The tragic fate of actress Romy Schneider

Birth and family

The real name of the actress is Rosemary Magdalena Albach. She was born on September 23, 1938 in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The family into which the girl was born was wealthy, famous and completely belonged to the world of cinema.

Her mother, Magda Schneider, born in 1909, was of German descent and was a film and theater actress. In 1933, on the set of the film “Baby, I Rejoice in Your Coming,” she met the Austrian actor Wolf Albach-Retti. They married in 1937, and Wolf took German citizenship. The couple had two children - a girl, Rosemary, in 1938 and a boy, Wolf-Dieter, in 1941.

Romy's paternal grandmother, Rosa Albach-Retti, was also a theater actress; she, in turn, belonged to an old acting dynasty of Italian origin. She served in the theaters of Vienna and Berlin, and in 1905 received the title of court actress.

Due to their acting profession, their parents did not have time to raise Romi and her younger brother, so the children spent their early years with their grandparents in the Bavarian community of Schönau am Königssee on the village estate of Mariengrund. And in 1945, mom and dad divorced altogether, after which they created new families.

Education

In the fall of 1944, the girl was sent to study at an elementary school in Schönau, where she graduated from four classes.

In the summer of 1949, Romy moved to a boarding school for girls, which was located at the Augustinian monastery near Salzburg in Goldenstein Castle. Her mother rarely came to visit her, and her father and grandmother never appeared at all.

The girl grew up restless and mischievous, could skip class, and did not get along very well with other students. The head of the boarding school complained to her mother when she visited Romi. But, in general, young Schneider took her studies quite seriously. She drew with enthusiasm, was a soloist in the church choir, was interested in history and local history, and performed in plays staged at the boarding school. The only thing she found difficult was mathematics. Romy was a crazy dreamer and in the future she dreamed of acting in films, like her mother.

From an early age she kept diaries, and already at the age of thirteen she wrote that only five words made her theatrical blood boil - cinema, theater, music, art, travel.

In 1953, Schneider finished her studies at a boarding school and was going to further develop in terms of drawing and painting, and enroll in an art school in Cologne. But everything changed because Romy got her first film role.

The beginning of a creative journey

In the German entertainment film “When the White Lilac Blooms,” Magda Schneider was offered the leading role of Therese Forster. In the story, her character had a daughter, Efkhen, and the actress literally persuaded the producer and director of the film to take her real daughter Romi for this role. The girl successfully passed the audition at the Berlin film studio, and in the early autumn of 1953 she was approved for the role.

The debut was so brilliant that it amazed even the mother, who had no idea about her daughter’s talent and her dreams of acting in films.

Immediately after the release of the film, Romi received the next offer to star in the film “Fireworks”. Here she had the opportunity to star with the famous German actress Lilli Palmer. Schneider played the role of a young girl, Anna, who decided to leave her father’s house to work in a circus tent.

During this filming, Romy's fateful acquaintance with the Austrian director and screenwriter Ernst Marischka took place. He was just about to shoot a new film, “The Young Years of the Queen.” Ernst had already cast another actress for the main role, but after meeting Romi he abruptly changed his plans and was not mistaken. Schneider played the young Queen of Great Britain brilliantly, and the film was a huge success. The public instantly fell in love with the charming actress, and her mother Magda Schneider now found herself in the shadow of her daughter.

In 1955, Ernst Marischka again invited Romy to his film “March for the Emperor”, here she starred with her mother and father. In the same year, Schneider received her first award from the New Film magazine in the “Most Popular Young Film Star” category.

The next important stage in the development of the actress’s career was the “Sissy” trilogy. The same Ernst Marischka this time conceived a romantic film about the relationship between Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and the young Princess Sissi.

The success of the film was so enormous that soon two sequel films, “Sissi the Young Empress” and “Sissi. Difficult years of the Empress." This role made Romi famous throughout the world. Already at the end of 1955, she became second on the list of the most popular artists in Germany.

Despite the success of the first film, Schneider did not want to star in the sequel. But she already had her own manager, her stepfather Hans Herbert Blatzheim, he kept control of all the roles and income offered to her. Hans, together with the filmmakers, managed to persuade his stepdaughter to star in two subsequent films.

Romy was not yet twenty years old, and in Austria and Germany she became the most popular actress, as evidenced by her photograph on the cover of the famous German weekly publication Der Spiegel. But it was not possible to persuade her to take part in the fourth film: the actress was afraid that she might become a hostage to one role.

She starred in several more films:

• "The Last Man";
• "Kitty and the Wide World";
• "Robinson must not die";
• "Montpty";
• "Girls in Uniform";
• "Scampolo".

