Maria Schneider (actress)
Encyclopedia
Maria Schneider was a French actress. She was best known for playing Jeanne, opposite Marlon Brando
, in the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris
.
: "He was fat and sweaty and very manipulative, both of Marlon and myself, and would do certain things to get a reaction from me." As for her working relationship with Brando, she said that, while their relationship on the set was paternal, it was Brando who came up with the sodomy
scene where butter was used as lubricant, and it was not revealed to her until just before it was filmed:
Schneider and Brando remained friends until his death, although they did not speak of the movie "for a while." She also said that her experience with the film – and her treatment as a sex symbol rather than as a serious actress – motivated her never to work nude again. She also appeared in films such as Antonioni
's The Passenger
and Zeffirelli
's Jane Eyre
.
She worked in over 50 films and television productions between 1969 and 2008. During her career she was a strong advocate for improving the work of women in film.
In 2001, she was the guest of honor at the 23rd Festival Créteil Films de Femmes. In a master class at the festival, she called film "a tracing of memory", and said that women must be recognized as actors and directors. She also brought attention to the importance of assisting senior French actors who become unemployed and impoverished. She was chosen to be Vice-President of La Roue Tourne, an organization in Paris designed for this purpose. According to Schneider, Marcel Carné
, director of Children of Paradise
(1945) and one of the most important directors of the late 1930s, would have died in poverty. La Roue Tourne supported him for the last ten years of his life.
Schneider was awarded the medal of Chevalier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
for her contributions to the arts on 1 July 2010 by Minister of Culture and Communication
, Frédéric Mitterrand
, who was her fellow actor in Jacques Rivette
's film, Merry-Go-Round (1981 film)
, released in 1977.
and Romanian-born Marie-Christine Schneider, who ran a bookstore in Paris. She met her father only three times and took her mother's last name. In 1974, Schneider came out
as bisexual. In early 1976, she abandoned the film set of Caligula
and checked herself into a mental hospital
in Rome for several days to be with her lover, photographer Joan Townsend. This, coupled with her refusal to perform nude, led to Schneider's dismissal and she was replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy
.
The 1970s were turbulent years for Schneider, marked by drug addiction, overdoses, and a suicide attempt. Schneider said that she disliked the instant fame accorded to her from Last Tango in Paris. She suffered abuse and began taking drugs.
By the 1980s, however, her life had improved:
Despite her "mystery" comment, Schneider's MySpace fan page indicates her "angel" turned out to be her long time companion Maria Pia Almadio, with photos of Pia at the funeral.
She died from cancer on 3 February 2011 at age 58. Remembering her, Bertolucci said, "Her death came too soon, before I could hold her again tenderly, and tell her that I felt connected to her as on the first day, and for once, to ask her to forgive me." "Maria accused me of having robbed her of her youth and only today am I wondering whether there wasn't some truth to that," he added.
Her funeral was held on 10 February 2011 at Église Saint-Roch
, Paris, attended by actors, directors and producers in French cinema such as Dominique Besnehard
, Bertrand Blier
, Christine Boisson
, Claudia Cardinale
, Alain Delon
, Andréa Ferreol
, as well as her surviving partner, Pia, half-siblings Fiona and Manuel Gélin, and her uncle, Georges Schneider. Delon read out a letter from Brigitte Bardot
, who took care of the teenaged Schneider and helped her begin her career in cinema.
Bardot wrote a moving tribute for the memorial at Église Saint Roch. Schneider was cremated afterwards at Père Lachaise crematorium
, and her ashes were later to be scattered at sea at the foot of the Rock of the Virgin in Biarritz
, according to her last wishes.
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, in the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris is a 1972 Italian romantic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci which portrays a recent American widower who takes up an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, soon-to-be-married Parisian woman...
.
