Marina Vlady, great figure of French cinema, died at 88

She had toured with Jean-Luc Godard, Marco Ferreri and Orson Welles. The actress and writer died on Thursday September 24. She was 88 years old.

Marina Vlady died Thursday at the age of 88, her family announced to AFP. The actress, who appeared in more than 80 films, has died “at home, surrounded by her loved ones and her animals”. His children greeted “a long and beautiful full life“.

Born Catherine Marina de Poliakoff-Baïdaroff on May 10, 1938 in Clichy, in Hauts-de-Seine, she came from a family of Russian emigrants. Her father, Vladimir Poliakoff, was an opera singer, while her mother, Militza, was a dancer. The young Marina was first destined for dance before turning to cinema.

She took her first steps in front of the camera at just 10 years old in Summer thunderstorm by Jean Gehret, in 1949. She only played a small role as a young roller skater, alongside her older sister Odile Versois. But she really got noticed in 1954, playing in Before the flood by André Cayatte. The film, dedicated to French youth marked by the post-war period, reveals their beauty and talent to the general public. Her performance earned her the Suzanne Bianchetti Prize.

Marina Vlady then took on roles and quickly established herself as one of the notable faces of French and Italian cinema. In The Witch (1956) by André Michel, she plays a free and elusive woman-child, before reuniting with her husband at the time, Robert Hossein, in You, the venom (1959).

She then starred in The Princess of Cleves by Jean Delannoy, where she plays the title role, then in The Marriage Bed by Marco Ferreri, in 1963. In this satire of marriage and Italian society, she plays Regina opposite Ugo Tognazzi. Her performance earned her the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Film for this role.

Three years later, she became Juliette Janson in A couple of things I know about herone of Jean-Luc Godard’s great films. A new collaboration with a major filmmaker. She also shot for Orson Welles: in 1965, Marina Vlady landed a rare role in English in Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight), Shakespearean adaptation directed by Welles. She plays Lady Percy.

But the actress has never limited her commitment to cinema. Very involved in the struggles of her time, she campaigned in particular for the right to abortion even though it was still illegal in France. In 1971, she signed the Manifesto of the 343which brings together women declaring that they have had an abortion. She also takes part in demonstrations against the expulsions of Arab workers in France.

Marina Vlady was also a writer. From the 1980s, she published around ten books, fueled in particular by her family history and her relationship with the Russian poet and singer Vladimir Vissotski. She recounts the latter in Vladimir or the arrested flightpublished in 1987, then delivered his memoirs in 2005 with 24 frames/second.

After a career spanning more than 80 films, Marina Vlady is becoming rarer on screen. His last film role dates back to 2011 with A few days of respitethe film by Amor Hakkar, presented notably at the Sundance festival. She appeared one last time on television in 2016, in the first season of Sat.