Thursday, 3 February 2011
French actress Maria Schneider, best known for her role in the controversial 1972 movie “Last Tango in Paris,” died Thursday in Paris at the age of 58.
French news reports quote her family as saying she died after a long illness.
French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand issued a statement Thursday saying that Schneider will remain a singularly strong image of today's woman.
Schneider was 19 when she shot to international fame in “Last Tango in Paris,” directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Her graphic sex scenes with late American actor Marlon Brando sparked controversy and the movie was banned in several countries.
She later blamed the Italian director for forcing her to make those scenes, saying she was too young to know better.
Bertolucci told the Italian news agency ANSA Thursday that Schneider had accused him of robbing her of her youth and that he is wondering now whether she was right. He said he wished he could have told her he was sorry.
Schneider made other movies, including “The Passenger” opposite Jack Nicholson and her last, the 2008 French movie “Cliente.” But none brought her the fame she gained with “The Last Tango in Paris.”