Career
Schneider performed several nude scenes in Last Tango in Paris, which was controversial at the time. In an interview in 2007, she described Last Tango in Paris director Bernardo BertolucciBernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
: "He was fat and sweaty and very manipulative, both of Marlon and myself, and would do certain things to get a reaction from me." As for her working relationship with Brando, she said that, while their relationship on the set was paternal, it was Brando who came up with the sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
scene where butter was used as lubricant, and it was not revealed to her until just before it was filmed:
Schneider and Brando remained friends until his death, although they did not speak of the movie "for a while." She also said that her experience with the film – and her treatment as a sex symbol rather than as a serious actress – motivated her never to work nude again. She also appeared in films such as Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
's The Passenger
The Passenger (film)
The Passenger is a film directed and co-written by Michelangelo Antonioni, released in 1975, in which Jack Nicholson stars as a television reporter in Africa who assumes the identity of a dead stranger. The film competed for the "Palme d'Or" award at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:*Jack...
and Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
's Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre (1996 film)
Jane Eyre is a 1996 film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. This Hollywood version, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is similar to the original novel, although it compresses and eliminates most of the plot in the last quarter of the book to make it fit into a 2-hour...
.
She worked in over 50 films and television productions between 1969 and 2008. During her career she was a strong advocate for improving the work of women in film.
In 2001, she was the guest of honor at the 23rd Festival Créteil Films de Femmes. In a master class at the festival, she called film "a tracing of memory", and said that women must be recognized as actors and directors. She also brought attention to the importance of assisting senior French actors who become unemployed and impoverished. She was chosen to be Vice-President of La Roue Tourne, an organization in Paris designed for this purpose. According to Schneider, Marcel Carné
Marcel Carné
-Biography:Born in Paris, France, the son of a cabinet maker whose wife died when their son was five, Carné began his career as a film critic, becoming editor of the weekly publication, Hebdo-Films, and working for Cinémagazine and Cinémonde between 1929 and 1933. In the same period he worked in...
, director of Children of Paradise
Children of Paradise
Les Enfants du Paradis, released as Children of Paradise in North America, is a 1945 French film by French director Marcel Carné, made during the German occupation of France during World War II...
(1945) and one of the most important directors of the late 1930s, would have died in poverty. La Roue Tourne supported him for the last ten years of his life.
Schneider was awarded the medal of Chevalier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
for her contributions to the arts on 1 July 2010 by Minister of Culture and Communication
Minister of Culture (France)
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...
, Frédéric Mitterrand
Frédéric Mitterrand
Frédéric Mitterrand , a Franco-Tunisian citizen, is the French Minister of Culture and Communication. Throughout his career, he has been an actor, screenwriter, television presenter, writer, producer and director.-Biography:...
, who was her fellow actor in Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette is a French film director. His most well known films include Celine and Julie Go Boating, La Belle Noiseuse and the cult film Out 1....
's film, Merry-Go-Round (1981 film)
Merry-Go-Round (1981 film)
Merry-Go-Round is a 1981 film by Jacques Rivette, starring Maria Schneider and Joe Dallesandro....
, released in 1977.
Personal life
Schneider was the daughter of French actor Daniel GélinDaniel Gélin
Daniel Yves Alfred Gélin was a French actor, occasional director and screenwriter.-Early life:Gélin was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire. When he was 10 his family moved to Saint-Malo where Daniel went to college until he was expelled for 'uncouthness'. His father then found him a job in a shop that...
and Romanian-born Marie-Christine Schneider, who ran a bookstore in Paris. She met her father only three times and took her mother's last name. In 1974, Schneider came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
as bisexual. In early 1976, she abandoned the film set of Caligula
Caligula (film)
Caligula is a 1979 American-produced Italian biographical film directed by Tinto Brass, with additional scenes filmed by Giancarlo Lui and Penthouse founder Bob Guccione. The film concerns the rise and fall of Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known as Caligula...
and checked herself into a mental hospital
Mental Hospital
Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...
in Rome for several days to be with her lover, photographer Joan Townsend. This, coupled with her refusal to perform nude, led to Schneider's dismissal and she was replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy
Teresa Ann Savoy
Teresa Ann Savoy, FRSA is a British-born actress. She has appeared in a number of Italian films.-Biography:Savoy was 18 years old when she appeared in the Italian adult magazine Playmen , using an alias of "Terry"...
