- Maria Schneider (actor)
Maria Schneider (born
March 27 ,1952 inParis ) is a
French actress who is most famous for playing "Jeanne" oppositeMarlon Brando in the 1972 motion picture "Last Tango in Paris ". She did numerous full-frontal (breasts and vulva clearly displayed) scenes in the film, which were controversial for the time.Biography
Born as Marie Christine Gélin, she is the daughter of French actor
Daniel Gélin andMarie-Christine Schneider . Following her success and critical acclaim in "Last Tango in Paris", she stopped filming for a while.In 1974, Schneider came out as
bisexual .citation |title=The Lavender Screen: The Gay and Lesbian Films |first=Boze |last=Hadleigh |authorlink=Boze Hadleigh |year=2001 |publisher=Citadel Press |isbn=0806521996 |page=81] citation |title=America Transformed: Sixty Years of Revolutionary Change, 1941-2001 |first=Richard M. |last=Abrams |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521862469 |page=165-6] In early 1976, she abandoned the film set of "Caligula" and checked herself into a mental hospital inRome for several days with a woman she described as her lover. [cite news |title=Interview with Maria Schneider |first=Roger |last=Ebert |authorlink=Roger Ebert |date=1975-09-14 |accessdate=2007-04-21 |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19750914/PEOPLE/509140301 |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times ] This, coupled with her refusal to do nudity, led to Maria's dismissal and she was replaced byTeresa Ann Savoy .In 2007, in an interview with Daily Mail, Schneider described Tango's director,
Bernardo Bertolucci , as "fat and sweaty and very manipulative, both of Marlon and myself, and [he did] certain things to get [her reaction] ." As for her working relationship with Brando, she says that, while their relationship on the set was paternal, it was Brando who came up with the 'butter scene' and it was only known to her before filming it:"I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that. Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie,' but during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take."
She and Brando, however, remained friends until his death, though they never spoke of the movie "for a while".
She also says that her experience with the film– and her treatment as a sex symbol rather than as a serious actress– forced her to never do films with nude scenes again. The subsequent notoriety caused by the film forced her to escape into drugs throughout the remainder of the decade, with overdoses and suicide attempts:
"I was very lucky - I lost many friends to drugs - but I met someone in 1980 who helped me stop. I call this person my angel and we've been together ever since. I don't say if it's a man or a woman. That's my secret garden. I like to keep it a mystery."cite news |title=I felt raped by Brando |first=Lina |last=Das |date=1975-09-14 |accessdate=2007-04-21 |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-469646/I-felt-raped-Brando.html|publisher=
Daily Mail ]Filmography
* "
Les Femmes " (1969)
* "La Vieille fille " (1971)
* "Hellé " (1971)
* "Cari genitori " ("Dear Parents ", 1972)
* "Last Tango in Paris " (1972)
* "Reigen" ("Dance of Love ", 1973)
* "Jeune fille libre le soir " ("The Babysitter ", 1975)
* "" ("The Passenger ", 1975)
* "Violanta " (1977)
* "Io sono mia " ("I Belong to Me ", 1978)
* "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo " ("Just a Gigolo ", 1979)
* "Haine " ("Hate ", 1979)
* "La Dérobade " ("Memoirs of a French Whore ", 1979)
* "Een Vrouw als Eva " ("A Woman Like Eve ", 1979)
* "Weiße Reise " ("White Travel ") (1980)
* "Mamma Dracula " ("Mother Dracula ") (1980)
* "Sezona mira u Parizu " (1981)
* "Cercasi Gesù " (1982)
* "Balles perdues " ("Stray Bullets ", 1982)
* "Merry-Go-Round" (1983)
* "Résidence surveillée " (1987)
* "Bunker Palace Hôtel " (1989)
* "Écrans de sable " ("Sand Screens ", 1992)
* "Au pays des Juliets " ("In the Country of Juliets ", 1992)
* "Savage Nights " ("Les Nuits Fauves ", 1992)
* "Jane Eyre" (1996)
* "Something to Believe In" (1998)
* "Les Acteurs " ("The Actors ") (2000)References
External links
*
* [http://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne.html?cpersonne=634 Biography (in French) at Allocine.com]
* [http://entertainment.msn.com/celebs/celeb.aspx?mp=b&c=27664 Short biography by Jason Buchanan, "All Movie Guide"]
* [http://www.myspace.com/mariaschneiderfans Short biography and fan page]
* [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-469646/I-felt-raped-Brando.html Interview with the Daily Mail, 19 July 2007]
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