Marina Vlady
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".
Photos
Movies (113)
Marina Vlady, an Actress During the Cold War
2026 · Self (archive footage)
The Wild Palms
2025 · Juliette Jeanson
Godard Cinema
2023 · Self
Les Rois de la comédie
2023 · Self
Hossein, Ronet, Trintignant : Confidences de trois acteurs inoubliables
2021
The Scientist, The Imposter and Stalin: How to Feed the People
2018 · (voice)
Parajanov. A Ticket to Eternity
2018 · Self
Finding Babel
2016 · Self
Miraculous Spiral
2016 · Self
Marcello Mastroianni, the Ideal Italian
2015 · Self
Marcello Mastroianni, latin lover
2015 · Self
3 femmes en colère
2013 · Alice Trajan
The Bardot mystery
2012
A Few Days of Respite
2011 · Yolande
Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vlady. Last Kiss
2008 · Self
The Case of the Grinning Cat
2006 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Nissim dit Max
2004 · Self
Resurrection
2001 · Zia Duchessa
Mosfilm, miroir d'un empire
1999 · Self
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
1999 · Self - Narrator (voice)
Alekan le magnifique
1998 · Self
Not All Dads Pee Standing Up
1998 · Zoé
Wind Over the City
1996 · Simone
Son of Gascogne
1995 · Self
Paradjanov, le dernier collage
1995 · Self
The Dream of Russia
1992 · Yekaterina II - empress
Mountain of Diamonds
1991 · Anna
Bloodsuckers
1991 · Sugrobina
Film sur Georges Perec
1990 · Self
Follow Me
1989 · Ljuba
Katia & Volodia
1989 · (voice)
The Flavor of Corn
1989 · Duilio's Stepmother
Splendor
1989 · Chantal
The Exile and Death of Andrei Tarkovsky
1988 · Self
Tottering in the Dark
1987 · Maria
Exploits of a Young Don Juan
1986 · Mme Muller
Twist Again in Moscow
1986 · Natacha Tataïev
Tangos, the Exile of Gardel
1985 · Florence
Bordello
1985 · Rosa Vonaparte
Bis später - ich muss mich erschiessen
1984 · Margarita Ivanovna
Les Beaux Quartiers
1983 · Mme Beurdeley
The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan
1982 · La marquise d'Espard
The Games of Countess Dolingen
1981 · La mère de la petite fille
L'Œil du maître
1980 · Isabelle de Brabant
Hypochondriac
1979 · Lucrezia
Duets on Sofa
1979 · Jacqueline, the dentist
Starting Point
1979 · Songs
The Bermuda Triangle
1978 · Kim
The Thief of Baghdad
1978 · Perizadah
The Two of Them
1978 · Mária
Seven Deaths by Prescription
1975 · Mme Losseray
Let Joy Reign Supreme
1975 · The Marchioness of Parabère
The Conspiracy
1973 · Christiane
Everybody He Is Nice, Everybody He Is Beautiful
1972 · Millie Thulle
La Nuit bulgare
1972 · Marthe Tarset
Sappho
1971 · Françoise Legrand
Pour un sourire
1970 · Véronique
Let's Have a Riot
1970 · Imma the cashier
Winter Wind
1969 · Maria
Subject for a Short Story
1969 · Lika Mizinova
Time to Live
1969 · Marie
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
1967 · Juliette Jeanson
The Nameless Star
1966 · Mona
A Royal Regatta
1966 · Self (uncredited)
O.S.S. 117: Mission to Tokyo
1966 · Eva Wilson
Cinéma: Marina Vlady, 1966
1966 · Self
The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen
1966 · Nicole
Chimes at Midnight
1965 · Kate Percy
Run for Your Wife
1965 · Nicole
The Little Misses
1964
Sweet and Sour
1963 · La radio taxi girl
The Cage
1963 · Isabelle
Don't Tempt the Devil
1963 · Catherine Dupré
The Conjugal Bed
1963 · Regina
Enough Rope
1963 · Ellie
Climates of Love
1962 · Odile Marcenat
Pride
1962 · Catherine
The Seven Deadly Sins
1962 · Catherine Lartigue - la Femme (segment "L'orgueuil")
The Steppe
1962 · Comtesse Dranitsky
Adorable Liar
1962 · Juliette
Canzoni di ieri, canzoni di oggi, canzoni di domani
1962
Girl in the Window
1961 · Else
Princess of Cleves
1961 · Princess of Clèves
Take Me As I Am
1960 · Hélène Chalmers
The Verdict
1959 · Catherine Desroches
Double Agents
1959 · Elle
Stars Meet in Moscow
1959 · Self
Blonde in a White Car
1959 · Eva Lecain
Provisional Liberty
1958 · Eva
Crime and Punishment
1956 · Lili Marcellin
Forgive Our Trespasses
1956 · Dédée
The Blonde Witch
1956 · Aino [Ina, US version]
The Wicked Go to Hell
1955 · Eva
Girl on the Third Floor
1955 · Sophie Brulard
Le Crâneur
1955 · Juliette
Sins of Casanova
1954 · Fulvia
Days of Love
1954 · Angela Cafalla
Sie
1954 · Celine
Symphony of Love
1954 · Caroline Esterhazy
La Belle au bois dormant
1954 · La Princesse
Before the Deluge
1954 · Liliane Noblet
The Hunt
1953 · Lucia Giardano
Cavalcade of Song
1953 · La fanciulla amata
The Age of Indiscretion
1953 · Annette
The Unfaithfuls
1953 · Marisa
The Devil's Daughter
1952 · Graziella, figlia del conte Terzi
Black Feathers
1952 · Gemma Vianello
Luxury Girls
1952 · Eljay
Dans la vie tout s'arrange
1952 · La petite Jacqueline (as Marina)
Pardon My French
1951 · Jacqueline
Due sorelle amano
1950 · Quarta sorella
Summer Storm
1949 · Marie-Tempête
Une famille un peu ukrainienne
TV shows (22)
Resurrection
2011 · Zia Duchessa
Victoire, ou la douleur des femmes
2000 · Natacha
Vivement dimanche
1998 · Self
Dans un grand vent de fleurs
1996 · Alexandrine Garlande
To Remember
1993 · Narrator
Mountain of Diamonds
1991 · Anna
The Burning Shore
1991 · Anna
Sacrée soirée
1987 · Self
Nulle part ailleurs
1987 · Self
Matin Bonheur
1987 · Self
In Search of Captain Grant
1985 · Marco Vovchok
Drifting Cities
1985 · Rapesku
La Chambre des dames
1983 · Mathilde Brunel
Champs-Elysées
1982 · Self
Ciné regards
1978 · Self
Les Charmes de l'été
1975 · Pauline, la dame en blanc
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975 · Self
Apostrophes
1975 · Self
Spécial cinéma
1974 · Self
Samedi soir
1971 · Self
Dim Dam Dom
1965 · Self
Cinépanorama
1956 · Self