Who Are Marina Vlady's Children? Inside the Family Circle of the Celebrated French Actress
Grief after Vysotsky’s passing took a profound toll. Salvation came in the form of Dr. Léon Schwartzenberg, one of France’s preeminent oncologists and an outspoken human rights advocate. They met in the early 1980s when Schwartzenberg treated members of Vlady’s family. What began as clinical counsel grew into a 23-year relationship that lasted until Schwartzenberg's death from liver cancer in 2003.
Schwartzenberg gave Vlady the emotional steadiness she needed to complete raising her sons. Together, they campaigned for migrant workers' housing rights in Paris, protested nuclear testing, and supported cancer research foundations. Her sons respected the physician deeply; he offered a steady counterweight to the artistic tempests of their childhood.
In her later years, Vlady downsized her holdings. In 2015, she made headlines by auctioning personal items at Drouot in Paris, including Vysotsky’s death mask, his final handwritten poem, and Soviet memorabilia. When critics questioned the sale, she spoke plainly: she was preparing her legacy, consolidating assets for her sons and grandchildren, and ridding herself of material ghosts.