Maria Schell

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)