Romy Schneider

 Born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach, the daughter of German film star Magda Schneider and Austrian actor Wolf Albach-Retty. She made her film debut at the age of 15 in the West German production, "Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht" (When the White Lilacs Bloom Again 1953). Her career was made, however, by the Sissi trilogy: "Sissi" (1955), "Sissi: The Young Empress" (1956) and "Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress" (1957), the highly romanticized life of Elisabeth of Austria. Other French and German films included "Christine" (1958), "Ein Engel auf Erden" (An Angel on Wheels, 1959) and "Katia" (1960). A foray in Hollywood resulted in "The Cardinal" (1963), "Good Neighbor Sam" (1964), "What's New Pussycat?" (1965), and a guest appearance on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In." During the 1970s, she worked largely in France, appearing in "Les choses de la vie (The Things of Life, 1970), "Max et les ferrailleurs" (Max and the Junkmen, 1971), "César et Rosalie" (1972), "Le Train" (1973), "Les innocents aux mains sales" (Innocents with Dirty Hands, 1975) and "Une histoire simple" (A Simple Story, 1978) which won her a César Award. In 1981, the death of her 14 year old son in an accident led to depression and alcohol and drug abuse. She was found dead in her Paris apartment in May, 1982. Speculation suggested that she had committed suicide, but the official cause of death was stated to be cardiac arrest. Her last film, "La passante du Sans-Souci" (1982) had been released only one month before. In 2006, she was ranked #3 in a survey of Germany's all-time favorite actors, she was the highest-ranked woman.