September 22, 2020

Her Mom was Loved by Hitler. And She herself - by Alain Delon

On September 23, 1938, in Vienna, a girl named Rosemary Magdalena was born into the acting family of Wolf Albach-Retti and Magda Schneider.

Le vieux fusil (The Old Gun). 1975. Director Robert Enrico. Movie's Rating - 7,864. 904th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

Like most other world movie stars since childhood, Rosemary Magdalena Albach, who later became famous under the name Romy Schneider, dreamed of becoming an actress. At age 14, in her girl diary, 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!"

Le proces (The Trial). 1962. Director Orson Welles. Movie's Rating - 7,815. 960th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

However, there is nothing surprising in this: her paternal grandmother, Rosa Albach-Retti, was a rather famous actress of the Austrian court theater, and her father, Wolf Albach-Retty, was a very famous actor in Austrian, and later German theater and cinema. So famous that after the Anschluss of Austria, Germany Goebbels personally entered his name into the list of national talents, which allowed him to avoid being called up for military service.

Garde a vue (Under Suspicion). 1981. Director Claude Miller.

And the mother of the future star - Magda Schneider - already in the thirties starred in several films very popular in Germany. The recently released German biopic "3 Tage in Quiberon" by Emily Atef, the title of which Russian film distributors translated as "3 days with Romy Schneider", almost completely reproduces the legendary interview given by the Actress to journalist Michael Jurgs and published in the Stern magazine on April 23, 1981 years, almost a year before her death. In this interview, Romy Schneider, emphasizing the uniqueness of her fate, states among other things: "Not everyone can claim that Hitler had a crush on their mother …"

Ludwig. 1973. Director Luchino Visconti.

By the way, a very good film, in my opinion, and to all the fans of Romy Schneider, who have not watched it for one reason or another, I recommend watching it. They managed to pick up a very similar actress for the role of Romy. Although the daughter of the Actress was very unhappy with this film.

Les choses de la vie (The Things of Life). 1970. Director Claude Sautet.

It was Magda Schneider who brought her 14-year-old daughter to the set. And already at the age of 17, Romy became a world-famous actress after playing the title role in the film "Sissy" by Ernst Marischka.

Sissi. 1955. Director Ernst Marischka.

However, one should probably speak about the worldwide fame of this Actress with a well-known caveat: in the USSR, early films with the participation of Romy Schneider were not shown. The first film with her participation, which was officially shown in the Soviet cinema, was "Le vieux fusil (The Old Gun)" by Robert Enrico. But for Romy it was already somewhere in the 47th or 48th role in the movie.

Le vieux fusil (The Old Gun). 1975. Director Robert Enrico. Movie's Rating - 7,864. 904th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

I watched "Le vieux fusil (The Old Gun)" as a student sometime in the year 1976-1977. And, of course, the beauty of Romy Schneider could not leave me, then a 20-year-old student, indifferent. But Romy in this film was already 37 years old.

Cesar & Rosalie. 1972. Director Claude Sautet.

Naturally, after that, I began to follow the scarce information about Romy Schneider, leaking from behind the "Iron Curtain". With a delay of more than 10 years, we, Soviet film lovers, received information about Romy’s romance with Alain Delon, about their breakup and her attempted suicide.

La piscine (The Swimming Pool). 1969. Director Jacques Deray.

And in the beginning of the 80s, two events almost simultaneously took place: another film with her participation leaked to the screens of Soviet cinemas - "La Mort en direct (Death Watch)" by Bertrand Tavernier and almost immediately - news came of the death of the Actress herself. About all the circumstances of the death of the Actress tells the above-mentioned film "3 days with Romy Schneider." There is no point in retelling it. We, as usual, using the actress’s birthday as an occasion, want to remind the best films with her participation.

Max et les ferrailleurs (Max and the Junkmen). 1970. Director Claude Sautet.

During her short life - and she died at the age of 43 - Romy Schneider starred in 60 full-length feature films. Two of these films were included in the Golden Thousand. Thanks to this indicator and her extraordinary beauty, Romy Schneider is included in the list of the 100 most beautiful and sexiest Actresses in the world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand.

L'important c'est d'aimer (The Main Thing Is to Love). 1974. Director Andrzej Zulawski.

Today, when Romy Schneider could have turned 82, we want to remind her fans of shots from the best films with her participation.