Catherine Schell Knihy

"Catherine Schell has lived a life more dramatic and colourful than any of her many acting roles. Her story sweeps from her birth during an allied bombing raid in Budapest, to life under post-war Russian occupation, escape and life as a refugee in Austria, a strict convent school life in America, and on to Germany where she becomes an actress. Whilst international fame would follow through roles in the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises, as well as the iconic role of Maya in popular sci-fi series Space: 1999, the story off camera is all together more human and real. An abusive husband, her father's surrender to Alzheimer's, her brother's paranoid schizophrenia, and a dominant and passionate mother, all play their part in her tale"--P. [4] of book jacket.

How were they to know when they bought the little ruin in deepest France with the sweet name “Valentin” painted across its crumbling façade, that this purchase would be their salvation? She was a well-known actress, he a respected television and theatre director, both leaving behind all that they knew to begin a great, unscripted adventure together in a new country. Immigrating to rural France, they opened a very theatrical, British guest house, where all human life was welcomed. With a colourful cast of characters, the story of their life in France is in part bizarre, hilarious, shocking and sometimes tragic, but always fascinating.