Maria Schell - WikiHQ

Maria Margarethe Anna Schell (15 January 1926 – 26 April 2005) was an Austrian-Swiss actress. She was one of the leading stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, she was awarded the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance in Helmut Käutner's war drama The Last Bridge, and in 1956, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for Gervaise.

Early life

Schell was born in the Austrian capital Vienna, the daughter of actress Margarethe (née Noé von Nordberg; 1905–1995), who ran an acting school, and Hermann Ferdinand Schell (1900–1972), a Swiss poet, novelist, playwright, and owner of a pharmacy. Her parents were Roman Catholics. In 1981, Schell gave Ford a dachshund puppy which he named Bismarck. The dog became his favorite and a constant source of comfort for him in his later years when he became ill and bedridden. After the dog's death, he had it cremated and requested that its ashes be buried with him upon his death, which they were when Ford died in 2006.

Death

Maria Schell's last years were overshadowed by her ill health. She attempted suicide in 1991, and suffered repeated strokes. A TV documentary in 1997 by "Lebensläufe" describes her career and shows a recent interview on the subject. Her final public appearance was at the premiere of her brother Maximilian's documentary film My Sister Maria (2002); both were awarded the Bambi Award for their work.

Schell lived reclusively in the remote village of Preitenegg, Carinthia, in the Austrian Alps until her death from pneumonia on 26 April 2005, aged 79. Upon her death, her brother released a statement, stating in part: "Towards the end of her life, she suffered silently, and I never heard her complain. I admire her for that. Her death might have been for her a salvation. But not for me. She is irreplaceable."

Autobiographical works

1985: Die Kostbarkeit des Augenblicks. Gedanken, Erinnerungen. Langen Müller, München, .
1998: "... und wenn's a Katz is!" Mein Weg durchs Leben. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach, .

Filmography

Steibruch (1942), as Meiti / Gretl
The Angel with the Trumpet (1948), as Selma Rosner
Maresi (1948), as Blanka von Steinville - The Daughter
After the Storm (1948), as Gretel Aichinger
The Last Night (1949)
The Angel with the Trumpet (1950), as Anna Linden
A Day Will Come (1950), as Madeleine
Dr. Holl (1951), as Angelika Alberti
The Magic Box (1951), as Helena Friese-Greene
So Little Time (1952), as Nicole de Malvines
Until We Meet Again (1952), as Pamela
Dreaming Lips (1953), as Elisabeth
As Long as You're Near Me (1953), as Eva Berger
Diary of a Married Woman (1953), as Barbara Holzmann
The Heart of the Matter (1953), as Helen Rolt
The Last Bridge (1954), as Dr. Helga Reinbeck
Master of Life and Death (1955), as Barbara Bertram, geb. Hansen
Napoléon (1955, by Sacha Guitry), as Marie-Louise, Napoleon's Austrian wife
Die Ratten (1955), as Pauline Karka
Gervaise (1956, by Rene Clement, from Émile Zola's L'Assommoir), as Gervaise Macquart Coupeau, une blanchisseuse douce et courageuse
Love (1956), as Anna Ballard
Rose Bernd (1957), as Rose Bernd
Le notti bianche (1957), as Natalia
The Brothers Karamazov (1958), as Grushenka
One Life, by Alexandre Astruc (1958, from an eponym novel by Guy de Maupassant), as Jeanne Dandieu épouse de Lamare
Der Schinderhannes (1958), as Julchen
The Hanging Tree (1959), as Elizabeth Mahler
As the Sea Rages (1959), as Mana
Cimarron (1960), as Sabra Cravat
The Mark (1961), as Ruth Leighton
Das Riesenrad (1961), as Elisabeth von Hill
Only a Woman (1962), as Lilli König
' (1963), as Beate Dehn
' (1963), as Agnès Duvillard
The Devil by the Tail (1969), as Countess Diane
99 Women (1969), as Leonie Caroll
The Bloody Judge (1970), as Mother Rosa
La Provocation (1970), as Jeanne
Dans la poussière du soleil (1972), as Gertie Bradford
Chamsin (1972), as Miriam
Die Pfarrhauskomödie (1972), as Irma
The Odessa File (1974), as Frau Miller
' (1975), as Mama
The Twist (1976), as Gretel
Voyage of the Damned (1976), as Mrs. Hauser
Kojak - Season 4, Episode 11: "The Pride and the Princess" (1976), as Sister Lepar Angelica / Princess Viva Dushan
Derrick (1977–1978), as Luisa van Doom / Erika Rabes
Superman (1978), as Vond-Ah
Christmas Lilies of the Field (1979), as Valeska Piontek
The Martian Chronicles mini-series - Season 1 (1980), as Anna Lustig
Frau Jenny Treibel (1982, TV film), as Jenny Treibel
Inside the Third Reich (1983), as Mrs. Speer
Král Drozdia Brada (1984), as královna, Michalova matka
1919 (1985), as Sophie Rubin
Die glückliche Familie (1987–1991, TV Series), as Maria Behringer

Decorations and awards

1951–1957, 1987, 2002: Bambi Award
1954: Honorable Mention at the Cannes International Film Festival for The Last Bridge
1956: Volpi Cup at the Venice International Film Festival for Gervaise
1957 and 1958: Golden and Silver Bravo Otto
1974: Merit Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany
1977: German Film Awards, Gold Award for many years of excellent work in the German film industry
1980: Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1983: Golden Camera
2002: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
2008: Maria Schell street named in Landstrasse (Vienna's 3rd District, area Aspanggründe / Euro-gate)

References

External links

Obituary: Maria Schell (1926-2005)
Photographs and literature
Maria Schell Estate at Deutsches Filminstitut, Frankfurt am Main