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 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 the young girl, while her parents were away. Soon, her enraged bourgeois parents tried to cut him off, and nearly sent Bardot to a school in England, but she and Vadim prevailed. His friends procured Bardot her film debut, so Vadim's relationship with her flourished. At that time, Bardot's father, Louis, was in rage and pulled out a gun on Vadim, causing everyone more shock and trauma. In December of 1952, shortly after Bardot's 18th birthday, she and Vadim were married. Four years later, Vadim directed her in the groundbreaking film ...And God Created Woman (1956), which catapulted Bardot to international fame. Vadim, however, was left in the shadows. Bardot had fallen in love with co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant and divorced Vadim before the film was released.

In the 1960s, Vadim became famous for his high-profile marriage to American movie star Jane Fonda. In addition to her extremely successful Hollywood career, Fonda took roles in a few French productions for the opportunity of working with her husband, who created sex-symbol presentations of her in Circle of Love (1964), The Game Is Over (1966), Spirits of the Dead (1968) (also starring Jane's brother, Peter Fonda) and most famously in the science fiction spoof Barbarella (1968), which Vadim also wrote. The couple's daughter Vanessa Vadim was born in 1968, but they separated in 1970. He then directed Angie Dickinson in the sex farce Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), his first film to be shot in the United States. Vadim's 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, and maintained that Jane Fonda was the love of his life. His other ex-wives were Danish actress Annette Stroyberg and French heiress Catherine Schneider. In 1990, he married French actress Marie-Christine Barrault, remaining together until his death. He had four children; in addition to Vanessa, there was daughter Nathalie Vadim born to Stroyberg, son Vania Vadim born to Schneider, and son Christian Vadim born to his onetime live-in Lolita, Catherine Deneuve. 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 Stroyberg	(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 Stroyberg.

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.

Of Ukrainian descent on his father's side. 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 Stroyberg 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 Stroyberg.

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 persuaded her to participate in threesomes during their marriage.

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.

[1970, on his deteriorating marriage to Jane Fonda] So far we have not discussed divorce, but I must admit it is not a very satisfactory arrangement. Jane comes home a few days each month to visit me and our daughter, and then she is off again. Now she is starting a picture in New York and I will be making one here. We are very good friends, but we are not living the way that married people are supposed to live. It is difficult enough to live with an actress: actresses are necessarily very self-centered. But if the actress is also oriented toward politics, it can become very difficult. When she talks only about politics all the time, there is no time to establish feelings.

Salary

...And God Created Woman (1956)

$5,000