.
The 1970s were turbulent years for Schneider, marked by drug addiction, overdoses, and a suicide attempt. Schneider said that she disliked the instant fame accorded to her from Last Tango in Paris. She suffered abuse and began taking drugs.
By the 1980s, however, her life had improved:
Despite her "mystery" comment, Schneider's MySpace fan page indicates her "angel" turned out to be her long time companion Maria Pia Almadio, with photos of Pia at the funeral.
She died from cancer on 3 February 2011 at age 58. Remembering her, Bertolucci said, "Her death came too soon, before I could hold her again tenderly, and tell her that I felt connected to her as on the first day, and for once, to ask her to forgive me." "Maria accused me of having robbed her of her youth and only today am I wondering whether there wasn't some truth to that," he added.
Her funeral was held on 10 February 2011 at Église Saint-Roch
Église Saint-Roch
The Church of Saint Roch is a late Baroque church in Paris. Located at 284 rue Saint-Honoré, in the 1st arrondissement, it was built between 1653 and 1722.- History :...
, Paris, attended by actors, directors and producers in French cinema such as Dominique Besnehard
Dominique Besnehard
Dominique Besnehard is a French actor. He has appeared in over 80 films and television shows since 1975. He starred in the 1983 film À nos amours, which was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival....
, Bertrand Blier
Bertrand Blier
Bertrand Blier is a French screenwriter and film director.Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. He is the son of Bernard Blier....
, Christine Boisson
Christine Boisson
Christine Boisson is a French actress.After she registered in a model agency, Just Jaeckin liked her photo, and she got a part in the film Emmanuelle starring Sylvia Kristel, in which she played a lollipop-sucking teenager who masturbates over a picture of Paul Newman...
, Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...
, Alain Delon
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon is a French actor. He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 was already being compared to French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot...
, Andréa Ferreol
Andréa Ferréol
Andréa Ferréol is a French actress, officer of the Ordre national du Mérite .Her debut is in the 1973 film La Grande bouffe, which made a big scandal at the Cannes Film Festival....
, as well as her surviving partner, Pia, half-siblings Fiona and Manuel Gélin, and her uncle, Georges Schneider. Delon read out a letter from Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
, who took care of the teenaged Schneider and helped her begin her career in cinema.
Bardot wrote a moving tribute for the memorial at Église Saint Roch. Schneider was cremated afterwards at Père Lachaise crematorium
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
, and her ashes were later to be scattered at sea at the foot of the Rock of the Virgin in Biarritz
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, according to her last wishes.
Filmography
- The Chrismas Tree (uncredited), 1969
- Les Femmes, 1969
- The Love Mates, 1970
- Les jambes en l'air, 1970
- La Vieille filleThe Old Maid (1972 film)The Old Maid is a 1972 French comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Blanc. It was entered into the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival where Blanc won the Silver Bear for Best Director.-Cast:* Annie Girardot - Muriel Bouchon...
, 1971 - Hellé, 1971
- What a Flash, 1972
- Cari genitori (Dear Parents), 1972
- Last Tango in ParisLast Tango in ParisLast Tango in Paris is a 1972 Italian romantic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci which portrays a recent American widower who takes up an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, soon-to-be-married Parisian woman...
, 1972 - Reigen (Dance of Love), 1973
- La Baby Sitter (Scar Tissue), 1975
- Professione: reporter (The PassengerThe Passenger (film)The Passenger is a film directed and co-written by Michelangelo Antonioni, released in 1975, in which Jack Nicholson stars as a television reporter in Africa who assumes the identity of a dead stranger. The film competed for the "Palme d'Or" award at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:*Jack...