And in 1958 the film “Christine” was released, which changed her life forever.

Successful debut and unsuccessful love

When Rosemary was 15 years old, her mother (the popular German actress Magda Schneider) persuaded the director, for whom she was then starring in the film “When the White Lilac Blooms,” to give Rosemary the role of her daughter. The girl successfully passed the audition. At first she didn’t want to act, she even ran away from the set. But her mother was relentless. She patiently found her daughter and made her play again. The audience liked the film, and other directors noticed the young actress. Soon she was offered a role in the film Fireworks, where her pseudonym, Romy Schneider, appeared in the credits for the first time.

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A little later, the actress starred in Ernst Marishka’s film “The Young Years of the Queen.” Her mother also played in the film. After this work, Romy became a popular favorite and eclipsed her famous mother.

Then her fate developed very successfully. She was offered many roles and paid good fees. True, their stepfather was in charge of them. Romy soon became one of the most popular German actresses, finishing second on the list. Only Maria Schell beat her.

In 1955, she starred in the film Sissy, where she played the young Queen Elizabeth. The film was an incredible success, so Ernst Marishka made a sequel. These were the films “Sissi – the Young Empress” and “Sissi. Difficult years of the Empress." The director was going to shoot a fourth film, but Romi refused to take part in it. She was afraid to become an actress of one role.

In 1958, she starred in the film “Christine”, where her partner was Alain Delon. The young people fell in love with each other, but Romi's parents were against their union. They couldn’t stop them from meeting, but they forced them to formalize the relationship. In 1959, Romy and Alain Delon got engaged. The couple settled in Paris.

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At first everything worked out amazingly. But the years passed, and Alain was still in no hurry to walk his Romy down the aisle. She later recalled that her fiancé was only interested in his own career. But still she loved him very much and was ready to forgive everything.

In France, Romy was not offered many roles at first. Mostly she stayed at home. But in 1961, Alain introduced her to director Luchino Visconti, who immediately appreciated the talent of the young actress. Romi played brilliantly in his play “It’s a pity that she’s a libertine.” This was her first success in France. Roles again rained down on her as if from a cornucopia. In 1963, the actress flew to Los Angeles to film the film Good Neighbor Sam. From the newspapers she learned that her beloved Alain had married someone else. Delon's chosen one was Nathalie Barthelemy. Romi tried to commit suicide and refused all roles.

Love of my life

Director Pierre Gaspard Huy invited Romy Schneider and Alain Delon to play the main roles in his melodrama “Christine”.

They met on the set and at first they clashed a lot. Delon came from a poor family and hated aristocracy and pomposity. Romi was no exception; he poured out a lot of negative emotions on her. She also did not like his rudeness and bad manners. But with each new kiss, the hostility was erased and, in the end, Schneider fell unconditionally in love.

Alain Delon was still a little-known actor at that time, but this did not stop Romy from giving up everything and following him to France. She no longer needed the care of her mother and stepfather; the young actress went to Paris. They rented a large apartment on Rue Messina near Parc Monceau. The stormy romance between Delon and Schneider developed rapidly, the young people declared their love for each other, and in the early spring of 1959 they got engaged.

Romy's mother protested, but her daughter did not listen to her; she wrote in a letter to her friend that she had met the man of her life. Schneider was ready to give everything and do anything just to become the wife of Alain Delon. But he was in no hurry to propose to her; family life interested the young actor less than new profitable acquaintances and social events.

Moreover, despite her worldwide fame, France greeted the actress with indifference. Very little time passed, and Romy realized that she was deeply mistaken. Alain Delon's film career was rapidly rising, but she, accustomed to success from the age of fourteen, remained outside the cinema. Schneider even wrote in her diary that in France no one perceives her as a famous actress; for the French, she is just another Delon girlfriend.

The tragedy of great love Romy Schneider

Nowadays there are no such actresses, and you won’t meet such faces. Many were haunted by the strange, bewitching magic of Romy Schneider’s face. “Her face radiated light. She rose above everyday life, and seeing her on the screen, we feel the presence of another, better world,” French director Claude Sautet said about her. “This look definitely burns like a laser. Instantly. Never - neither before nor after - have I seen such piercing, clear, crazy, burning eyes on any woman. The look is absolutely self-sufficient, speaking, full, magnetic,” described her second husband, Daniel Byasini.

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In Romy Schneider's cinema, everything was under her control. No wonder the Italian director Luchino Visconti considered her one of the most brilliant actresses in Europe. The French still call Romy an outstanding actress of the 20th century, and the Austrians call her a wonderful legend. But Schneider couldn’t do anything in life. She played in 58 films, repeatedly received prestigious awards for best actress roles, and left debts after her death.

