Fashion Inspiration - Romy Schneider

Today's 'Fashion Inspiration' post is a bit different because the inspiration is not based on a theme this time, but rather on a person. This person being legendary Austrian-German actress Romy Schneider.

photo courtesy moviemarket.co.uk

I had never heard of Romy Schneider until I came across a photo of her after browsing various websites for style inspirations. I was struck by her regal beauty and her classic, feminine sense of style.

I was so intrigued that I did some reading about her and found that she had an interesting life that unfortunately ended in tragedy.

Romy Schneider was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach-Retty in Austria in 1938. She made her film debut in Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht (When the White Lilacs Bloom Again) in 1953.

Her breakthrough role was that of Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria, the later Empress Consort of Austria, in the romantic biopic Sissi (1955) and its two sequels, Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956) and Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957).

Romy soon starred in Christine (1958), a remake of Max Ophüls's 1933 film Liebelei (itself based upon a play by Arthur Schnitzler). During the filming of Christine, Romy met and fell in love with French actor Alain Delon, who co-starred in the movie. She left Germany to join Alain in Paris and then became engaged to him in 1959.

Romy appeared in a few Hollywood films which included Good Neighbor Sam, a 1964 comedy with Jack Lemmon, and 1965 What's New, Pussycat? costarring Peter O'Toole.

Romy and Alain decided to split in 1963 but still continued a lifelong friendship. She married Harry Meyen, a German director and actor in 1966 but they later divorced in 1975. The couple had a son, David Christopher Meyen (1966–1981). In 1975, Romy married Daniel Biasini, her private secretary but they separated in 1981. Their daughter Sarah Magdalena Biasini was born July 14, 1977 and she also became an actress.

Romy created one of the most memorable moments on German television on October 30, 1974. She was the second guest on Dietmar Schönherr's talk show Je später der Abend (The later the evening) and after a brief interview, she said passionately to the last guest, bank robber and author Burkhard Driest: "Sie gefallen mir. Sie gefallen mir sehr." which translates to "I like you. I like you a lot."

On July 5, 1981, when her son David was 14, he attempted to climb the spiked fence at his stepfather's parents home when he was killed by puncturing his femoral artery. After this tragic incident, Romy began consuming excessive amounts of alcohol and was found dead in her apartment in Paris on May 29, 1982. It was assumed that she had committed suicide by taking a lethal mix of alcohol and sleeping pills, however no post-mortem examination was carried out. Later it was declared that she died from cardiac arrest.

Romy's last film was La Passante du Sans-Souci (The Passerby), 1982.

German actress Yvonne Catterfeld is to portray Romy Schneider in a biopic about her life titled Eine Frau wie Romy (A Woman Like Romy) which is slated to be released in 2009.

(Source)