Maria Schell

Maria Schell Born January 15, 1926 in Vienna, Austria Died April 26, 2005 in Preitenegg, Carinthia, Austria (pneumonia) Birth Name Anna Maria Margarete Schell Nickname Seelchen Maria Schell studied in a religious institution in Colmar (Haut-Rhin, France). She received a dramatic training in Zurich, Switzerland. To pay her studies, she was a secretary there. Besides being a film star; Maria appeared in plays in Zurich, Basel, in Vienna (Josefstad Theater), Berlin, Munich (Kammerspiel Theater), at the Salzburg Festival and went on provincial tours from 1963. Among the plays she performed there were such classics as William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Faust" and such modern classics as "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw. Spouse (2) Veit Relin (1966 - 1986) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Horst Hächler (26 April 1957 - 1965) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Mother of Oliver Hächler (b. 1962, now known as Oliver Schell, with Horst Hächler) and actress Marie Theres Relin (b. 30 June 1966, with Veit Relin). Sister of Immy Schell, Maximilian Schell and Carl Schell. Daughter of writer Ferdinand Hermann Schell and actress Margarete Schell Noé. After the Nazis entered Austria in 1938, her family left Vienna and moved to Zurich, Switzerland. Became one of the first movie idols to the postwar generation in the German-speaking countries with her distinctive "smile under tears". Her brother Maximilian Schell made a movie about her in 2002 called My Sister Maria (2002) (aka "Meine Schwester Maria"). Considered 99 Women (1969) (aka "Island of Despair") to be her worst picture. Her breakthrough performance was in Helmut Käutner's The Last Bridge (1954) (aka "Die letzte Brücke"), a touching performance as a tragic heroine, which won her the Best Actress Award at Cannes. Aunt of Nastassja Schell. She was the daughter of Hermann Ferdinand Schell, a Swiss writer, and Margarete Schell Noé, an Austrian actress. Her three siblings, Carl Schell, Maximilian Schell, and Immy Schell, also joined the acting profession. Pictured on an Austrian 68c commemorative postage stamp issued 24 April 2015, two days before the tenth anniversary of her death. She only appeared in one film with her younger brother Maximilian Schell: The Odessa File (1974). Both she and her younger brother Maximilian Schell worked with Hardy Krüger: Maria in As Long as You're Near Me (1953) and Maximilian in A Bridge Too Far (1977). Personal Quotes (2) Memory is the most important thing in life, nobody can take it from you. [on Mercedes McCambridge] A very good actress.