Romy Schneider was the darling of cinema, but the stepdaughter of life. If cinema gave her fame, fame, and wealth, then life took away those closest to her, money and peace, endowed her with a sense of guilt, doomed her to loneliness, painful suffering and serious illnesses. Cinema elevated her to Olympus, made her a deity and idol of the crowd, and life mercilessly pushed her away, snatching from her hands simple female happiness, which she was never destined to fully enjoy.

Romy was persecuted in the press - for the fact that an innocent girl ran away to Paris with that “cute Frenchman” Alain Delon, for the fact that her first husband Harry Mayen hanged himself with her neckerchief, for the fact that in recent years she was unable to cope with the misfortunes and inhuman pain that befell her, she often drank from the bottle and smoked three packs of cigarettes a day. And it all began as in a fairy tale about a beautiful blond princess with clear eyes, whose mysterious beauty was impossible to resist.

Romy Schneider and Alain Delon. Still from the film "Swimming Pool"

Rosemarie Albach-Retti (real name Romy Schneider) was born on September 23, 1938 in Vienna into a wealthy family. Her father is the famous Viennese playboy, aristocrat and actor Wolfgang Albach-Retti, her mother is the most popular actress of German and Austrian cinema, Magda Schneider. Already at the age of 15, Romy played with her in the film “When the White Lilac Blooms.” A few years later, immediately after filming a multi-part costume melodrama about the Austrian Empress Sissi, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, the fame of the young talented actress, who was not even 20, thundered throughout German-speaking Europe. Romi received a flood of letters with declarations of love and marriage proposals. Her fees grew, and her personal bank account indicated that she had also become the richest girl in the world.

But real fame came to her in Paris. The film “Christine,” where Romy met the then unknown Alain Delon, made her a star and turned her whole short life upside down. It was Magda who insisted that her daughter star in this film, a remake of the famous film “Flirt” in the 30s, which brought her wide fame. How could she have known that life would take its own course, and that her rosy plans for her daughter’s future, including a successful marriage with some aristocrat, would leave no stone unturned?

At first, Romy and Alain did not like each other. “Pouty German goose!” – Delon muttered through his teeth, handing the star a bouquet of white roses. “Smug French impudent,” Schneider decided. The cynical Delon publicly mocked the naive provincial girl with strict morals, who did not even know how to kiss. But gradually they more and more entered into the role of lovers. A trip to a film festival in Brussels, during which Romy, having mastered the French language, desperately flirted with Alain, marked the beginning of their crazy romance. Following Delon, defying strict parental control, Schneider took a plane ticket to Paris.

They settled in the actor’s small apartment. For the sake of love for him, Romy endured everything - his endless dissolute friends, hints of Delon’s interest in boys, a chaotic lifestyle. Alain loved her, but most of all he loved freedom, rejecting marriage as unnecessary “bureaucratic things.” Only under strong pressure from Magda did he agree to an official engagement. But this did not oblige him to anything. He continued to live as he was accustomed to, admitting that he could not come to terms with Romy’s burgher origins and her good manners. “I lived with two Romies. I loved one of them madly. The second one I hated madly...” said Delon.

Romy Schneider. Still from the film "Swimming Pool"

In 1961, Alain and Romy played in the play by Luchino Visconti (before that he managed to direct Delon in “Rocky and His Brothers”) based on John Ford’s play “What a Pity You’re a Slut!” about forbidden love between brother and sister. Romy was prepared for the performance by the famous Coco Chanel. The success exceeded all expectations. “You are the true queen of Paris, my queen!” – exclaimed the delighted Delon. This was perhaps the brightest page of their romance. And two years later, Romy Schneider signed a contract with Hollywood and left for America, plunging headlong into cinema. Huge fees allowed her to fly to Europe for the weekend to see Delon. In her large apartment, she turned on the phones at full volume so as not to accidentally miss a call from Alain. Romy did not believe the newspaper gossip about Delon's love affairs, but one day she received a strange and cruel letter from him.

“I give you back your freedom, but I leave my heart,” he wrote. And after some time, Romy found out about his marriage to Natalie Barthelemy, who was five months pregnant. One can only guess how Romy survived this blow. She was saved by cinema and an affair with the famous German playwright and director Harry Mayen, who left his wife of 12 years for Romy.

