Maria Schneider

French actress

Died when: 58 years 313 days (706 months)
Star Sign: Aries

 

Maria-Hélène Schneider (27 March 1952 – 3 February 2011), known professionally as Maria Schneider, was a French actress.In 1972 at the age of nineteen she starred opposite Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris, but being traumatised by a rape scene and hounded by unsavoury publicity negatively affected her subsequent career.

Although Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger (1975) showcased her abilities, a reputation for walking out of films mid-production resulted in her becoming unwelcome in the industry.

The emotional toll on her mental health of this real life rape scene of which she was a victim and her drug addiction as a consequence of it, made what should have been banner years for Schneider increasingly chaotic.

However, she re-established stability in her personal and professional life in the early 1980s, and became an advocate for equality and improving the conditions actresses worked under.

She continued acting in film and TV until a few years before she died in 2011 after a long illness.

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