German motion-picture actress.

The popular Sissi series of movies about the Austro-Hungarian royal family brought the daughter of actor Wolf Albach-Retty and 1930s film star Magda Schneider popular recognition throughout the German-speaking world in the 1950s as Elizabeth of Austria. By 1962 when a condemned compilation of these films was released in the United States as Forever, My Love, her range had broadened to include critically admired performances in Boccaccio '70 (1962) and Le Procès (1962; “The Trial”).

Schneider, projecting a vivacious and witty sexuality, appeared in L'Assassinat de Trotsky (1972; “The Assassination of Trotsky”) and César et Rosalie (1972; “Cesar and Rosalie”) and in such American films as The Cardinal (1963), The Victors (1963), and Good Neighbor Sam (1964). In Les Choses de la vie (1969; “The Things of Life”) and Une Histoire simple (1978; “A Simple Story”) she proved herself a natural and gifted comedienne.