Romy Schneider & Alain Delon: The beginning

Romy Schneider was the stage name of Rosemarie Magalena Albach, the first-born child of actors Wolf Albach-Retty and Magda Schneider. The two were barely present in her childhood years, since they were both very committed to acting. With only 4 weeks-old, Rosemarie was left with her grandparents in Schönau am Königssee. When she was 8 years old, her parents divorced. Romy attended a boarding school and there discovered her talent for acting, painting and drawing.

Rosemarie made her first film debut at 14 years old in the movie When the White Lilacs Bloom Again (1953) alongside her mother and in 1955, she accepted the role of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria in the trilogy Sissi (1955). This was a turning point in her career, she gained an international recognition for the character and was given the nickname “Shirley Tempelhof”, symbolizing her overnight success. On one occasion, Romy, her mother, stepfather, Karlheinz Böhm who played Franz-Josef and Otto von Habsburg flew to Madrid for the premier of the movie. Surely, Otto von Habsburg was the first one to walk down the plane stairs. The silence was deafening! The crowd had been holding their breath to get a glimpse of Romy. Once she exited the plane, the sound of cheers and applause filled the air. There were about 35 000 people who were impatiently waiting to see Romy.

In the book Romy & Alain: Eine Amour fou (2013) Romy shared how preoccupied she was at the time. There were days when she would have to answer 150 and 200 fan letters a day. Her career was managed by her mother and stepfather and she wasn’t particularly happy with it. Romy wanted to take control of her own and to play more complex roles. She didn’t quite like the influence that Sissi’s role had in her further film offers. For the rest of her acting career, she would try to break off from it.

“Sissi sticks to me just like oatmeal.” 

Romy Schneider

In 1958 Romy was ready take a new path and signed for her first foreign role in the movie Christine. Her co-star – Alain Delon, a then unknown 23 year-old French actor who she had selected among hundreds of others, mainly because of his good looks. Alain had a complicated life of his own. His parents divorced when he was 4 years old and then lived with a foster family. He was a rebel, expelled from school because of his behavior and later served 11 months in a military jail for “bad discipline”, too.

When Romy arrived at the Parisian airport for Christine (1958), Alain was already there, waiting for her with a bouquet of scarlet roses. In her diaries she described him as “too handsome, too young, too coiffed,”. They were both not too fond of each other at first and took this to the film set, where they would regularly argue. However, soon after, things took an unexpected turn and when Romy and Alain were done filming, she visited him in Paris. He had already rented an apartment and they began living together.

Romy’s mother didn’t approve of their “free spirited” lifestyle and insisted that Alain would have to commit to her daughter. In 1959 the two got engaged, but their constant explosive fights continued throughout the engagement. Sometimes when fighting he would leave her alone for months and then come back. Romy would easily forgive and take him back.

… To be continued!