I’ve long admired Romy Schneider's uncomplicated yet always on-point style. She’s considered one of France’s greatest stars and is well documented on and off duty, most often photographed with a radiant smile. It wasn’t until recently that I learned the famous smile belied the heartbreak and tragedy that marred her too-short life.
Born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach on September 23, 1938, in Vienna, Schneider entered the world just six months after Germany annexed Austria. Her parents, Magda Schneider and Wolf Albech-Retty, were prominent actors in Austria and Germany. At one month old, her parents, busy with their careers, sent her to live with her maternal grandparents on their estate in the countryside, where she was raised primarily by governesses. After her parents divorced, she attended Castle Goldenstein, an all-girls boarding school. There, she began acting in school plays.
At 15, her mother suggested her for a part in a movie she was starring in. From the start, she adopted her nickname Romy professionally. More roles followed until her big break came in 1955 when she was cast as the young Empress Elizabeth of Austria, in the first of the Sissi trilogy. The Sissi movies were wildly popular and made her an international star, but also typecast her as the innocent ingenue, an image she wanted to shed for more serious roles.
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