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The life and career of the Austrian
born actress Romy Schneider make a bewildering combination of fairytale and Greek tragedy.
One of the most beautiful and intelligent actors of her generation, she was hired by some
of the greatest filmmakers of her time. She had – and continues to have, more
than two decades after her death – an immense popular appeal, and is loved and respected
by film enthusiasts across the world, particularly in France and her native Austria.
Yet, blessed as she was in her professional career, her personal life was marked by a
series of brutal tragedies that cut short her life and robbed cinema of one of its finest
artistes. The life of Romy Schneider is a screenplay that no writer or producer
could ever have conceived, a screenplay in which no one other than Romy could have played
the lead role.
Romy’s career was mapped out for her from childhood. She
was born, on 23 September 1938, Rosemarie Magdalena Albach-Retty, to parents who were
successful actors living in Vienna. After her parents’ divorce in 1945, she was
brought up by her mother, Magda Schneider and her younger brother, Wolfgang. She
made her film début in 1953, a small part in Wenn
der weiße Flieder wieder blüht. Two years later she took on the
role that would earn her instant stardom in Austria and Germany – the Empress Elisabeth
of Austria - in the 1955 film Sissi.
Having played Sissi in two subsequent sequels, Romy became nauseated by the saccharine
"nice girl" image she had fashioned for herself and was determined to make a fresh start.
In 1957, Paramount Studios was ready to offer her a three year contract, but her family
intervened, thwarting a promising career in America. Romy’s chance of escape came
in the form of Pierre Gaspard-Huit’s 1958 lavish costume drama,
Christine, where she starred opposite another
young actor whose star was very much in the ascendant, Alain Delon. This was the
beginning of Romy Schneider’s hugely successful film career in France.
It was
whilst making Christine that Romy and Alain Delon
fell in love; their very public engagement was announced to the world in 1959. Although
the couple lived together for five years, they never married. Delon had been having
an affair with another woman, Nathalie Barthélemy, whom he chose to marry on learning
she was pregnant with his child. Although the separation was painful (Delon couldn't
bring himself to face Romy at their parting; he just left her a note saying goodbye),
the two actors later renewed their friendship and remained on the best of terms, with
Delon dispensing both moral and financial support during periods of crisis.
Meanwhile,
Romy Schneider's film career forged ahead. She achieved international fame through
her part in Luchino Visconti’s segment (Il lavoro) of the 1962 film Boccacio
'70. She would subsequently work again with Visconti on
Ludwig (1972), where she once again portrayed
Elisabeth of Austria, but in a very different vein to that of the earlier Sissi
films of the 1950s. Another legendary director, Orson Welles, was impressed
by her talents, and cast her in his 1963 film
Le Procès, an inspired adaptation
of
Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial.
In the
mid-1960s, Hollywood beckoned and Romy Schneider made a few notable appearances, in Good
Neighbor Sam (1964) and What's New, Pussycat?
(1965). Having failed to make much of a mark in America, Romy returned to
France. She had a starring role in L’Enfer
(1964), although the film was aborted when its director, H.G. Clouzot, suffered a fatal
heart attack. In La Voleuse (1966), she
appeared for the first time alongside the actor Michel Piccoli, who would become one of
her closest friends. By this time, Romy had married, to the theatre director Harry
Meyen, and had given birth to a son, David.
Romy’s career was floundering a little
but received a sudden boost when she starred with Alain Delon in Jacques Deray’s stylish
psychological thriller La
Piscine (1969). The same year, she appeared in Claude Sautet’s
Les Choses de la vie, again with Michel Piccoli.
Sautet was so taken with Romy Schneider that he gave her substantial roles in four subsequent
films: Max
et les ferrailleurs (1971),
César et Rosalie (1972),
Mado (1976) and
Une histoire simple (1978).
It was for her moving portrayal of an independent woman in the latter film that Romy won
her second César in 1979.
