Biography for
Roger Vadim More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

26 January 1928, Paris, France

Date of Death

11 February 2000, Paris, France (cancer)

Birth Name

Roger Vladimir Plemiannikov

Mini Biography

Roger Vadim was a French actor, director, writer, and producer who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film ...And God Created Woman (1956) and also wrote several books.

He was born Roger Vladimir Igorevich Plemyannikov, on January 26, 1928, in Paris, France. Although his father gave him the first name Vladimir, the French law then required a French first name. His father, Igor Nikolaevich Plemyannikov, was a Russian-Ukrainian aristocrat who was born in Kiev, and emigrated with the White Russians after the Communist revolution of 1917. His mother, Marie-Antoinette Ardilouse, was a French actress. Young Roger Vadim spent his childhood in Turkey and Egypt, where his father served as a French diplomat. Roger Vadim was brought up in a multi-lingual home with an intellectually stimulating environment, and he enjoyed a highly cultural atmosphere of his parents circle. However, after the divorce of his parents, Vadim had to live on his own, and soon, he simply abandoned his cumbrous last name. Upon his return to Paris, Vadim caught an acting bug and made his stage debut at the age of 16. From 1944 to 1947, he studied at Institut d'études politiques de Paris at University of Paris but dropped out at the age of 19 to pursue a career in acting and writing. In 1947, he wrote his first novel and presented it to André Gide for a review. However, Gide was not excited about Vadim's first novel and encouraged him to pursue a career in film. Upon André Gide's introduction Roger Vadim became an apprentice of film director Marc Allégret, as an assistant director and co-writer. At the same time he was also a part-time journalist with the Paris Match magazine.

In 1949, 21-year-old Vadim lived in the Paris apartment of Danièle Delorme and Daniel Gélin and was babysitting for their 3-year-old son, who once demanded Vadim to make him a paper airplane. Vadim took a May 2, 1949, issue of the Elle magazine to rip out a page, but doing so, he saw a photo of Brigitte Bardot, then a 14-year-old fashion model. Vadim became fascinated with Bardot's image, and gave her photo to director 'Marc Allegret', who was about to film Vadim's script. Although Bardot did not get a role, Vadim started a relationship with young Brigitte, while her parents were away. Soon, her enraged bourgeois parents tried to cut him off, and nearly sent Brigitte to a school in England, but Vadim and Brigitte prevailed. His friends procured Brigitte her film debut, so Vadim's relationship with her flourished, until her unwanted first pregnancy, which she would abort, causing her much trauma and long-term fear of maternity. At that time, Bardot's father, Louis Bardot, was in rage and pulled out a gun on Vadim, causing everyone more shock and trauma, that led to Bardot's several suicide attempts. Vadim spared no effort to comfort Bardot with his love and their romantic getaway in Saint-Tropez, making the French Riviera their escape resort. In 1952, Vadim made his film acting debut together with Brigitte Bardot, albeit he was uncredited. In December of 1952, Vadim and Brigitte Bardot became married. Their personal life somewhat stabilized and resulted in a few years of fruitful collaboration. Their groundbreaking film, ...And God Created Woman (1956), co-starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, was also Vadim's directorial debut. The film became a massive box-office hit and catapulted both Vadim and Bardot to world fame. The memorable scene of Brigitte Bardot dancing barefoot on a table to the tango, delighted male audiences and became one of the most titillating scenes in French cinema. Bardot's natural sensuality turned her into an international sex symbol.

During the 1960s, Vadim became known as the husband of American movie star Jane Fonda and used the same formula in further sex-symbol presentations of her in Circle of Love (1964), The Game Is Over (1966), Spirits of the Dead (1968), and then in the title role in Barbarella (1968), which Vadim wrote and directed. Subsequent sex-farces such as Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) starring Angie Dickinson, as well as his divorce from Fonda in 1973, did nothing to propel Vadim's career. His later films did not arouse the same degree of interest. The American remake of And God Created Woman (1988), was a box-office dud, and Rebecca De Mornay was nominated for a 1989 Razzie Award as Worst Actress.

In his later years, Roger Vadim turned to writing memoirs. In his autobiography "From One Star to the Next" Vadim described his relationships with the women he loved. He had four children: Vanessa Vadim, born to Jane Fonda, Nathalie Vadim, born to actress Annette Vadim (née Stroyberg), Christian Vadim (out of wedlock) with Catherine Deneuve, and Vania Vadim, his son with heiress Catherine Schneider. Roger Vadim died of cancer on February 11, 2000, in Paris, France, and was laid to rest in St. Tropez cemetery, Saint Tropez, France.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov

Spouse

Marie-Christine Barrault	(21 December 1990 - 11 February 2000) (his death)
Catherine Schneider	(13 December 1975 - 1977) (divorced) 1 child
Jane Fonda	(14 August 1965 - 16 January 1973) (divorced) 1 child
Annette Vadim	(17 June 1958 - 1960) (divorced) 1 child
Brigitte Bardot	(20 December 1952 - 6 December 1957) (divorced)

Trivia

Born at 9 p.m. UT.

Father of Vanessa Vadim with Jane Fonda.

Brother-in-law of Peter Fonda, son-in-law of Henry Fonda.

Uncle of Bridget Fonda and Justin Fonda.

Father of Nathalie Vadim with Annette Vadim.

Father of Vania Vadim with heiress Catherine Schneider.

In 1961, 33-year-old Vadim moved in with 17-year-old Catherine Deneuve. Two years later they had a son, Christian; one month after that, they split and broke off contact. She sued him in 1987 for comments he made about her in his autobiography and was awarded $10,000 in damages.

In the 1980s he lived with screenwriter Ann Biderman, to whom he was engaged at one point.

Contrary to popular belief, he's not actually French--he's Ukrainian. His parents fled the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and settled in Paris, where he was born Vladimir Pemiannikov, but since French law required that a person born on French soil have a French first name, he was given the first name of Roger.

He and Annette Vadim had already lived together for over a year and had their daughter Nathalie prior to their marriage.

Lived with Jane Fonda for two years prior to their marriage.

He and heiress Catherine Schneider had already lived together for two years and had their son Vania prior to their marriage.

He and widow Marie-Christine Barrault fell in love in 1987 and were together until his death 13 years later.

In attendance at his funeral was his widow Marie-Christine Barrault, as well as his four ex-wives: Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Schneider, and Annette Vadim.

Is buried in St. Tropez cemetery.

Said that Jane Fonda was the love of his life.

Brother of Hélène Plemiannikov.

Jane Fonda wrote in her autobiography that Vadim gambled away most of the $150,000 she inherited from her late mother. It took her five years to pay off all his creditors.

Personal Quotes

From the moment I liberated [Brigitte Bardot], the moment I showed her how to be truly herself, our marriage was all downhill.

The only thing I love in love is all the feelings, the imaginations, the orgasms of the woman. For this reason I'm not a good libertine.

[on Catherine Deneuve] Soon my shy adolescent had blossomed out into a hard-headed woman ruthlessly in control of her own life.

[on Kim Basinger] She has this quality -- absolutely indispensable for an actress, specifically for a beautiful actress -- which is not to know that she's beautiful.

[on Jane Fonda] She's a romantic pro-Leninist. Unfortunately she's lost her sense of humor. One day I called her Jane of Arc. She didn't laugh at all.

[on Frank Sinatra] The charm that once made him irresistible was lost in the unpredictable whims of a spoiled child.

Salary

...And God Created Woman (1956)

$5,000