Formidable presence in French cinema of the late 1950s and 60s, as well known for his capacity to mold wives and lovers into starlets as for his occasional cinematic flourishes.
A former stage actor, assistant to director Marc Allegret and journalist, Vadim--with his then wife Brigitte Bardot--gained worldwide attention with the release of "And God Created Woman" (1956). The film's striking wide-screen color and erotic frankness (including shots of a semi-clad Bardot) earned it vast commercial success and paved the way for the subsequent New Wave breakthrough by convincing French producers of the viability of young directors.
Vadim enjoyed continued success with films such as the superb "Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960" (1959, with Jeanne Moreau), a flawed but engaging reworking of "La Ronde" (1964) and the comic-strip Jane Fonda vehicle "Barbarella" (1967). Since the early 70s, when outright nudity became commonplace, his teasingly erotic works have been fewer and much less successful.
Vadim's relationships with wives (Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Fonda, Marie-Christine Barrault) and lovers (Catherine Deneuve) have been highly publicized, and in 1987 he published a book about three of them, "Bardot, Denueve, Fonda: My Life with the Three Most Beautiful Women in the World". He directed his son by Deneuve, actor Christian Vadim, in "Surprise Party" (1983).