandparents Franz Xaver and Maria Schneider on the country estate . In her first year, Romy was cared for by a governess. Her parents were very rarely present due to their acting engagements. In 1943, they separated and were divorced in 1945.

In September 1944, Schneider was enrolled in the elementary school of Schönau and from July 1949 she attended the girls' boarding school at , a private secondary school of the Augustinian Canonesses of the Congregation of Notre Dame in Elsbethen near Salzburg. Already during her schooldays, she discovered her passion for acting which is why she was often on stage at theatrical performances at the residential school. In her diary entry of 10 June 1952, she wrote: "If it were up to me, I would immediately become an actress. ... Every time I see a nice movie, my first thoughts are about the idea: I definitely have to become an actress. Yes! I have to!" On 12 July 1953, she left the residential school Goldenstein with the degree of ''Mittlere Reife''. After the summer holidays, she moved to Cologne to join her mother who lived there with the restaurateur and entrepreneur .

After her parents' divorce in 1945, Magda took charge of Romy and her brother Wolf-Dieter, eventually supervising the young girl's career, often appearing alongside her daughter. Her career was also overseen by her stepfather Blatzheim who, Schneider indicated, had an unhealthy interest in her.

Early career

Romy Schneider's first film, made when she was 15, was '' When the White Lilacs Bloom Again'' (1953), credited as Romy Schneider-Albach. In 1954, Schneider, for the first time, portrayed a royal, playing a young Queen Victoria in the Austrian film ''Mädchenjahre einer Königin'' (known in the U.S. as ''The Story of Vickie'' and in Britain as ''Victoria in Dover'').

Schneider's breakthrough came with her portrayal of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the romantic biopic '' Sissi'' (1955) and its two sequels, ''Sissi – The Young Empress'' (1956) and ''Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress'' (1957), all with Karlheinz Böhm, who became a close friend. Less stereotypical films during this busy period include ''The Girl and the Legend'' (1957), working with a young Horst Buchholz, and '' Monpti'' (1957), directed by Helmut Käutner, again with Buchholz.

Schneider soon starred in ''Christine'' (1958), a remake of Max Ophüls's 1933 film ''Liebelei'' (in which her mother Magda Schneider had played the same role). It was during the filming of ''Christine'' that Schneider fell in love with French actor Alain Delon who co-starred in the movie. She left Germany to join him in Paris, and they announced their engagement in 1959.

Schneider decided to live and to work in France, slowly gaining the interest of film directors such as Orson Welles for ''The Trial'' (1962), based on Franz Kafka's ''The Trial''. She was also introduced to Luchino Visconti. Under Visconti's direction, she gave performances in the Théâtre Moderne as Annabella (and Delon as Giovanni) in John Ford's stage play '' 'Tis Pity She's a Whore'' (1961), and in the film ''Boccaccio '70'' (segment: "The Job"). In 1962, Schneider played Anna in Sacha Pitoëff's production of Chekhov's play ''The Seagull'', also at the Théâtre Moderne.

A brief stint in Hollywood included a starring role in ''Good Neighbor Sam'' (1964), a comedy with Jack Lemmon, and ''What's New Pussycat?'' (1965), in which Schneider co-starred with Peter O'Toole, Peter Sellers, and Woody Allen.

Schneider and Delon decided to separate in December 1963, although they remained close life-long friends. They continued to work together in such films as '' La Piscine'' (''The Swimming Pool'', 1968) and ''The Assassination of Trotsky'' (1972).

Later career

Schneider continued to work in France during the 1970s, most notably with director Claude Sautet on five films. Their first collaboration, ''The Things of Life'' (''Les choses de la vie'', 1970) featuring Michel Piccoli, made Schneider an icon in France. The three collaborated again for the noir thriller '' Max et les ferrailleurs'' (''Max and the Junkmen'', 1971), and she appeared with Yves Montand in Sautet's '' César et Rosalie'' (1972).

