Roger Vadim, French film director, 72

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/11/bc.france.obit.vadim.ap/index.h
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French film director Roger Vadim dies at age 72

February 11, 2000
Web posted at: 10:56 a.m. EST (1556 GMT)

PARIS (AP) - Roger Vadim, the French film director who launched Brigitte
Bardot's career as an international sex kitten in the classic "And God
Created Woman" and later married Jane Fonda, died Friday in Paris after a
long struggle with cancer, family friends said. He was 72.

Vadim was best-known for the 1956 groundbreaking "And God Created Woman"
about a young married woman's quest for sexual freedom. The film unveiled
Bardot's sensuous curves and beguiling pout and brought her instant fame.

The scene of Bardot dancing barefoot on a table remains on of the most
titillating scenes in French cinema.

"There was really nothing shocking in what Brigitte did, what was
provocative was her natural sensuality," Vadim told The Associated Press in
a 1988 interview.

The film defined the content and set the tone for many of Vadim's films,
including the 1968 "Barbarella," an avant-garde sci-fi romp starring his new
blond wife, Jane Fonda.

Vadim also earned praise as a producer, writer and theater director in a
career that spanned half a century. His most recent work included several
made-for-television mini-series.

Mostly, though, his films revolved around pure female beauty - the blond,
blue-eyed, long-legged kind that appealed to audiences worldwide.

Vadim cast 26 movies with gorgeous blonds ranging from elegant Catherine
Deneuve, his companion between marriages, earthy Angie Dickinson to
intellectual Jeanne Moreau and sexpot Susan Sarandon.

In 1988, he did a remake of "And God created Woman, " starring Rebecca
DeMornay.

"You wouldn't ask Rodin to make an ugly sculpture, or me to make a film with
an ugly woman," Vadim told the Associated Press. "That's my style, that's my
nature."

In "And God Created Woman," Bardot played a woman who marries a man in order
to escape an orphanage, only to fall for the man's younger brother, played
by Jean-Louis Trintignant. Although in the end she remains with her older
husband, the film is an exploration of sexual freedom.

"I wanted to show a normal young girl whose only difference was that she
behaved in the way a boy might, without any sense of guilt on a moral or
sexual level," Vadim said.

Vadim was born Roger Vladimir Plemiannikov on Jan. 26, 1928 in Paris, the
son of the vice consul of France. He met Bardot when she was 15 and was
enthralled by her long, graceful dancer's legs. He was behind her early
career as a fashion model, and later introduced her to the cinema.

They married in 1952 when the future "BB" was only 18. He was 24.

His other films include "Sait-On Jamais?" (No Sun in Venice) (1957), "Les
Bijoutiers du Clair de Lune" (Night Heaven Fell) (1958), "Les Liaisons
Dangereuses," (1959), "Et Mourir de Plaisir" (Blood and Roses) (1960), "Dom
Juan" (1973) and "The Hot Touch" (1981)

Recent television productions include "Mon Pere Avait Raison"(1996), "La
Nouvelle Tribu"(1996), and "Amour Fou" (1993).

Vadim also wrote several books including his autobiography, "D'Une Etoile a
l'Autre" (From One Star to the Next) in which he described his marriages to
Bardot and Fonda. He was also married to Annette Stroyberg and Catherine
Schneider.

His is survived by his wife, actress Marie-Christine Barrault, and four
children, Vanessa, born to Fonda, Christian, born to Deneuve, Nathalie, born
to Stroyberg, and Vania, born to Schneider.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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