Roger Vadim was born Roger Vladimir Igorevich Plemyannikov, on January 26, 1928, in Paris, France. Although his father gave him the first name Vladimir, the French law then required a French first name. His father, Igor Nikolaevich Plemyannikov, was a Russian-Ukrainian aristocrat who was born in Kiev, and emigrated with the White Russians after the Communist revolution of 1917. His mother, Marie-Antoinette Ardilouse, was a French actress. Yoing Roger Vadim spent his childhood in Turkey and Egypt, where his father served as a French diplomat. Roger Vadim was brought up in a multi-lingual home with an intellectually stimulating environment, and he enjoyed a highly cultural atmosphere of his parents circle. However, after the divorce of his parents, Vadim had to live on his own, and soon he simply abandoned his cumbrous last name. Upon his return to Paris, Vadim caught an acting bug, and made his stage debut at the age of 16. From 1944 - 1947 he studied at Institut d'études politiques de Paris at University of Paris, but dropped out at the age of 19 to pursue a career in acting and writing. In 1947 he wrote his first novel and presented it to André Gide for a review. However, Andre Gide was not excited about Vadim's first novel, and encouraged him to pursue a career in film. Upon André Gide's introduction Roger Vadim became an apprentice of film director Marc Allégret, as an assistant director and co-writer. At the same time he was also a part-time journalist with the Paris Match magazine.
In 1950 Vadim lived in the Paris apartment of Danièle Delorme and Daniel Gélin and was babysitting for their 3-year-old son, who once demanded Vadim to make him a paper airplane. Vadim took a March 8, 1950 issue of the Elle magazine to rip out a page, but doing so, he saw a photo of Brigitte Bardot, then a 15-year-old fashion model. Vadim became fascinated with Bardot's image, and gave her photo to director Marc Allegret, who was about to film Vadim's script. Although Bardot did not get a role, Vadim started a relationship with her, while her parents were away. Soon her enraged bourgeois parents tried to cut him off, and nearly sent Brigitte to a school in England, but Vadim and Brigitte prevailed. His friends procured Brigitte her film debut, so Vadim's relationship with her flourished, until her unwanted first pregnancy, which she would abort, causing her much trauma and long-term fear of maternity. At that time Bardot's father, Louis Bardot, was in rage and pulled out a gun on Vadim, causing everyone more shock and trauma, that led to Bardot's several suicide attempts. Vadim spared no effort to comfort Bardot with his love and their romantic getaway in Saint-Tropez, making the French Riviera their escape resort. In 1952 Vadim made his film acting debut together with Brigitte Bardot, albeit he was uncredited. In December of 1952, Vadim and Brigitte Bardot became married. Their personal life somewhat stabilized and resulted in a few years of fruitful collaboration. Their groundbreaking film, Et Dieu... créa la femme (1956), co-starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, was also Vadim's directorial debut. The film became a massive box-office hit and catapulted both Vadim and Bardot to world fame. The memorable scene of Brigitte Bardot dancing barefoot on a table to the tango, delighted male audiences, and became one of the most titillating scenes in French cinema. Bardot's natural sensuality turned her into an international sex symbol.
During the 1960s, Roger Vadim used the same formula in further sex-symbol presentations of his later wives and love-partners, such as Catherine Deneuve in Le vice et la vertu (1963), and Jane Fonda in La curée (1966), and then in the title role in Barbarella (1968), which Vadim wrote and directed. His later films did not arouse the same degree of interest. Si tu crois fillette (1971) with Angie Dickinson and the American remake of And God Created Woman (1988) with Rebecca De Mornay were box-office duds.
In his later years Roger Vadim turned to writing memoirs. In his autobiography "From One Star to the Next" Vadim described his relationships with the women he loved. He had four children: Vanessa Vadim, born to Jane Fonda, Christian Vadim with Catherine Deneuve, Nathalie Vadim, born to actress Annette Stroyberg, and Vania Plemiannikov, his son with heiress Catherine Schneider. Roger Vadim died of cancer on February 11, 2000, in Paris , France, and was laid to rest in St. Tropez cemetery, Saint Tropez, France.
