French actress Marina Vlady has died aged 88, her family confirmed to AFP on Thursday. The star, who appeared in more than 80 films and won an award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963, passed away "at home, surrounded by her loved ones and her animals", her children revealed in a statement celebrating "a long and beautiful life, well lived".
Career Highlights and Collaborations
Throughout her career, Vlady collaborated with cinema legends, including French director Jean-Luc Godard and Hollywood icon Orson Welles. Among the standout performances of her career was La Princesse de Clèves, in which she starred opposite Jean Marais.
Her role in the Italian production "La regina delle Amazzoni" ("The Queen Bee") earned the actress a Golden Globe nomination, while within the French New Wave movement, she featured in Jean-Luc Godard's "Two or Three Things I Know About Her". She won the Best Actress award at Cannes in 1963 for her performance in The Conjugal Bed, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe for the same role.
Personal Life and Political Activism
In 1965, she took on an uncommon English-speaking role in Welles's Shakespearean production Chimes at Midnight. Vlady's personal life featured three marriages: the first to actor and director Robert Hossein from 1955 to 1959, the second to French businessman Jean-Claude Brouillet from 1963 to 1966, and the third to Soviet poet and songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky, whom she wed in 1969 and stayed with, primarily between Paris and Moscow, until his death in 1980.
To maintain the relationship, Vlady became a member of the communist Party of France, which provided her with unrestricted access to the Soviet Union and afforded Vysotsky some protection from state persecution.
Tributes Pour In
Tributes quickly came in for the star, as one fan said: "In France, the renowned actress, singer, and writer Marina Vlady has passed away at the age of 88. In 2022, Vlady sharply condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. She didn't fall for Putin's money. She didn't spoil her own obituary. She was a decent Woman to the end. Peace to her dust."
Another added: "Marina Vlady has left us. A major figure in French cinema, awarded at Cannes in 1963, she leaves behind a rich and eclectic filmography." Her friend Cécile Bois penned: "We met in a forest in Russia, one whole afternoon, where I was lucky enough to have you tell me all about your life. We didn’t just have Robert Hossein in common. We were both lovers. These revelations hint at the secret bond that united the two women. I'm thinking of Pierre, Igor, and Vladimir, whom you cherished so much. Léon and your Vladimir must be so happy to have found their great love again. Robert, perhaps, too. Goodbye, Marina. I will keep everything about you."
