Born on 23rd September 1938, the daughter of popular Austrian
actor Wolf Albach-Retty and German film star Magda Schneider Romy Schneider began her
own career playing her mother's daughter in 'Wenn der weisse Flieder wieder bluht' (1953).
She took further minor parts in German musicals and romantic comedies, and in 1955
starred in the very popular series 'Sissi', a romanticised bio-pic of the young
Austro-Hungarian Empress Elizabeth. During the filming of 'Christine'(1958), a remake Max Ophuls' 'Liebelei', Magda Schneider's best film, Romy met and fell in love with her co-star Alain Delon. She moved with him to Paris where they became engaged next year. They subsequently co-starred in several films, but did not marry.
In 1960s Romy started a real international career collaborating with such famous directors as Luchino Visconti, Orson Welles, Robert Enrico and Claude Chabrol. In her international films, notably Orson Welles' 'The Trial' (1962), Jacques Deray's 'La piscine' ('The Swimming Pool') (1968) and Claude Sautet's 'Les choses de la vie' ('The Things of Life') (1969) and 'Cesar et Rosalie' ('Cesar and Rosalie') (1972), Romy is revealed in more substantial, harder-edged roles. In 1976 she received Cesar as Best Actress for 'L'important c'est d'aimer' ('The Main Thing Is to Love') and in 1979 she got the same award for 'L'histoire simple' ('A Simple Story').
She married twice, to German actor Harry Meyen (1966-72) and to her secretary, Daniel Biasini. Romy and Biasini married in Berlin in 1975 and separated in 1981, a year before her death. She had a son, David, by her first marriage, and a daughter, Sarah Biasini, born 14th July 1977.
Romy died of a heart attack on 29th May 1982, aged 43. Her final years were beset with tragedy and personal trauma, including serious illness, the suicide of her first husband and the accidental death of her 14-year-old son.
Her daughter Sarah, who resembles her very much, has already got several invitations to star somewhere, but Daniel Biasini doesn't want her to follow her mother's steps.
