Maria Schneider

Driven out of show business with sticks of butter following the premiere of Bernardo Bertolucci's taboo-shattering Last Tango in Paris in 1972, Maria Schneider seemed destined for the kind of whatever-happened-to obscurity normally associated with failed child television stars and mid-career burnouts. Heroin-addicted and disheartened, she disappeared for a short while, but came back soon thereafter, and has appeared in more than 30 films since. Born March 27, 1952, in Paris, Schneider made her film debut in Jean-Pierre Blanc's La Vieille Fille in 1971, though true notoriety came the next year with her role as Marlon Brando's young lover in Last Tango in Paris. Daughter of actor Daniel Gélin (Is Paris Burning? [1966]), Schneider was originally cast in the role of Conchita in Luis Buñuel's final film, That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), but was fired shortly into filming and replaced with two actresses (Ángela Molina and Carole Bouquet). Schneider has also appeared in Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre (1996) and as herself in Les Acteurs (2000).

~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide