Biography
Marina Vlady (born Marina de Poliakoff-Baidaroff; 10 May, 1938 - died 24 September, 2026) was a French actress who made her film debut at 11. She has appeared in more than 100 feature films and television productions. She arrived as the blond bombshell and was the main attraction in "La sorcière" (1956). Catherine Marina de Poliakoff-Baïdaroff was born in Clichy on 10 May 1938, to White Russian immigrant parents. Her father, Vladimir Poliakoff, was an opera singer, and her mother, Militza, was a dancer. Her sisters, now all deceased, were the actresses Odile Versois, Hélène Vallier and Olga Baïdar-Poliakoff. The sisters began acting as children and, for a while, pursued a ballet career. Vlady won the Best Actress Award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival for The Conjugal Bed. In 1965, she was a member of the jury at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. She starred in Jean-Luc Godard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967), and later portrayed the insightful and protective stepmother in the Italian film The Flavor of Corn (1986). A rare English language role was as Kate Percy in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight (1966). Her television credits include the 1983 mini-series La Chambre des Dames. In 1971, Vlady signed the Manifesto of the 343, which publicly declared she had an abortion as a way to advocate for abortion, even though the procedure was illegal in France at the time. Vlady and her partner Léon Schwartzenberg participated in the protests against deportations of Arab workers from France. She accepted a role in a film about a gay couple from Iran. From 1955 to 1959, Vlady 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 the French Resistance. Vlady's third husband was the Soviet poet and songwriter, Vladimir Vysotsky; they were married and lived in Moscow from 1969 until his death in 1980. Vlady wrote Vladimir, or the Aborted Flight, a memoir of her relationship with Vladimir Vysotsky. For a decade, the couple maintained a long-distance relationship as Vlady compromised her career in France in order to spend more time in Moscow, and his friends pulled strings for him to travel abroad. She eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vysotsky with some immunity against prosecution by the government. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs. She also lived with French oncologist Léon Schwartzenberg from 1980 until his death in 2003. Vlady died on 24 September 2026, aged 88. According to a statement by her children, she died "at home, surrounded by her loved ones and her animals".
Acted in 93
2020s
- 2025
The Wild Palms
Juliette Jeanson
- 2021
Hossein, Ronet, Trintignant : Confidences de trois acteurs inoubliables
Movie
2010s
- 2018
The Scientist, The Imposter and Stalin: How to Feed the People
(voice)
- 2013
- 2012
The Bardot mystery
Movie
- 2011
Resurrection
Zia Duchessa · 2 episodes
A Few Days of Respite
Yolande
2000s
- 2001
- 2000
Victoire, ou la douleur des femmes
Natacha · 3 episodes
1990s
- 1998
Not All Dads Pee Standing Up
Zoé
- 1996
Wind Over the City
Simone
Dans un grand vent de fleurs
Alexandrine Garlande · 7 episodes
- 1992
- 1991
Mountain of Diamonds
Anna
Mountain of Diamonds
Anna · 4 episodes
Bloodsuckers
Sugrobina
The Burning Shore
Anna · 4 episodes
1980s
- 1989
Katia & Volodia
(voice)
The Flavor of Corn
Duilio's Stepmother
Splendor
Chantal
- 1986