''Paris Match'' wrote 1971: "Forty years after Greta and Marlene, fifteen years after Marilyn, the screen again has a great star."

Schneider portrayed a more mature and realistic Elisabeth of Austria in '' Ludwig'' (1973), Visconti's film about the life of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. "Sissi sticks to me just like oatmeal", Schneider once said.

Other successes from this period included '' Le Train'' (1973), Claude Chabrol's thriller ''Innocents with Dirty Hands'' (''Les innocents aux mains sales'', 1975) with Rod Steiger, and '' Le vieux fusil'' (1975). The gritty '' That Most Important Thing: Love'' (''L'important c'est d'aimer'', 1974) garnered her first César Award (France's equivalent of the Oscar), a feat she repeated five years later, in her last collaboration with Sautet, for '' A Simple Story'' (''Une histoire simple'', 1978).

On 30 October 1974, Schneider created one of the most memorable moments on German television. She was the second guest on Dietmar Schönherr's talk show ' (''The Later the Evening'') when she, after a rather terse interview, remarked passionately to the last guest, bank robber and author Burkhard Driest: "Sie gefallen mir. Sie gefallen mir sehr." (I like you. I like you a lot.)

She also acted in ''The Infernal Trio'' (1974) with Michel Piccoli, and in ''Garde à vue'' (1981) with Michel Serrault and Lino Ventura. An unpleasant incident occurred during this period with leading German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who wanted to cast her as the lead in his film ''The Marriage of Maria Braun'' (1979). Negotiations broke down when he called Schneider a "dumb cow", to which she responded by declaring she would never work with such a "beast". Fassbinder cast Hanna Schygulla instead, reviving his professional association with an actress to whom he had also been offensive.

Schneider starred in Bertrand Tavernier's ''Death Watch'' (''La mort en direct'', 1980), playing a dying woman whose last days are watched on national television via a camera implanted in the brain of a journalist (Harvey Keitel). It is based on David G. Compton's novel. Schneider's last film was '' La Passante du Sans-Souci'' (''The Passerby'', 1982).

Personal life

Following the end of her relationship with Delon, Schneider married German director and actor Harry Meyen in July 1966; they later divorced. The couple had a son, David Christopher (1966–1981). In July 1981, David died at the age of 14 after attempting to climb the spiked fence at his stepfather's parents' home and puncturing his femoral artery in the process. She had love affairs with Oswalt Kolle (1964) and actor Bruno Ganz (early 1970s). She had a brief affair with Jean-Louis Trintignant while filming ''The Train'' (1973). She also had in 1974 a brief affair with Jacques Dutronc while filming ''That Most Important Thing: Love''.

Schneider appeared as one of 28 women under the banner "We've had abortions!" (german: Wir haben abgetrieben!, link=no) on the cover page of the West German magazine '' Stern'' on 6 June 1971. In that issue, 374 women publicly stated that they had had pregnancies terminated which at that time was illegal.

In 1975, Schneider married , her private secretary; they divorced in 1981. Their daughter, Sarah, is an actress. Her last romantic partner was film producer (born 1949).

In her 2018 biography ''Romy Schneider intime'', Alice Schwarzer revealed that Schneider confided to her that she had sexual relationships with women and was deeply in love with her close friend Simone Signoret.

Death

Schneider began drinking alcohol excessively after her son's death. However, Schneider's friend and sister of Laurent Pétin, Claude Pétin, said that she no longer drank at the time of her death and that she is convinced it was a natural death."Romy Schneider a fini ses jours avec Laurent Pétin, son dernier amour"
by Salomé Gegout, ', 24 September 2020 (in French).

Schneider was found dead in her Paris apartment on 29 May 1982. The examining magistrate declared that she died from cardiac arrest. Claude Pétin said that Schneider's cardiac arrest was due to a weakened heart caused by a kidney operation she had months before.

Her tombstone at Boissy-sans-Avoir, Yvelines

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