Last Tango in Paris Star Maria Schneider Dies

02/03/2011 at 08:20 AM EST

French actress Maria Schneider, who starred as Marlon Brando's lover in director Bernardo Bertolucci's sensational 1972 Last Tango In Paris, has died in that city, PEOPLE has confirmed. She was 58 and had suffered with cancer.

The daughter of French actor Daniel Gelin and a Parisien bookshop owner, Schneider was l9 when she was cast in only her second screen role opposite Brando, who was then 48. Three years later, she appeared opposite Jack Nicholson in the existential drama The Passenger.
– Peter Mikelbank

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