Romy had previously won a César for her
role in Andrzej Zulawski’s controversial
L’Important c'est d'aimer (1975), regarded
by some as her finest performance. Another notable hit was
Le Vieux fusil (1975), directed by Robert
Enrico and co-starring Philippe Noiret. This film – an uncompromising wartime drama
- was not just a huge commercial success, but it also took three awards at the first Césars
Ceremony in 1976 (including best film). Other notable film appearances in the 1970s
include: Le
Train (1973),
Le Mouton enragé (1974) and the deliciously
gory black comedy Le
Trio infernal (1974). Romy was also an outspoken defender of women’s
rights. In an edition of the German magazine Stern
in 1970, she added her name to a list of a hundred women who claimed to have terminated
a pregnancy and who demanded the legalisation of abortion.
The 1970s gave Romy
Schneider some of her best career opportunities, but it also brought with it the first
of the tragic blows that would ultimately drive her to an early grave. In 1973,
she parted from her husband Harry Meyen on bad terms – she had to surrender half of her
personal fortune to him in a divorce settlement in order that she retain custody of their
son. Then, in 1976, shortly after marrying her second husband, Daniel Biasini, she
lost her unborn child in a car accident. April 1979 brought more devastating news:
Harry Meyen decided to hang himself. The impact of the suicide of her first husband
can be seen in Romy’s darker, more introspective performances in Bertrand Tavernier’s
La
Mort en direct (1980), La
Banquière (1980) and
Garde à vue (1981).
Then came
the cruellest blow of all: a mother’s worst nightmare. In July 1981, Romy’s 14 year
old son David, the centre of her world, managed to impale himself on railings at his grandparents'
home and bled to death. The actress was almost destroyed by this calamity and she
had but one thought: to escape. Once she had finished work on
La Passante du Sans-Souci (1982), she fled
to the Seychelles with her daughter and new partner, Laurent Petin – relentlessly pursued
by journalists. She later returned to France, staying in Yvelynes, Paris, where
she hoped to restart her life and career. In her last television appearance
in April 1982 (an interview with Michel Drucker), Romy said: “Life must go on. My
work gives me strength.”
But it was not to be. On the night of the 28th
May 1982, Romy Schneider suffered a fatal heart attack. She was 43. There
was widespread speculation that she had taken her own life, perhaps through an overdose
of sleeping pills, but no evidence was given at the inquest to substantiate this.
Romy was buried in the cemetery at Boissy-sans-Avior in France, beside her beloved son.
Her passing was keenly felt, but she lives on - in her films, shimmering remnants
of a life that was both wonderful and cruel.
© James Travers 2007
Buy films with Romy Schneider:
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L'Actrice
Romy Schneider has appeared in the following films:
Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht (1953)
Feuerwerk (1953)
Mädchenjahre einer Königin (1954)
Der Letzte Mann (1955)
Sissi (1955)
Die Deutschmeister (1955)
Kitty und die große Welt (1956)
Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956)
Robinson soll nicht sterben (1957)
Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957)
Monpti (1957)
Scampolo (1958)
Mädchen in Uniform (1958)
Christine (1958)
Die Halbzarte (1958)
Ein Engel auf Erden (1959)
Die Schöne Lügnerin (1959)
Katia (1959)
Le Combat dans l'île (1961)
Boccaccio '70 (1962)
Forever My Love (1962)
Le Procès (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
The Victors (1963)
Good Neighbor Sam (1964)
L'Enfer (1964)
What's New, Pussycat (1965)
La Voleuse (1966)
10.30 PM Summer (1966)
Triple Cross (1966)
La Piscine (1969)
Otley (1968)
Les choses de la vie (1969)
My Lover My Son (1970)
La Califfa (1970)
Qui? (1970)
Max et les ferrailleurs (1971)
The Assassination of Trotsky (1972)
Ludwig (1972)
César et Rosalie (1972)
Bloomfield (1972)
Un amour de pluie (1973)
Le Train (1973)
Le Mouton enragé (1974)
Le Trio infernal (1974)
Le Vieux fusil (1975)
Les Innocents aux mains sales (1975)
L'Important c'est d'aimer (1975)
Mado (1976)
Une femme à sa fenêtre (1976)
Gruppenbild mit Dame (1977)
Une histoire simple (1978)
Clair de femme (1979)
Bloodline (1979)
La Mort en direct (1980)
La Banquière (1980)
Fantasma d'amore (1981)
Garde à vue (1981)
La Passante du Sans-Souci (1982)
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