Marina Vlady

Marina Vlady
Born Marina de Poliakoff-Baidaroff
10 May 1938
Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Occupation Actress
Years active 1949–present
Spouse(s) Robert Hossein (1955–1959)
(divorced)
Jean-Claude Brouillet (1963–1966)
(divorced)
Vladimir Vysotsky (1970–1980)
(his death)[1]
Léon Schwartzenberg (1981–2003)
(his death)

Marina Vlady (born Marina de Poliakoff-Baidaroff in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine on 10 May 1938) is a French actress.

Daughter of Russian immigrants, she won the Best Actress Award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival for The Conjugal Bed.[2] From 1955 to 1959 she was married to actor/director Robert Hossein. From 1963 to 1966 she was married to Jean-Claude Brouillet, a French entrepreneur, owner of two airlines and member of French Resistance during the WW II. From 1969 until his death in 1980 she was married to Russian poet and songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky. From the 1980s until his death in 2003, she lived with a famous French oncologist Léon Schwartzenberg.[3] In 1965 she was a member of the jury at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.[4]

Marina Vlady is the sister of actresses Odile Versois, Hélène Vallier and Olga Baïdar-Poliakoff; her father was a noted artist of Russian heritage. Like her siblings, she began acting as a child and for a while pursued a ballet career. Projecting a more sensual, alluring image than her sisters, she gained international renown. She also starred alongside Jean-Luc Godard as the female lead in 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (1967), and later portrayed the insightful and protective stepmother in the Italian film Il sapore del grano (aka: The Flavor of Corn) (1986). One of her few English-speaking roles was Kate Percy in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight (1966). Her TV credits include the 1983 mini series La Chambre des Dames.

Marina Vlady, 1996

She wrote "Vladimir, or the Aborted Flight" a memoir of her great and tragic relationship with Vladimir Vysotsky, translated into Russian, German, Armenian and many other languages. Marina Vlady was Vladimir Vysotsky's last wife from 1969 to his death in 1980.

Marina had been married before and had 3 children, while Vladimir had two. Fueled by Marina's exotic status as a Frenchwoman in the Soviet Union, and Vladimir's unmatched popularity in his country, their love was passionate and impulsive. They were married in 1969. For 10 years the two maintained a long-distance relationship as Marina compromised her career in France in order to spend more time in Moscow, and Vladimir's friends pulled strings in order for him to be allowed to travel abroad to stay with his wife. Marina eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vladimir with some immunity against prosecution by the government, which was becoming weary of his lyrics, which were satirical of life in the Soviet Union as well as his enormous popularity in Eastern Europe. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs. She had been the stepmother of Arkady and Nikita, Vladimir's sons.

Vlady continues to take pride in her liberal views. For example, she and Léon Schwartzenberg participated in the protests against deportations of Arab workers from France.[5] She also took a role in a movie about a male gay couple from Iran.[6]

Vlady is also continuing her career, both as a writer and as an actress. Among others, she has published a book on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a topic that was close to Vysotsky's heart. While she claims that the roles for an older actress are limited in the movies, she continues acting on stage. She also came out with a one-woman show based on her book about Vysotsky.

Selected filmography

Songs

References

  1. ↑ Караев, Николай. "Марина Влади: Володя живет во мне – всегда". PostTimees. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: The Conjugal Bed". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  3. ↑ "Marina Vlady". Wikipedia.
  4. ↑ "4th Moscow International Film Festival (1965)". MIFF. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  5. ↑ Abdulova, Julia. "Юлия Абдулова: "Родителей познакомил Высоцкий"". gazeta.ru. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Karayev, Nikolai. "Марина Влади: Володя живет во мне – всегда". Postimees. Retrieved 17 May 2013.

External links

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