Twist Again in Moscow
Natacha Tataïev
- 1985
Tangos, the Exile of Gardel
Florence
Bordello
Rosa Vonaparte
In Search of Captain Grant
Marco Vovchok · 1 episode
Drifting Cities
Rapesku · 14 episodes
- 1983
La Chambre des dames
Mathilde Brunel · 10 episodes
- 1982
The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan
La marquise d'Espard
- 1981
The Games of Countess Dolingen
La mère de la petite fille
1970s
- 1979
Hypochondriac
Lucrezia
Duets on Sofa
Jacqueline, the dentist
- 1978
The Thief of Baghdad
Perizadah
The Two of Them
Mária
- 1975
Let Joy Reign Supreme
The Marchioness of Parabère
- 1973
- 1972
Everybody He Is Nice, Everybody He Is Beautiful
Millie Thulle
La Nuit bulgare
Marthe Tarset
- 1971
Sappho
Françoise Legrand
- 1970
Pour un sourire
Véronique
Let's Have a Riot
Imma the cashier
1960s
- 1969
Winter Wind
Maria
Subject for a Short Story
Lika Mizinova
Time to Live
Marie
- 1967
- 1966
The Nameless Star
Mona
O.S.S. 117: Mission to Tokyo
Eva Wilson
The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen
Nicole
- 1965
Run for Your Wife
Nicole
- 1964
The Little Misses
Movie
- 1963
Sweet and Sour
La radio taxi girl
The Cage
Isabelle
Don't Tempt the Devil
Catherine Dupré
The Conjugal Bed
Regina
Enough Rope
Ellie
- 1962
Climates of Love
Odile Marcenat
Pride
Catherine
The Seven Deadly Sins
Catherine Lartigue - la Femme (segment "L'orgueuil")
The Steppe
Comtesse Dranitsky
Adorable Liar
Juliette
Canzoni di ieri, canzoni di oggi, canzoni di domani
Movie
- 1961
Girl in the Window
Else
Princess of Cleves
Princess of Clèves
- 1960
Take Me As I Am
Hélène Chalmers
1950s
- 1959
The Verdict
Catherine Desroches
Double Agents
Elle
Blonde in a White Car
Eva Lecain
- 1958
Provisional Liberty
Eva
- 1956
Crime and Punishment
Lili Marcellin
Forgive Our Trespasses
Dédée
The Blonde Witch
Aino [Ina, US version]
- 1955
The Wicked Go to Hell
Eva
Girl on the Third Floor
Sophie Brulard
Le Crâneur
Juliette
- 1954
Sins of Casanova
Fulvia
Days of Love
Angela Cafalla
Sie
Celine
Symphony of Love
Caroline Esterhazy
La Belle au bois dormant
La Princesse
- 1953
The Hunt
Lucia Giardano
Cavalcade of Song
La fanciulla amata
The Age of Indiscretion
Annette
- 1952
The Devil's Daughter
Graziella, figlia del conte Terzi
Black Feathers
Gemma Vianello
Luxury Girls
Eljay
Dans la vie tout s'arrange
La petite Jacqueline (as Marina)
- 1951
Pardon My French
Jacqueline
- 1950
Due sorelle amano
Quarta sorella
1940s
- 1949
Summer Storm
Marie-Tempête
Sound 1
1970s
- 1979
Starting Point
Songs
Appearances31
2020s
- 2026
Marina Vlady, an Actress During the Cold War
Self (archive footage)
- 2023
Godard Cinema
Self
Les Rois de la comédie
Self
2010s
- 2018
Parajanov. A Ticket to Eternity
Self
- 2016
Finding Babel
Self
Miraculous Spiral
Self
- 2015
Marcello Mastroianni, the Ideal Italian
Self
2000s
- 2006
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2004
Nissim dit Max
Self
1990s
- 1999
Mosfilm, miroir d'un empire
Self
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Self - Narrator (voice)
- 1998
Alekan le magnifique
Self
- 1995
Son of Gascogne
Self
Paradjanov, le dernier collage
Self
- 1993
- 1990
Film sur Georges Perec
Self
1980s
- 1988
The Exile and Death of Andrei Tarkovsky
Self
- 1987
Matin Bonheur
Self · 1 episode
- 1982
1970s
- 1978
- 1975
- 1974
1960s
- 1966
A Royal Regatta
Self (uncredited)
Cinéma: Marina Vlady, 1966
Self
- 1965
Dim Dam Dom
Self · 1 episode
1950s
- 1959
Stars Meet in Moscow
Self
- 1956
