Maria Schell, 79; German Film Star
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Maria Schell, an icon of the German-speaking film world who achieved international fame before withdrawing into retirement, only to return in dozens of memorable character roles, died Tuesday in Preitenegg, Germany.
Best known internationally for her role as the enigmatic Grushenka in Richard Brooks’s 1958 movie, “The Brothers Karamazov,” Schell starred in dozens of popular German-language films in the 1950s. She later made hundreds of television appearances to become an idol to the postwar generation in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
Recognition came early. She first stood in front of the cameras at age 16 in the Swiss film “Der Steinbruch,” (“The Quarry”).Though a limited success, the film led Schell to turn to professional coaching, and she did not appear in another film until six years later, when she starred in the 1948 production Karl Hartl’s “Der Engel mit der Posaune.”
An Austro-German production, the film was known in an English-language version as “The Angel With the Trumpet,” bringing Schell the first measure of world recognition.
Internationally, Schell also starred in “The Hanging Tree” (1959), and “Cimarron” (1960), and dozens of other productions in supporting roles.
Retirement in 1963 was short-lived. Schell returned to acting just five years later in roles that included Albert Speer’s mother in the television production “Inside the Third Reich.”
Born to a Swiss writer and an Austrian actress, Schell had three siblings – among them, younger brother and fellow actor, Maximilian.
“Men come and go, but you cannot lose a brother,” she would later say of her close relationship with Maximilian.
But publicly, she was most associated in the 1950s with Austrian actor O.W. Fischer. Together they starred in a series of frothy love stories that captured the hearts of the postwar German-speaking generation.
Schell was honored as best actress at the Cannes film festival in 1954 for her portrayal of Helga Reinbeck in “Die Letzte Bruecke” (“The Last Bridge”).
Her two marriages ended in divorce, the last one in 1988 after 22 years with Austrian actor and director Veit Relin.
Her last years were spent in isolation – close associates said she surrounded herself in her Preitenegg home with television sets for video replays of her own favorite starring roles.
