Born on Mar 27, 1952 in Paris, France.

“Did you hear the one about the two bulls?” begins the alleged old story/joke which to date I've only ever heard in the movie Colors and in the cable series The Sopranos. “Two bulls, a father and son, are standing on top of a hill and looking down at a herd of cows. The little bull says, 'Hey Dad, what do you say we run down there and fuck one of those cows?' And the papa bull says, 'No, son, let's walk down there — and fuck them all.'”

Gradual changes are a lot easier to accept than abrupt, drastic ones, and certainly this has been the case in terms of what is and isn't permissible on film and TV. Recent revisions to the ratings systems have introduced — without too much uproar — words and subjects that would have been unthinkable on TV a decade ago, controversial a few years ago, but now only offend the easily offended. Not long ago, Comedy Central used to inexplicably bleep the word “oral” from “oral sex” whenever it aired Monty Python's Holy Grail, and lesbian kisses would be tiled out on Howard Stern's E! show; now an occasional “fuck” can be heard on TV, and untiled sapphic soul kissing is a popular recurring feature on Ally McBeal. In the movies, films that would have been stillborn with an “X” rating can now lead semi-productive lives with an “NC-17”. Such small, easy steps have slowly but surely fucked all the would-be censors.

Of course, every now and then, a bull will get ahead of himself and run down the hill. And while he may indeed fuck a cow or two, more often than not he'll be sacrificed for his audacity.

Last Tango in Paris was such a bull. The frank and unexpected sexuality it portrayed (the infamous stick of butter) and the realism of its actors were too much for 1972, and it had to be punished. But who could be blamed? Usually it's the star of the film that gets branded and ostracized, but the star in this case was Marlon Brando, one of Hollywood's most sacred cows and completely unpunishable. So it fell to his 20-year-old co-star Maria Schneider, the cow all of western Christendom wanted to fuck at the moment, to take the heat for the public's hard on.

Perhaps back then it didn't seem so hypocritical to blame all the forbidden eroticism of the movie on Schneider, for clearly she was built to be reviled by polite society. “She had the biggest natural titties I've ever seen,” declared actress Patti D'Arbanville. “At that point no one was doing anything to make them bigger, and hers were just huge. And she had no waist, no hips, long legs, and hair down to her ass. And this gorgeous face — rosebud mouth and these big hazel eyes. She was ravishing — beyond.”

So how did this top-heavy seductress get what was coming to her? She was stoned out of showbiz by an angry mob — literally, with sticks of butter as she walked down the steps of the Palais following Tango's premiere at Cannes. Branded everywhere with a scarlet “S” for “slut”, she became a typical E! True Hollywood Stories case, out of work and out of her mind with heroin. And while she did eventually dry out and get back on her feet, her career is still largely out to pasture and doesn't seem likely to be brought back home to the mainstream again.

Maria's probably one of the bigger tragedies on The Iconophile, for while there are other beautiful (and possibly talented) actresses featured here that went largely ignored by Hollywood and never got their chance at greatness, Maria had her chance ... and then it was taken away from her.

Also sprach Golem.

Film

• Les Acteurs (2000)
• Something to Believe In (1998) .... Maria
• Jane Eyre (1996) .... Bertha
• Les Nuits fauves (1992; aka “Savage Nights”) .... Noria
• Au pays des Juliets (1992; aka “In the Country of Juliets”) .... Raissa
• Écrans de sable (1992; aka “Sand Screens”) .... Sarah
• Bunker Palace Hôtel (1989) .... Muriel
• Résidence surveillée (1987)
• Merry-Go-Round (1983) .... Leo
• Balles perdues (1982; aka “Stray Bullets”) .... Vera
• Cercasi Gesù (1982) .... Francesca
• Sezona mira u Parizu (1981)
• Mamma Dracula (1980) .... Nancy Hawaii
• Weiße Reise (1980)
• Vrouw als Eva, Een (1979; aka “A Woman Called Eva”) .... Liliane
• La Dérobade (1979; aka “Memoirs of a French Whore”, “The Getaway”) .... Maloup
• Haine (1979; aka “Hate”)
• Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (1979; aka “Just a Gigolo”)
• Io sono mia (1978; aka “I Belong to Me”) .... Suna
• Violanta (1977)
• Professione: reporter (1975; aka “The Passenger”) .... Girl
• Jeune fille libre le soir (1975; aka “The Babysitter”)
• Reigen (1973; aka “Dance of Love”) .... The Girl
• Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972; aka “Last Tango in Paris”) .... Jeanne
• Cari genitori (1972; aka “Dear Parents”)
• Hellé (1971) .... Nicole
• La Vieille fille (1971) .... Mome
• Les Femmes (1969) .... [Extra]

• Contrôle d'identité (1993) .... Leila Chaouen
• A Song for Europe (1985)

• Tristano e Isotta (1998) .... Queen Maga of Ireland
• Angelo Nero (1998) .... Julia Mayfair
• Il Cuore e la spada (1998)
• Buio nella valle (1984)

• L'Or noir de Lornac (1987) .... Brigitte

Cyber Temples

• Maria Schneider Nude Celebrity Movie Reviews
  Mr. Skin
  Bio, filmography, and nude stills from her films
• Maria Schneider
  Wikipedia
  Maria Schneider in wikireality

Miscellaneous

• Maria Schneider
  Internet Movie Database
  Always up-to-date filmography