Bina Rothschild

Rothschild was born Countess Katharina Eleonore Veronika Irma Luise Henckel von Donnersmarck on 8 February 1902 in Berlin to Count Lazarus Herbert Patrik Valentin Henckel von Donnersmarck and Countess Vera Maria Elisabeth Marequita Maximiliane Charlotte Luise von Kanitz.[1][2] She was a member of the Henckel von Donnersmarck family, an Austro-German noble family that originated in modern-day Slovakia.[3] Her maternal grandfather, Count Georg von Kanitz, was a prominent statesman in the German Empire.

In 1925, she married Baron Erich Max Benedikt von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, the son of Baron Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild and Baroness Minna Karoline von Rothschild.[4][5] Her husband was a member of the Goldschmidt and Rothschild banking dynasties.[4] She gave birth to a son, Baron Patrick Maximilien Goldschmidt-Rothschild, in 1928.[6]

Rothschild played the role of the Queen of Transylvania in the 1964 Lerner and Loewe musical film My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion.[7] She was not trained as an actress, and was considered by Cecil Beaton, an artistic director for the film, to be the only non-actress suitable to play the role, stating that she had "impeccable deportment and breeding."[8]

George Cukor, who directed the film, helped her prepare for the role.[9] Beaton had originally wanted Cukor to cast Fritzi Massary for the role, but she demanded too much pay.[10] The part then went to Rothschild, who was costumed with a triple-pronged tiara and three-tiered diamond necklace designed by Beaton.[10]

She died on 6 October 1965, aged 63.

• Baroness Rothschild IMDB