Maria Schneider (actress) miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth" (1979), in which Schneider said she did not feel right for the part of Mary, mother of Jesus, though later regretted missing out on this opportunity and instead eventually appeared in Zeffirelli's 1996 film "Jane Eyre" in a brief appearance as Bertha Mason. The 1970s were turbulent years for Schneider, marked by drug addiction, overdoses, and a suicide attempt. Schneider said that she disliked the instant fame accorded to her from "Last Tango in Paris". She suffered abuse and began taking drugs. By the 1980s, however, her life had improved: Schneider died of breast cancer on
Romy Schneider Romy Schneider Romy Schneider (23 September 1938 – 29 May 1982) was a film actress born in Vienna who held German and French citizenship. She started her career in the German genre in the early 1950s when she was 15. From 1955 to 1957, she played the central character of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the Austrian "Sissi" trilogy. Schneider moved to France where she made successful and critically acclaimed films with some of the most notable film directors of that era. Schneider was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach in Vienna into a family of actors that included her paternal grandmother