Maria Schell

Maria Schell
Maria Schell
	Maria Schell in Le notti bianche (1957)
Born	Maria Margarethe Anna Schell; 15 January 1926; Vienna, Austria
Died	26 April 2005 (aged 79); Preitenegg, Austria
Occupation(s)	Actress, producer
Years active	1942–1996
Spouse(s)	Horst Hächler (m. 1957; div. 1965); Veit Relin (m. 1966; div. 1986)
Children	2
Relatives	Maximilian Schell (brother)

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.^[1]^[2] Her parents were Roman Catholics.^[2] She was the older sister of actor Maximilian Schell and lesser-known actors Carl Schell (1927–2019) and Immaculata "Immy" Schell (1935–1992).

After the Anschluss in 1938, her family moved to Zürich in Switzerland. Maria Schell began commercial training, but soon entered the film business when she met the Swiss actor and director Sigfrit Steiner.

Career

Schell premiered in Steiner's 1942 film Steibruch, side by side with the well-known Swiss actor Heinrich Gretler, and took acting lessons for several theatre engagements. After World War II, she was cast in her first leading role in the 1948 film The Angel with the Trumpet, directed by Karl Hartl. She starred in such films as The Magic Box, Dr. Holl (1951), So Little Time (1952), The Heart of the Matter (1953). Her emotional acting earned her the nickname Seelchen ("little soul"), coined by her colleague Oskar Werner.

Charlotte Sheffield, Maria Schell and Celeste Holm, 1958

The 1956 film Gervaise directed by René Clément was also a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; while in Hollywood, Schell met with Yul Brynner, who urged for her casting in The Brothers Karamazov (1958) in the role of Grushenka. Schell also starred with Gary Cooper in The Hanging Tree (1959), and with Glenn Ford in Cimarron (1960). Other famous movie parts included Le notti bianche (1957), Rose Bernd (1957), and Superman (1978). Schell played Mother Maria in the sequel to Lilies of the Field titled Christmas Lilies of the Field. In 1959 she appeared on What's My Line? as the mystery guest. In 1970, Schell starred opposite Christopher Lee in The Bloody Judge by Jesús Franco.

Schell in Amsterdam, 1976

In 1976, she starred in a Kojak episode, and also had three guest appearances in the German television series Der Kommissar and two in Derrick, in the episodes "Yellow He" (1977) and "Klavierkonzert" (1978). Schell appeared on stage, including an acclaimed performance in the 1976 Broadway play Poor Murderer by Pavel Kohout and the leading role in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play The Visit with the Schauspielhaus Zürich ensemble.

Personal life

Schell was married twice – first to film director Horst Hächler (divorced in 1965), and second to director Veit Relin (divorced in 1986). Her daughter by her second marriage, actress Marie Theres Relin (born 1966), was married to Bavarian playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz, and has three children; she made a media and internet appearance as a spokeswoman for housewives (If Pigs Could Fly. Die Hausfrauenrevolution, 2004).

Affair with Glenn Ford

Schell admitted to carrying on a passionate love affair with Glenn Ford in 1960 on location of their film Cimarron. Ford's son Peter confirmed her story in his 2011 biography Glenn Ford: A Life.^[3] 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.^[4]

Death

Maria Schell's last years were overshadowed by her ill health. She attempted suicide in 1991, and suffered repeated strokes. 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.^[5] 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, ISBN 3-7844-2072-9.
1998: "... und wenn's a Katz is!" Mein Weg durchs Leben. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach, ISBN 3-404-12784-6.

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),^[6] 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
Zwei Whisky und ein Sofa [de] (1963), as Beate Dehn
L'assassin connaît la musique... [de] (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
Change (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^[7]
2008: Maria Schell street named in Landstrasse (Vienna's 3rd District, area Aspanggründe / Euro-gate)

References

^ Maximillian Schell Film Reference biography
^ ^a ^b Ross, Lillian and Helen. The Player: A Profile of an Art, Simon & Schuster (1961) pp. 231-239
^ Ford, Peter. Glenn Ford: A Life (Wisconsin Film Studies). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011. p.193-195 and p.198-199 ISBN 978-0-29928-154-0
^ Ford, Peter. Glenn Ford: A Life (Wisconsin Film Studies). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011. p.290 and p.308-309 ISBN 978-0-29928-154-0
^ Brain Baxter (April 28, 2005). "Maria Schell". The Guardian. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
^ The Last Bridge
^ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF) (in German). p. 1495. Retrieved 18 January 2013.

External links

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

[1] Maximillian Schell Film Reference biography

[Ross-2] Ross, Lillian and Helen. The Player: A Profile of an Art, Simon & Schuster (1961) pp. 231-239

[3] Ford, Peter. Glenn Ford: A Life (Wisconsin Film Studies). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011. p.193-195 and p.198-199 ISBN 978-0-29928-154-0

[4] Ford, Peter. Glenn Ford: A Life (Wisconsin Film Studies). Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011. p.290 and p.308-309 ISBN 978-0-29928-154-0

[5] Brain Baxter (April 28, 2005). "Maria Schell". The Guardian. Retrieved January 9, 2022.

[6] The Last Bridge

[7] "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF) (in German). p. 1495. Retrieved 18 January 2013.

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