INTRODUCTION

HER STORY

QUOTES

In 1999 the readers of the French newspaper Le Parisien voted her the greatest actress of all time.

"Sissi" (1955) and its two sequels, in which Romy played Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria, the future Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria, brought instant and tremendous fame, yet stereotyped Schneider's image for years to come. Even decades later, Romy absolutely hated it when admirers continued to identify her with the sweetly naive Sissi.

Hollywood failed to use Schneider's talents wisely. Despite a seven-film deal with Columbia, after three movies and barely a year in Beverly Hills, Schneider returned to Europe in the fall of 1964.

French actor Alain Delon Delon was the great love of her life.

Following her burial, it became known that her companion Laurent Petin had buried her with a large amount of gold jewelery, which led to her tomb being ransacked by thieves. She was later reburied in a more secure means.

When Romy died in 1982 the media initially reported that she had killed herself by taking a lethal cocktail of alcohol and barbiturates due to her inability to cope with life's sadness.  However, no post-mortem examination was carried out, and it was later revealed that a heart attack ended her life but to this day the real truth of Romy's death has never been revealed.

Her last movie was 1982's "La Passante du Sans-Souci" (The Passerby). Ironically the movie's story dealt with a mother who is grieving the death of her son.  Romy's 14 year old son David had died the previous year. David had attempted to climb the spiked fence at his stepfather's parents home when he punctured his femoral artery. This last picture was dedicated to her late son and his father.

Romy used to smoke 3 packs of Marlboro a day.  She died with a cigarette in her hand.