Romy married Mayen in 1966, and soon after their son David was born. The actress doted on the long-awaited child and happily did housework. Finally she found what she dreamed of. It seemed that fate had given her a chance to forget the past and start life over. But it was not there. Everything was ruined by a phone call from Alain Delon, who invited Romy to play with him in the film “The Swimming Pool,” a psychological detective story about the passionate and painful relationship of the spouses. And although Romy said that there was nothing colder than dead love, and Delon brushed off the journalists with the usual phrase: “We loved each other exactly according to the script,” the feeling that everything had started all over again could not escape.

Romy Schneider. Still from the film “Christina”

Harry couldn't stand it: he quit his job and started drinking. Romy, having fallen into severe depression, joined her husband, refusing to appear in films such as “A Man and a Woman”, “Last Tango in Paris”, where the main roles were intended for her. But as soon as Delon called her for a tiny role in the film “The Assassination of Trotsky” he was producing, Romy dropped everything and flew to him in Mexico. Her marriage to Harry broke down. For one and a half million francs, Mayen agreed to leave David to his mother. And she could no longer restore the peace of mind she had acquired with such difficulty.

A few years later, completely drunk and unable to recover from his unhappy love, Harry Mayen committed suicide in his Berlin apartment. After this, Romy’s life went completely upside down. Divorce from her second husband Daniel Biasini, her personal secretary, from whom Romy gave birth to a daughter, Sarah, a difficult operation to remove a kidney, which made her disabled, an increasing addiction to alcohol, which destroyed her already fragile health, numerous lovers who did not bring her happiness, insanely tired from filming.

Romy grasped at the connection with her young assistant, Laurent Petain, who idolized her, like at a straw, but in vain: she could not forget Delon and get rid of this obsession. But fate, apparently, was not enough. One day Romy lost her only hope. One day, David, returning home, discovered that the gates of the estate were locked, and he had forgotten the keys. Climbing over the fence, he ran into sharp iron bars. They pierced his abdomen. The doctors’ efforts were in vain: after the operation the boy died. Now nothing held Romy back in this life.

She outlived her beloved son by only a year. She dedicated her last film, “The Passerby from Sans Souci,” to the memory of David and Harry. "I'm tired. My life is hell, it’s always before my eyes,” these are the last lines in her diary.

On the night of May 30, 1982, Romy was found dead. She sat at her desk in front of a portrait of David. The newspapers were full of reports about the suicide of the great actress, but medical experts denied this information, saying that the death was sudden and natural. The world was crying, and only Delon could not overcome his usual cynicism. Or maybe in this way he was trying to mask the acute pain of loss? “Goodbye, my doll,” was all Alain could say, having lost his “little Romy” forever.

He took upon himself the organization of the funeral of the actress, as in his time of David, putting the same white roses in the coffin for his “eternal bride” with which he had once greeted her at the Paris Orly airport before the start of the filming of “Christine”, and ensuring that the ashes his son was reburied next to his mother’s grave in the Boissy cemetery, 50 kilometers from Paris. Magda Schneider suffered a heart attack and had to mourn the death of her only daughter and grandson for another 14 long years.

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French cinema

Romy gradually began to win over French audiences after Alain introduced her to Italian director Luchino Visconti. Schneider received an offer to play the main role in the play “It’s a pity that she’s a libertine.” The premiere production brought Romy her first success in France, after which she began to receive offers to act in films.

Visconti called Romy an “Austrian bun”; he introduced her to Coco Chanel, who taught the German woman to have a good understanding of fashion. Schneider began doing gymnastics and swimming, went on a diet, and was incredibly transformed. According to her own admissions in her diary, there were three main people in Romy’s life who radically changed her destiny - Delon, Visconti and Chanel.

Romy Schneider's film career in France has taken off. In three years she starred in five films:

• "Boccaccio-70";
• "Battle on the Island";
• "Process";
• "Cardinal"
• "Winners"

The French public quickly appreciated Romy's talent; for her role in the film “The Trial” she received the Crystal Star film award in the category “Best Foreign Actress”.

Breakup with Alain Delon

Due to numerous filming sessions, Schneider and Delon often had to separate for long periods of time. In 1963, she flew to America, where she starred in her first Hollywood film, Good Neighbor Sam. From the newspapers she learned that Alain was having an affair with the French actress Nathalie Barthelemy. Romy flew home and prayed to God that this was another lie from the newspapers.

He didn’t meet her at the airport, and the house was cold, uncomfortable and empty. When Romi walked into the room, she was stunned: there were black roses on the table and a note next to it. “We were engaged, but did not have time to get married. We only see each other at airports. Our work doesn't give us a chance to be together. I give you back your freedom, but I keep your heart for myself.”

