Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor, no. 401. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
German postcard by Franz Josef Rüdel Filmpostkartenverlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2638. Photo: Safra / Gloria-Film / Vogelmann. Romy Schneider and Alain Delon in Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 4457. Photo: UFA. This happy picture was shot at the engagement party of Romy Schneider and Alain Delon.
Liebelei
Alain Delon was 22 and Romy Schneider 19 when they first met at the Orly airport in 1958. Austrian Schneider, from a rich, bourgeois theatre family, was already a world star thanks to her role as Empress Elisabeth 'Sissi' of Austria. Delon was a then totally unknown French bad boy and starting actor. Romy didn’t speak French, Alain didn’t speak German, and while she found him uninteresting and in bad taste, he found her unattractive. Schneider initially described Delon in her diaries as "too handsome, too young, too coiffed," but their attraction was undeniable. Despite their initial distrust, Romy chose Alain as her counterpart in the film Christine/Liebelei (1958).
Almost always flanked on set by her mother Magda, Romy Schneider was just 15 when she made her screen debut in Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht/When the White Lilacs Bloom Again (Hans Deppe, 1953). In 1955, she was cast as Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the romantic biopic Sissi (Ernst Marischka, 1955). She reprised the role in two sequels: Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin/Sissi – The Young Empress (Ernst Marischka, 1956) and Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin/Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress (Ernst Marischka, 1957). Sissi brought her immense popularity but also pigeonholed her somewhat. After a series of sentimental films in which she typically played the innocent ingenue, Schneider was desperate to change course.
The producers arranged an interview with the press at Orly airport. Alain Delon recalled years later: "You were arriving from Vienna and I was waiting for you at the Paris airport with a bouquet of flowers that I didn’t know how to hold. But the producers had told me: 'As soon as she comes down the runway go to her and hand her the flowers.' I waited with the flowers in my hand like an imbecile, amidst a horde of photographers. You got off the aeroplane, I approached. You said to your mother, 'That must be Alain Delon, my partner!' Nothing else, no bolt of lightning out of the blue. So I went to Vienna, where the film was being shot, and it was there that I fell madly in love with you. And you fell in love with me."
Christine/Liebelei (1958) tells the tragic history of love between an Austrian officer and a girl of modest condition in Vienna in 1906. The film was directed by Pierre Gaspard-Huit and based on a play by Arthur Schnitzler. The film was a remake of the classic film Liebelei (Max Ophüls, 1933), in which Schneider’s mother, Magda Schneider, played the same role. Christine represented a turning point in Romy Schneider’s career and was the first major test for Alain Delon.
When filming began, the two actors did not get along at all. After the film wrapped, the young couple moved in together in Paris. More than 65 years have passed since the premiere of Christine. At IMDb, Marcin Kukuczka reviews: 'A nice film far from a masterpiece, yet very worth watching as a sentimental, nice movie about gentle love. Yes, after all this time, there is still something valuable to discover. It is a pity that Christine has not become an important part of Romy's filmography because it is clearly Schneider-Delon's moment in the history of cinema.'
West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H, Minden / Westf, no. 454. Photo: Safra / Gloria Film / Vogelmann. Romy Schneider and Alain Delon in Christine/Liebelei (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958).
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 764. Photo: Alain Delon in Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958).
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken / 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 3917. Photo: Speva / Play Art Prod. / N.V. Meteor Film, Amsterdam. Romy Schneider and Alain Delon in Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958).
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken / 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 3918. Photo: N.V. Meteor Film / Speva / Play Art Prod. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958).
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken / 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 3922. Photo: N.V. Meteor Film, Amsterdam/Spava-Play Art Prod. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958).
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken / 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 3919. Photo: Speva / Play Art Prod. / N.V. Meteor Film, Amsterdam. Romy Schneider and Alain Delon in Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958).
A long engagement
In 1959, Romy Schneider took a big step and moved from Berlin to Paris for her great love. The German press and public wanted her to coincide with the image they had created of her and Schneider's engagement with Alain Delon and her move to France brought fury in Germany. "She was the sl*t who had left for France", observed Schneider biographer Alice Schwarzer. The couple announced their official engagement a year later. The engagement party was organised by Romy's mother and stepfather in Morcote, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Lugano, in front of the international press. Although it remained unclear until the very end whether Delon would show up at the party, finally the fairy prince gave his beloved the engagement ring.
In Paris, the roles between the two turned. Schneider had to prove herself professionally in France, while Delon quickly became a leading man and an international sex symbol. The legendary director Luchino Visconti, struck by Delon’s expressive eyes, cast him in Rocco e i suoi fratelli/Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960), then directed both Delon and Schneider on stage in Paris in a production of John Ford’s 'Tis Pity She’s a Whore'. The production broke box office records and was also made as a TV Movie, Dommage qu'elle soit une putain (Luchino Visconti, 1961).
The following year, Romy played Anna in Sacha Pitoeff’s production of Anton Chekhov’s 'The Seagull' and she played Pupe in Visconti's segment Il Lavoro of the anthology film Bocaccio '70 (Luchino Visconti, a.o., 1962). Delon's reputation was further enhanced when he worked with Visconti again in Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963).
