Bio
Born in Paris to a Ukranian-French family, Roger Vadim was briefly educated in political science before studying acting under Charles Dulin. From ages 16 through 19, Vadim pursued a performing career. He then spent eight years as an assistant to director Marc Allegret; during this same period, he was a journalist for Paris Match and an occasional television director. Married to Brigitte Bardot in 1952, Vadim burst onto the international film scene when he directed his breathtakingly beautiful young wife in And...God Created Woman (1956). While it was the film's nudity and eroticism that assured its success in the United States, its popularity enabled France's up-and-coming "New Wave" directors to gain attention in the American market. Because Vadim was tagged as a "nudie" director, most of his subsequent films were provocatively (and often misleadingly) retitled when released to the States: for example, the wry and witty Chateau en Suede (1963) was dumbed down to Nutty, Naughty Chateau. Vadim seemed to not only welcome being pigeonholed as a voyeur, but encouraged this perception by presenting his various actress wives--Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Jane Fonda, Maria Schneider--in their birthday suits, whether the plot required it or not. His reputation as an on-camera satyr spilled over into his private life as he pursued romantic relationships with Catherine Deneuve (who bore him a son), Marie-Christine Barrault, and others too numerous to mention. By the 1980s, Vadim's cinematic hedonism seemed a bit antiquated, never more so than in his tiresome remake of ...And God Created Woman, which starred Rebecca De Mornay. In addition to his directing and screenwriting credits, Vadim has acted in Cocteau's Testament of Orpheus (1959), Warhol's Ciao Manhattan (1973), Cukor's Rich and Famous (1981) and John Landis' Into the Night (1985). Roger Vadim is the author of two endearingly egotistical autobiographies: Memoirs of the Devil (1977) and Bardot, Deneuve, Fonda--My Life with the Three Most Beautiful Women in the World (1985).
Roger VadimJanuary 26, 1928 - February 11, 2000 (aged 72)Paris, France
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Bio
Born in Paris to a Ukranian-French family, Roger Vadim was briefly educated in political science before studying acting under Charles Dulin. From ages 16 through 19, Vadim pursued a performing career. He then spent eight years as an assistant to director Marc Allegret; during this same period, he was a journalist for Paris Match and an occasional television director. Married to Brigitte Bardot in 1952, Vadim burst onto the international film scene when he directed his breathtakingly beautiful young wife in And...God Created Woman (1956). While it was the film's nudity and eroticism that assured its success in the United States, its popularity enabled France's up-and-coming "New Wave" directors to gain attention in the American market. Because Vadim was tagged as a "nudie" director, most of his subsequent films were provocatively (and often misleadingly) retitled when released to the States: for example, the wry and witty Chateau en Suede (1963) was dumbed down to Nutty, Naughty Chateau. Vadim seemed to not only welcome being pigeonholed as a voyeur, but encouraged this perception by presenting his various actress wives--Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Jane Fonda, Maria Schneider--in their birthday suits, whether the plot required it or not. His reputation as an on-camera satyr spilled over into his private life as he pursued romantic relationships with Catherine Deneuve (who bore him a son), Marie-Christine Barrault, and others too numerous to mention. By the 1980s, Vadim's cinematic hedonism seemed a bit antiquated, never more so than in his tiresome remake of ...And God Created Woman, which starred Rebecca De Mornay. In addition to his directing and screenwriting credits, Vadim has acted in Cocteau's Testament of Orpheus (1959), Warhol's Ciao Manhattan (1973), Cukor's Rich and Famous (1981) and John Landis' Into the Night (1985). Roger Vadim is the author of two endearingly egotistical autobiographies: Memoirs of the Devil (1977) and Bardot, Deneuve, Fonda--My Life with the Three Most Beautiful Women in the World (1985).
Director / Producer
