she’s well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand like a lizard on a window pane

The troubling thing about writing a retro-themed blog at times is that many of the actors and actresses that I admire are either dead, or even worse, still have that inevitable fate in front of them. For many of us, death comes much too soon; our lives are cut short before we can do all the things we wanted to do. All we can hope for is that we have experienced enough and truly lived enough in our lives to have no regrets when the final bell rings.
Such is the case with Maria Schneider, who passed away in Paris today at the age of 58. The actress is best-known for her role in Bernardo Bertolucci's film Last Tango in Paris.
Cast at the tender age of nineteen, Maria played opposite Marlon Brando as two steamy lovers about to part. The role in Tango brought her a lot of attention, but her acting merits warranted it - she does a terrific job in the film, balancing the emotional extremes of the film's narrative. Schneider struggled with the aftermath of her role in the controversial film, once saying, "I was too young to know better. Marlon later said that he felt manipulated, and he was Marlon Brando, so you can imagine how I felt. People thought I was like the girl in the movie, but that wasn't me."
As she looks down upon all of us this wintry night, I hope Maria doesn't mind my paying tribute to her great life, as the star of Last Tango in Paris.

Title: from "Happiness is a Warm Gun" (The Beatles)