The French actress Maria Schneider, who appeared opposite Marlon Brando in “Last Tango in Paris,” died in Paris on Thursday after a long illness, according to Agence France Presse. She was 58.

Schneider’s racy role prompted international controversy when writer-director Bernardo Bertolucci cast her in the 1972 film that brought her world-wide fame.

She played a 19-year-old engaged Parisian woman looking for an apartment to rent, who then begins a sexual relationship with a middle-age American (Brando) whose wife has just committed suicide.

Charles Champlin of The Los Angeles Times wrote about the movie that Schneider “is a triumph of casting ― petulant, self-indulgent, and convincingly terrified as someone who has gotten in beyond her depth.”

Schneider’s other most notable film credit was starring with Jack Nicholson in director Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1975 drama, “The Passenger.”

(jurie777@heraldcorp.com)