Born as: Katherina von Schell
born on: July, 17, 1944 in Budapest/Hungary
citizenship: formerly American, now British
height: 5'7"
eye-colour: blue
hair-colour: fair
married to: Bill Hays (since December 1982)
formerly married to: (William Marlowe from 1968 to 1977)
Father: Baron Paul Schell von Bauschlott (+)
Mother: Baroness Kati Schell von Bauschlott (+)
Brothers: Peter (+), Paul, who was married to german actress Hildegard Knef (+)
Stepchildren: Joanna and Daniel

Catherine Schell comes out of a german aristocratic family which settled in Hungary in the 18th century. They were one of the richest families around, but lost all their estates and properties at the beginning of World War II, when they were seized by the German Nazis. They even had to escape from Budapest, and fled from Hungary by car to Vienna/Austria and later to Salzburg, where they stayed for two years.

Then the family moved to USA, just outside of Washington, D.C., where Catherine went to school first. Later she went to school in Staten Island/New York and became an american citizen. At the age of 13 Catherine and her father got an invitation to work for Radio Free Europe. Catherine continued her education at the American High School in Munich/Germany.

When she was 16, she took drama lessons at the Munich drama school. She then made radio plays and lots of films under her name Katherina von Schell and later Catherina von Schell. The first leading role was in the film "Lana, Queen of the Amazons" filmed in Berlin and Brazil.

Back in Munich she starred in Edgar Wallaces's "Traitor's gate". In 1968 she met actor William Marlowe on the set of "Amsterdam affair". They fell in love, married and settled in London. And she changed her name to Catherine Schell. After six years she and Marlow separated and were divorced in 1977. They played together again in the 1982 episode of the british TV series "The Gentle touch", Marlowe as police inspector and Schell as a prostitute.

In 1976 Catherine had two of her biggest successes: In "Return of the Pink Panther" she played Lady Claudine Litton in her best movie ever and became world famous. Also in 1976 she portrayed the beautiful alien Maya in "Space: 1999" which became her greatest success on television. For this role she won an "Otto" from the german magazine BRAVO for best actress 1978.

In 1975 Catherine met director Bill Hays in a BBC bar. Two years later he directed her in the series "Looking for Clancy". They married in December 1982 and since then Catherine is stepmother to two children of Hays' first marriage: Joanna and Daniel.

One of her later successes on televison was "Wish me luck" in 1989, a wartime drama in which she played resistance leader Virginia/Dominique in the third season of the series. Bill Hays directed the show. During being on location in France Catherine and Bill bought a wonderful old house which they renovated and since January 1995 live in and use as a private guest house. They even won a price for best renovation for their house.

At the end of the 90's Catherine gave up acting, because less and less roles were offered to her. More important, she found a new living in France with her Bed and Breakfast-Service. As it is possible to visit her there, it happened that already a lot of her fans had stayed one or more in Catherine's and Bill's guest house. In her free time, she paints old furniture with art nouveau and flowers and writes treatments or books. Her latest is a novel called "When God was out to lunch".

2004 marked the return of Catherine Schell to television after an almost eight year absence, when she reached the fifth place in the ranking of the "Ultimate Top 10 Sci-Fi-Aliens" in a show for Sky Television, England.