Roger Vadim, French film director, dead at 72

PARIS -- Film director Roger Vadim, who pursued beauty both in film and in life, romancing some of the world's most sought-after actresses -- including Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda and Catherine Deneuve-- died yesterday after a long struggle with cancer. He was 72.

"You wouldn't ask Rodin to make an ugly sculpture, or me to make a film with an ugly woman," Vadim once said of his devotion to female beauty in such classics as "And God Created Woman."

"That's my style, that's my nature."

Tributes poured in for the filmmaker, who won renown both for his rich career and his headline-grabbing love life. He counted Bardot and Fonda among his five wives, and had a child with Deneuve, his companion between marriages.

In a statement issued by her office in Atlanta, Fonda said she visited Vadim in the hospital last week and was "saddened by Roger's death ... He will be missed."

"Apart from an original and important body of work, which sometimes rocked minds, he was more than anyone else, the filmmaker of life, of passion for life, of liberty," French President Jacques Chirac said.

"He hatched new talents and knew how to create myths, aided by some of the greatest actresses of the past few decades."

Among them was French siren Bardot, who won instant fame in the 1956 "And God Created Woman," the story of a young married woman's quest for sexual freedom.

The scene of a nubile young Bardot dancing barefoot on a table remains one 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 1988.

The film defined the content and set the tone for many of Vadim's movies, including the 1968 "Barbarella," an avant-garde sci-fi romp starring his new wife, 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. His films were sometimes superficial in content, but always technically strong and full of visual elegance.

Mostly, though, his films were known for their beautiful women.

Vadim cast 26 movies with leading ladies ranging from the elegant Deneuve to earthy Angie Dickinson and intellectual Jeanne Moreau and Susan Sarandon. In 1988, he did a remake of "And God Created Woman" starring Rebecca DeMornay.

Vadim was born Roger Vladimir Plemiannikov on Jan. 26, 1928, in Paris, the son of a diplomat. He met Bardot when she was 15. He was behind her early career as a fashion model and later introduced her to the cinema.

They married in 1952 when she was only 18. He was 24. After divorcing Bardot in 1957, he married actress Annette Stroyberg with whom he had his first child, Nathalie.

Vadim then lived with Deneuve, with whom he had his second child, Christian, now a French actor. Deneuve starred in Vadim's 1962 "Vice and Virtue."

In 1967 he married Fonda and together they had a daughter, Vanessa. Eight years later he married Catherine Schneider with whom he had his fourth child, Vania.

In 1990 he wedded for the fifth time, marrying actress Marie-Christine Barrault. They were still married when he died.

Vadim's other films include "Les Bijoutiers du Clair de Lune" (The Night Heaven Fell) (1958), "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," (Dangerous Liaisons) (1959), "Et Mourir de Plaisir" (Blood and Roses) (1960) and "The Hot Touch" (1981) .

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.