), 1975 - Violanta, 1977
- Voyage au jardin des morts, 1978
- Io sono mia (I Belong to Me), 1978
- HaineHaine (film)Haine is a 1980 French drama film directed by Dominique Goult and starring Klaus Kinski.-Cast:* Klaus Kinski as Le motard* Maria Schneider as Madeleine* Patrice Melennec as Le camionneur* Évelyne Bouix as La serveuse* Katia Tchenko as La mère...
(Hate), 1979 - La Dérobade (Memoirs of a French Whore), 1979
- Een Vrouw als Eva (A Woman Like EveA Woman Like EveA Woman Like Eve is a 1979 Dutch film centered around a woman who leaves her husband for a lesbian relationship. The film was directed by Nouchka van Brakel; Monique van de Ven stars in the title role of Eve, with Peter Faber as her husband Ad and Maria Schneider as Liliane, who becomes Eve's lover...
), 1979 - Weiße Reise (White Travel), 1980
- Mamma Dracula (Mother Dracula), 1980
- Sezona mira u Parizu, 1981
- La chanson du mal aimé, 1981
- Merry-Go-RoundMerry-Go-Round (1981 film)Merry-Go-Round is a 1981 film by Jacques Rivette, starring Maria Schneider and Joe Dallesandro....
, 1981 - Looking for Jesus, 1982
- Cercasi Gesù, 1982
- Balles perdues (Stray Bullets), 1982
- Princess and the Photographer, 1984
- Buio nella valle (TV mini-series), 1984
- A Song for Europe (TV movie), 1985
- Résidence surveillée, 1987
- L'or noir de Lornac (TV series), 1987
- Silvia è sola (TV movie), 1988
- Bunker Palace HôtelBunker Palace HôtelBunker Palace Hôtel is a 1989 French post-apocalyptic film by comics artist Enki Bilal.In the imaginary dictatorship of a futuristic world, rebellion has broken out. The men in power scramble to the 'Bunker Palace Hotel', a bunker built long ago for this contingency. A rebel spy sneaks in and...
, 1989 - The ConvictionThe ConvictionThe Conviction is a 1991 Italian drama film directed by Marco Bellocchio. It was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize.-Cast:* Vittorio Mezzogiorno as Lorenzo Colajanni...
, (1991) - Écrans de sable (Sand Screens), 1992
- Au pays des Juliets (In the Country of JulietsIn the Country of JulietsIn the Country of Juliets is a 1992 French drama film directed by Mehdi Charef. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Laure Duthilleul - Therese* Claire Nebout - Henriette* Maria Schneider - Raissa* Olivier Angèle - Pianist...
), 1992 - Savage NightsSavage NightsLes Nuits Fauves is a 1992 French drama film directed and written by Cyril Collard. It stars Collard, Romane Bohringer and Carlos López. The film is an adaptation of Collard's semi-autobiographical novel Les Nuits Fauves, published in 1989...
(Les Nuits fauves), 1992 - Contrôle d'identité (TV movie), 1993
- Navarro (TV series) (as Samira in one episode, L'ombre d'un père), 1995
- Jane EyreJane Eyre (1996 film)Jane Eyre is a 1996 film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. This Hollywood version, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is similar to the original novel, although it compresses and eliminates most of the plot in the last quarter of the book to make it fit into a 2-hour...
, 1996 - Something to Believe InSomething to Believe In (film)Something to Believe In is a 1998 film directed by John Hough....
, 1998 - Angelo nero (TV movie), 1998
- Il cuore e la spada (TV movie), (Queen Maga of Ireland) 1998
- Les Acteurs (Actors), 2000
- The Repentant, 2002
- MaigretMaigretJules Maigret, Maigret to most people, including his wife, is a fictional police detective, actually a commissaire or commissioner of the Paris "Brigade Criminelle" , created by writer Georges Simenon.Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and...
(TV series), 2004 - Au large de Bad Ragaz, 2004
- Perds pas la boule! (Short), 2006
- Quale amore, 2006
- La vie d'artiste, 2007
- La Clef (The Key), 2007
- A.D. La guerre de l'ombre (TV mini-series), 2008
- Cliente, 2008