In this episode, we bring you the story of an actress whose off-screen life was as dramatic and tragic as many of the characters she portrayed. Born in Vienna in 1938, Romy Schneider was said to have the star power of Greta Garbo or Marilyn Monroe. 

She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Sissi, aka Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who she embodied in four films (some of which are still shown at holiday time every year in countries from the Netherlands to China). But though she strove to move past this very nationalistic role to play more realistic and naturalistic characters, to her chagrin she was remembered by some her whole life as “Sissi.”

A great beauty and talent, Romy was much beloved by the public for her performances, yet hounded by the press over her personal life.  Our story comes from DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens, a writer, translator and educator, and devotee of tragic glamour. 

Our other DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce things, and comment on the crossover with our last episode, which featured another German-speaking screen icon, the problematic Hildegard Knef.  

For more on Romy Schneider, please visit our episode notes at: 

https://deadladiesshow.com/2023/07/13/podcast-65-romy-schneider/

Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

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Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with another new episode next month.

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The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history.

The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire.

The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.