Romy Schneider was born as Rosemarie Magdalena Albach on 23 September 1938, in Vienna. Both her parents, Wolf Albach-Retty and Magda Schneider, were actors.
While her dad was Austrian, her mom was German. She had a more youthful brother named Wolfgang Dieter (Wolfi) Albach-Retty.
Brought up in Germany, Romy Schneider started her proper education in 1944 at an elementary school in Schönau. Later in July 1949, she was moved to a girls’ residential school at Castle Goldenstein close to Salzburg, Austria, graduating from that point with the degree of Mittlere Reife in 1953.
While in secondary school, Romy Schneider found her interest in acting and regularly took an interest in different school creations. She likewise dominated in drawing and painting, and hence, it was concluded that she would enter Kölner Werkschulen (Cologne Academy of Fine and Applied Arts) after leaving school. In any case, destiny willed something else.
In 1953, Romy Schneider started her acting career when she was given a role as Evchen Forster in the West German drama film, ‘Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht’ (When the White Lilacs Bloom Again). In it, she was credited as Romy Schneider-Albach, eventually becoming popular essentially as Romy Schneider.
With the achievement of her performance film, Romy’s career started to sprout. Working under the supervision of her mom, she showed up in the starring role of Anna Oberholzer in ‘Feuerwerk’ (Fireworks) and as Princess Victoria/Queen Victoria in ‘Mädchenjahre einer Königin’ (Victoria in Dover) in 1954.
In 1955, Romy Schneider got her first genuine breakthrough, when she was given a role as Empress Elisabeth of Austria (nicknamed Sissi) in ‘Sissi’. It got one of the best German-language movies of that time, making her nationally famous.
Sissi’s prosperity prompted the production of two additional movies on a similar tothemeic: ‘ Sissi – Die junge Kaiserin’ (Sissy-the Young Empress, 1956) and ‘Sissi – Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin’ (Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress, 1957). In the two movies, she played the lead role, earning a lot of approval.
Alongside showing up in the ‘Sissi’ trilogy, Romy Schneider kept on featuring in different movies also. In 1958, while working in ‘Christine’, she fell in love with her co-star, French actor Alain Delon.
Romy Schneider moved to France in 1958, where she had a relationship with the actor Alain Delon. There, she additionally wanted to begin a new life and made a career in the French film industry. Schneider synchronized the vast majority of her French-speaking movies into German as well as into English.
Eventually, Romy Schneider moved to Paris and started working in films like ‘Katia’, ‘Die schöne Lügnerin’ and ‘Mademoiselle Ange’.
Alain Delon and Romy Schneider played together in three motion pictures: Christine (1958), Der Swimmingpool (1968), and Die Ermordung von Trotzkis (1971). The couple was together between 1958 until 1963.
In 1961, she appeared on the stage in Paris, showing up as Annabella in John Ford’s stage play, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’. Soon, she started to stand out from established directors, and was given a role as Pupe in Luchino Visconti’s film, ‘Boccaccio ’70’ and as Leni in Orson Welles’ film, ‘The Trial’ in 1962.
Romy Schneider was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1963 for her leading role in the film Der Kardinal, however didn’t win.
In 1963, Romy Schneider moved quickly to the USA, where she featured in films like ‘The Cardinal’ (1963), ‘The Victors’ (1963) ‘Good Neighbor Sam’ (1964), and ‘What’s New Pussy Cat’ (1965).
She didn’t make the most of her Hollywood experience and got back to Paris in 1966.
On 15 July 1966, Romy Schneider wedded German director and actor Harry Meyen and had a child named David Christopher with him. The couple divorced in 1975. In 1981, David died in an accident while attempting to climb a spiked fence. From that point, she created alcoholism.
In 1970, her career went through revival when Romy Schneider was given a role as Hélène Haltig in ‘Les Choses de la vie’ (‘The Things of Life’). It was trailed by ‘Max et les ferrailleurs’ (1971), ‘César et Rosalie’ (1972), ‘Ludwig’ (1973), and ‘Les Innocents aux mains sales’ (1975).
On 18 December 1975, Romy Schneider wedded her private secretary, Daniel Biasini, staying together till 1981. Their daughter, Sarah Magdalena, born in 1977, became a french actress.
In 1977, Romy Schneider got back to German movies after just about two decades, showing up as Leni Gruyten in the French-German production of ‘Gruppenbild mit Dame’ (Group Portrait with Lady). Two of her other significant movies of this decade were ‘Clair de femme’ and ‘La Mort en direct’ (Deathwatch), both released in 1979.
During the 1980s, Romy Schneider had just four movies released, her last released film being ‘La Passante du Sans-Souci’ (1982, ‘The Passerby’). The others were ‘La Banquière’ (1980), ‘Fantasma d’amore’ (1981), and ‘Garde à vue’ (1981).
Romy Schneider is best remembered for her role as Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the ‘Sissi’ trilogy: ‘Sissi’ (1955), ‘ Sissi – Die junge Kaiserin’ (1956), and ‘Sissi – Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin’ (1957). In 1972, she reprised the role in ‘Ludwig’, yet projected a more develop and realistic version of the character.
In late 1981 or mid-1982, Romy Schneider had a kidney operation, which presumably debilitated her heart. On 29 May 1982, she died at 43 years old from cardiac arrest in her Paris apartment.
The genuine conditions of Romy Schneider’s death were never explained. 18 days before she died, Romy Schneider bequeathed everything to her daughter and the French producer Petin, with whom she was living together until her demise.
In 1984, the French journalist Eugène Moineau started the Prix Romy Schneider, the most esteemed award for forthcoming actresses in the French film industry and is given by a jury every year in Paris related to the Prix Patrick Dewaere (previously the Prix Jean Gabin).
In 1990, the Austrian newspaper Kurier made the Romy TV Award to pay tribute to Schneider.
In 2003, Romy Schneider was voted 78th on the list of the best Germans in the German TV program Unsere Besten (the German version of 100 Greatest Britons)— the second-highest ranked actress (Marlene Dietrich was 50th) on that list.
Until 2002, the Austrian Federal Railways InterCity service IC 535 from Wien Südbahnhof to Graz was named “Romy Schneider”.
Romy Schneider has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 2010.
On September 23, 2020, Google Doodle celebrated Romy Schneider’s 82nd Birthday.
