Actress Maria Schneider poses for photographers during Gijon's International Film festival November 25, 2000. Schneider, famous for staring in the film, "Last Tango in Paris", is member of the jury.
Actress Maria Schneider poses for photographers during Gijon's International Film festival November 25, 2000. Schneider, famous for staring in the film, "Last Tango in Paris", is member of the jury. Reuters

French actress Maria Schneider who attained everlasting fame and notoriety from starring in the controversial film “Last Tango in Paris” has died in the French capital at the age of 58.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schneider’s death followed a lengthy illness.

The daughter of actor Daniel Gelin and French model and Marie-Christine Schneider, Schneider made more than two dozen (mostly French) films in her career, but it will be her role opposite Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris that she will be best remembered for.

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, ‘Last Tango’ featured Brando as middle-aged American man mourning over his wife’s recent suicide. In Paris, he meets a young woman played by Schneider, with whom he has a secret and ultimately tragic sexual affair.

It was Schneider’s second film role, and she was only nineteen years old when she made it.

Schneider also appeared in the 1975 Jack Nicholson film, The Passenger

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