The couple spent four years together, during which Delon’s career was reaching new heights, but his lover’s was slowing down. Constant tabloid rumours about Delon’s infidelity did not help. In 1962 the singer and Andy Warhol muse Nico had a child, Ari, believed to be Delon’s. The actor never recognised the boy as his own, but the child was later adopted by Delon’s mother. The couple weathered these early storms, and Delon called Schneider 'puppelé' or 'baby doll'. For a brief moment, Delon and Schneider had it all. Their fairytale romance rivalled anything the actors had portrayed on screen. They were the golden couple of the European cinema which was documented in endless tabloid coverage.
Their wedding was postponed several times. Romy went to Hollywood, where she had a contract with Columbia. When she returned to Paris in late 1963, she received a bunch of red roses and a farewell note from Alain Delon by way of welcome. He had a new love, 22-year-old model Nathalie Barthélémy. He wrote Romy: ‘I give you your freedom and my heart. I left with Nathalie. Forgive me'. Abandoned by Delon, Romy fell into depression. She saw her career grind to a halt despite her outstanding acting skills. The media savoured it.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam, no. 1207, ca. 1959. Photo: Ufa/Film-foto. This happy picture was shot at the engagement party of Romy Schneider and Alain Delon.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 459. Photo: Ufa/Film-Foto. Spanjersberg was the Dutch licence holder for Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof.
German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4456. Photo: UFA. Romy Schneider and Alain Delon engaged.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam. Photo: Ufa/Film-Foto. Spanjerberg was the Dutch licence holder for Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 1204/559. Photo: Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (UFA), Berlin-Tempelhof. Caption: "Gay picture of Romy Schneider during her engagement party." With her brother Wolfi.
La piscine
In 1964, Alain Delon married Nathalie, already pregnant with their son, Anthony, who was born that same year. A devastated Romy Schneider hastily married the German actor and director Harry Meyen in 1966, with whom she had a son, David. Delon continued to be unfaithful after marrying Barthélémy, and his love affair with Schneider also apparently loomed large over their relationship. "He never spoke to me about her," Nathalie Delon said after their marriage ended in 1969. "But sometimes I saw a shadow of sadness in his eyes and I knew it was for Romy".
The end of the 1960s found Delon and Schneider on set together once again. Knowing Schneider was at a low point, Delon is said to have campaigned hard for her to be his co-star in La Piscine/The Swimming Pool (Jacques Deray, 1969), a role earmarked for Monica Vitti. Delon and Schneider shine as the lovers Marianne and Jean-Paul who spend their vacation in and around the pool of a villa on the French Riviera just outside Saint-Tropez. Marianne invites her former lover, Harry (Maurice Ronet) and his seductive eighteen-year-old daughter, Penelope (Jane Birkin), to stay. Tension rises between them, especially when Jean-Paul seduces Penelope. The sensual drama captured the pair at the height of their beauty. La Piscine became a cult success.
La Piscine prompted countless rumours of an off-screen reunion between Delon and Schneider, but their former flame solidified into a lasting friendship. As Schneider said during filming: "The most important man in my life remains Delon. He is always ready to reach out to me. He would run to my aid at any time. Alain has never abandoned me to myself, neither today nor yesterday." Although their passionate relationship had changed completely, a friendship remained for the rest of their lives. They worked together again on the film The Assassination of Trotsky (Joseph Losey, 1972) about the last days of the Russian Revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky (played by Richard Burton) in Mexico.
Romy Schneider continued to work in France throughout the 1970s and worked with director Claude Sautet on five films, including Les choses de la vie/The Things of Life (Claude Sautet, 1970), which made Schneider an icon in France. Her film L'important c'est d'aimer/That Most Important Thing: Love (Andrzej Żuławski, 1975) was especially lauded, earning her the inaugural César Award for Best Actress. Schneider became a style icon of the 1970s, but her personal life was marred by tragedy. After her marriage to Meyen ended in 1975, she married her private secretary, the young Italian-French journalist Daniel Biasini, with whom she had a daughter, Sarah. But the marriage also floundered, and in 1979 her first husband died by suicide, a shock that precipitated her own battles with depression and alcoholism.
In July 1981, her son, David, died in a tragic accident at his grandparents’ house at just 14. He attempted to climb a spiked fence and accidentally punctured his femoral artery. Alain Delon stood by her, but Romy never recovered. In May of the following year, she was found dead in Paris at the home of producer Laurent Petin, to whom she had been linked for a year. Her cause of death was not suicide, but a heart attack. She was 43. Delon arranged the funeral and arranged for her son to be buried in the same grave. Almost 40 years after her death, in 2018 Delon had a message published in Le Figaro: "Rosemarie Albach-Retty a.k.a. Romy Schneider would be 80 years old today, Sunday, 23 September. Let those who loved her and still love her send her a thought. Thank you. Alain Delon."
French postcard by the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris/Imp. Bussière A.G., Paris, 1990. Photo: Roger Pic. Alain Delon in the play Dommage qu'elle soit une p.../Its a pity she's a whore written by John Ford and directed by Luchino Visconti (1961).
French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron, Star 137. Photo: Air France / Distribution VU. Caption: Alain Delon - Romy Schneider, October 1958.
French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris / Saint Dié, no. T 5. Photo: Georges Pierre. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider at a repetition of 'La Mouette' (The Seagull) by Anton Chekhov.
Sources: Giacomo Arico (Vogue), Annabel Nugent (The Independent), Lieke van de Krommenacker (VPRO Cinema - Dutch), Marcin Kukuczka (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb. And recommended: the TV documentary Romy et Alain, les éternels fiancés/Romy Schneider & Alain Delon: An Enduring Passion (Olivier Monssens, 2022).
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