Actress Marina Vlady, widow of Vladimir Vysotsky, has died

Actress Marina Vlady has died in France. She achieved worldwide fame for her roles in European cinema and for her marriage to the Soviet poet, actor and musician Vladimir Vysotsky. According to those close to her, she passed away at home, surrounded by the people and animals she loved.

A childhood in a Russian émigré family

The future star was born on 10 May 1938 in the French town of Clichy under the name Marina Catherine de Poliakoff-Baidarova. Her father came from Russia and had supported the White movement during the Civil War, while her mother was Serbian. Marina was the youngest of four sisters, all of whom went on to become actresses. Marina outlived them all.

First roles and marriage to Robert Hossein

The actress made her debut in the film "Orage d'été", in which she starred alongside her sisters Odile and Olga. She later worked in Italy, appearing, among other films, in the comedy "Le infedeli" alongside Gina Lollobrigida. In 1955, in the film "Sophie et le crime", all four sisters appeared on screen together for the first time, and that same year Marina married the actor and director Robert Hossein, who did much to shape her as a performer.

With Hossein she starred in the films "Toi, le venin", "Les salauds vont en enfer" and "In the Stream" — the latter partly filmed in Czechoslovakia.

International acclaim, Godard and Orson Welles

One of the defining roles of Vlady's career was "La Princesse de Clèves", in which her on-screen partner was Jean Marais. For her part in the Italian film "La regina delle Amazzoni" ("The Queen Bee"), the actress received a Golden Globe nomination, and in the French New Wave she appeared in Jean-Luc Godard's "Two or Three Things I Know About Her".

Vlady also appeared in English-language projects — she herself held her collaboration with Orson Welles on the film "Chimes at Midnight" in especially high regard. The actress also appeared in a remake of "The Thief of Bagdad" alongside Kabir Bedi, and in 1989 she directed the film "Follow Me" in Germany, which featured a number of Czechoslovak émigrés, including Pavel Landovský.

After that, Vlady acted only rarely, and formally ended her career in 2018. A notable exception came in 2000, when she took the lead role in the series "Victoria, or the Pain of Women".

Championing women's rights and three marriages

Besides her film career, Vlady was known as an outspoken advocate for women's rights: she signed a manifesto in support of legalizing abortion in France. Together with her partner Léon Schwartzenberg, she also protested against the deportation of Arab workers from the country.

The actress was married three times. After her marriage to Robert Hossein, she married the military pilot Jean-Claude Brouillet, and from 1970 to 1980 her husband was the Soviet musician and poet Vladimir Vysotsky. Vlady is survived by three children.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz