French-Russian Actress Marina Vlady Dies at 88
- French-Russian actress, singer, and writer Marina Vlady died on Thursday, September 24, at the age of 88, her family informed AFP, according to BFM.TV and UNN.
- Born Catherine-Marina Poliakova-Baidarova on May 10, 1938, in Clichy, Vlady came from a family of Russian émigrés who fled the 1917 Revolution.
- Throughout her career, Vlady appeared in more than 80 films, working with notable directors across European cinema.
French-Russian actress, singer, and writer Marina Vlady died on Thursday, September 24, at the age of 88, her family informed AFP, according to BFM.TV and UNN. Vlady’s children said she died at home, surrounded by her loved ones and her animals, paying tribute to a long and beautiful life well lived.
Early Life and Career Transition to Acting
Born Catherine-Marina Poliakova-Baidarova on May 10, 1938, in Clichy, Vlady came from a family of Russian émigrés who fled the 1917 Revolution. Her father, opera singer Vladimir Poliakov-Baidarov, left Russia during World War I, while her mother, ballerina Militsa Envald, emigrated to France in 1919. Vlady initially trained as a young dancer at the Paris Opera before transitioning to acting, adopting her stage name following her father’s death. She secured her first film role at the age of 10 in Jean Gehret’s 1949 film Summer Storm
(Orage d’été
).
International Film Success and Cannes Recognition
Throughout her career, Vlady appeared in more than 80 films, working with notable directors across European cinema. At just 17 years old, she married director Robert Hossein, appearing in four of his films: The Scoundrels Go to Hell
(Les salauds vont en enfer
, 1955), Forgive Our Sins
(Pardonnez nos offenses
, 1956), You Are the Poison
(Toi, le venin
, 1958), and Night of Spies
(La Nuit des espions
, 1959). Together, they formed one of the most prominent cinema couples of that era. From her first marriage to Hossein, she had two sons, Igor and Peter.
Vlady reached a major career milestone in 1963 when she won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Marco Ferreri’s film The Conjugal Bed
(Le Lit conjugal
), an accolade that also earned her a Golden Globe. During the 1960s, she collaborated with French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard on Two or Three Things I Know About Her
(Deux ou trois choses que je sais d’elle
). In 1965, she took on a rare English-speaking role in Orson Welles’s Shakespearean drama Chimes at Midnight
. Later in the 1970s and 1980s, she appeared in popular comedies such as Jean Yanne’s Everyone He Is Nice, Everyone He Is Beautiful
(Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil
) and Jean-Marie Poiré’s Twist Again in Moscow
(Twist again à Moscou
).
Later Marriages and Literary Work
Beyond her film work, Vlady found success in music by recording two albums with her sisters, and she also established herself as a writer. From 1970 to 1980, she was married to poet and bard Vladimir Vysotsky, whom she met in 1967. The marriage lasted until Vysotsky’s death in 1980, making her his last wife. Vlady later married oncologist Léon Schwartzenberg, her fourth husband, with whom she lived for 23 years until his death in 2003.
