Marina Vlady, a provocative sex kitten, was born Marina De Poliakoff-Baïdaroff on May 10, 1938, in Clichy, France, to a Russian-born painter father. She was the youngest of four acting sisters, including Monica, Odile Versois, Olga Baïdar-Poliakoff, and Hélène Vallier. While initially training in dance, Marina discovered a closer kinship to acting, which led her to make her film debut in the 1949 film "Orage d'été" alongside her sisters.
Marina met and married director Robert Hossein at the age of 17, and they had two sons together. She went on to appear in numerous films, including "The Wicked Go to Hell" (1955),"Pardonnez nos offenses" (1956),"Double Agents" (1959),and "Toi... le venin" (1958),which co-starred her sister Odile. Her marriage to Hossein lasted only a few years.
Throughout her career, Marina appeared in both French and Italian productions, playing a range of characters, from saucy comedy to edgy drama. She worked with notable directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Christian-Jaque and appeared alongside leading men like Marcello Mastroianni and Aldo Fabrizi.
In addition to her film work, Marina became a strong social and political activist, advocating for women's reproductive rights in the 1970s. She continued to act in films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including "Sapho ou La fureur d'aimer" (1971),"Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil" (1972),and "Let Joy Reign Supreme" (1975).
Marina was married three times, including to the Russian poet and actor Vladimir Vysotskiy, who died in 1980. She went on to appear in a number of films and TV shows, including "Bordello" (1985),"Twist again à Moscou" (1986),and "A Few Days of Respite" (2010).
In her later years, Marina became involved in a number of social injustices with her longtime companion, Léon Schwartzenberg, and continued to perform on stage, including a political one-woman show about her husband Vysotsky. Marina outlived all her elder sisters, including Odile, Helene, and Olga.
