Having played Sissi in two subsequent sequels, Romy became nauseated by the saccharine “nice girl” image she had fashioned for herself and was determined to make a fresh start. In 1957, Paramount Studios was ready to offer her a three year contract, but her family intervened, thwarting a promising career in America.

In the mid-1960s, Hollywood beckoned and Romy Schneider made a few notable appearances, in Good Neighbor Sam (1964) and What’s New, Pussycat? (1965). Having failed to make much of a mark in America, Romy returned to France.

Romy Schneider’s first movie was Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht (When the White Lilacs Bloom Again) in 1953, credited as Romy Schneider-Albach. In 1954, Schneider for the first time portrayed a royal, playing a young Queen Victoria in the Austrian film Mädchenjahre einer Königin (known in the U.S. as The Story of Vicky and in Britain as Victoria in Dover).

Schneider’s breakthrough came with her portrayal of Elisabeth, Empress Consort of Austria, in the romantic biopic Sissi (1955) and its two sequels, Sissi – The Young Empress (1956) and Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress (1957), all with Karlheinz Böhm, who became a close friend.

Romy Schneider was only 17 when she played the title role in “Sissi”, a romantic movie about the young Bavarian princess that became the empress of Austria. The film was Schneider’s breakthrough — it turned the Austrian-born actress into an instant 1950s film diva.

She didn’t want to be a princess all her life. “Yes, I loved this role back then,” Schneider said. “I was the princess, not just in front of the camera. I was always a princess. But one day I simply did not want to be a princess anymore.”

Despite the success, Schneider was desperate to get away from the naive and innocent characters that she was made to play in post-war Germany. “Sissi sticks to me like oatmeal,” she said.  [via wikipedia and problogs.com]