From the outside it seemed that she survived this breakup relatively easily. And only Romy herself knows what was going on in her soul. She didn’t even understand whether she should continue living.

She returned to filming a year later, and the work helped her cope with a personal tragedy. In 1965, Romy again starred in Hollywood with the famous director Woody Allen in the film “What's New, Pussy?”

Life with Harry Mayen

She was saved by the premiere of the film “Good Neighbor Sam”, which received excellent reviews from both critics and viewers. Romy returned to the set. She tried to preserve only the brightest memories about Delon. Subsequently, he became her film partner twice more, but they did not resume their personal relationship.

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In 1965, Romy met Harry Mayen in Germany. They were both invited to the opening of her stepfather's restaurant. Harry was a famous director and actor, but he was married to Anneliese Roemer. Despite this, Romi began a relationship with him. In 1966, Mayen divorced his wife. That same year he married Romy. The young people settled in Germany. Soon the couple had a son, David.

At first everything was fine in the family, but gradually the couple began to move away from each other. In 1973, the couple separated. This time it was Romi who initiated the breakup. Harry remained in Germany, and she and her son moved to Paris.

Family

In the spring of 1965, Romy arrived in Germany, she was invited by her stepfather, who was opening his second restaurant. During the celebration, she met German actor and director Harry Mayen. A romantic relationship began between them. Harry was married, but left his wife for Romy.

Mayen and Schneider began to live together in Grunewald (a district of Berlin). In the summer of 1966, they officially registered their marriage. Romi really wanted to be happy and made every effort to achieve this. But in her diaries she admitted that on the day when she saw black roses on the table, an emptiness settled in her soul forever. Even marriage didn't help.

She was able to feel happy when her first child, son David Christopher Haubenstock, was born on December 3, 1966. For the next two years, the woman devoted herself entirely to her child and family.

The family idyll was disrupted by a telephone call from France in 1968. It was Alain Delon who called, who told Romy that he had divorced his wife Natalie and asked her to become a partner in the film “The Swimming Pool”. She agreed to star in this film, and journalists anticipated the return of stormy love. Alain and Romy had not seen each other for six years; they staged an acting match on the set, reliving their romance. They played so passionately that it is impossible to watch the film without feeling a raw nerve.

For five years she tried to save her family, but the actress’s heart was breaking, her life turned into some kind of chaos. Harry Mayen could not stand it, and in 1973 he and Romy divorced.

Last years

Misfortunes in Romy's life alternated with crazy fame, the peak of her career, love and recognition from fans. She starred with the most famous directors, films with her participation conquered the whole world:

• "Little nothings of life";
• "Max and the Tinsmiths";
• "The Assassination of Trotsky";
• “The main thing is to love”;
• "Simple Story";
• "Train";
• "Blood Connection";
• "Innocent with dirty hands";
• "Woman's Light";
• "Live reporting on death."

But there were no less tragedies in Schneider’s life. My father and stepfather died one after another. Her ex-husband, Harry Mayen, hanged himself with her neckerchief. A fourteen-year-old son suffered a terrible death; he climbed over a fence, lost his balance and fell on a metal stake. The actress began to abuse cigarettes and alcohol heavily. Even another marriage with her personal secretary Daniel Biasini and the birth of her daughter Sarah Magdalena did not save her.

On May 29, 1982, Romy was found at her desk without signs of life. The press wrote about suicide, but doctors named the official cause as heart failure.

More than thirty years have passed, and all the walls of Alain Delon’s dressing room in the theater are hung with her portraits - mysterious and sad, laughing and alive. According to the actor, “she is the most frequent guest in his memories”...

New misfortunes

The official divorce from Mayen was finalized in 1975. At this time, Romy was already infatuated with her personal secretary, who was 11 years younger than her. The young man's name was Daniel Biasini. In September, Romy found out she was pregnant, and in December she married Daniel.

Unfortunately, she lost the child because she was involved in a car accident shortly after the wedding. A year later, Romy became pregnant again. In 1977, she gave birth to a daughter, Sarah. And again, everything turned out great for the actress, but her happiness was short-lived.

In 1979, her ex-husband Harry Mayen hanged himself. Romy blamed herself for this. Relations with Daniel began to deteriorate.

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1981 turned out to be a very difficult year for her. At the beginning of May, she filed for divorce, and at the end of the month she had her kidney removed because a tumor was discovered on it.

In the summer of the same year, her son David died. The boy forgot his keys at home. He decided to climb over the fence, but could not resist and fell straight onto the metal fence stake.

Romi survived this tragedy with great difficulty and began to drink.