Romy Schneider: Austrian actress born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach 23 September 1938, Vienna Austria; died: 29 May 1982, age 43, Paris France; cardiac arrest.
Schneider, the daughter of a German actress, began her career at age 15 in 1953, becoming a star in Europe after portraying the Empress Sissi in 1956 and 1957. Although appearing briefly in Hollywood in the mid-sixties, she worked mostly in France.
Years of heavy smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and drug use – especially after the accidental death of her only son in 1981 – affected her kidney and heart and she died of heart failure in her Paris apartment.