Acting

Véronique Vendell

Born 1942-07-21 · Lodève, France

On July 21, 1942, Claude Marie Rose Durafourd, future Vendell, was born in Lodève (Hérault), into a family of doctors. the one who will opt for the nickname Véronique Vendell for three brothers. Two will follow the family path, another will become a painter. She arrives in Paris with a real battle plan, everything is planned, thought out, studied, it can only succeed. With her look directly inspired by the essential Brigitte Bardot mixed with a zest of Monroe and a hint of Mansfield, Véronique sets out to attack film festivals with touching regularity and determination. She is of course all blonde and smiles and it goes without saying, dressed in the most revealing dresses possible. Véronique will always arrive in Cannes in a transparent blouse as if it were a ticket to the top of the bill. She quickly debuted at the Théâtre du Gymnase with “Adieu Prudence” and was filming “Rencontres” at the cinema. The newspapers publish photos of her tiny bikinis, material to feed the slew of weeklies devoted to cinema in constant demand for empty information to complete the magazines in question. The champions of the genre being Jayne Mansfield, Elaine Stewart and Corinne Calvet, Véronique will not be left out. However, she filmed, and her filmography is consistent. Thus, if she begins to rotate in “Les Amours Célèbres” between Feuillère, Girardot and Laforêt, she only appears for a fleeting moment. This cinema will be less tender with Véronique than what we still call the celebrity press, but she will nevertheless be able to film for big names thanks mainly to Italy. In “Lo La Conoscevo Bene” in 1965 she already seems to be parodying herself. Wearing a lamé dress cut low to the waist and which we will see her carrying around to quite a few festivals, she is wearing a platinum blonde bun that seems to have been polished with explosives. Which in hindsight gives it quite a punk side! She's a starlet invited to a private party and has only one line: "Oh yes, I've been in the movies." An advertisement for a lipstick. Only my mouth but on a giant screen measuring five by ten meters! » To which a smartass replies, “Make advertisements for panties instead!” » She was also part of a few American adventures, notably with “La Nuit des Généraux” where she was part of the “French contingent” with Philippe Noiret, Juliette Greco and Pierre Mondy. But alas, Véronique will be out of luck again. While she was expected to be a real revelation at the film's premiere in New York, the weather conditions were disastrous; Her plane arrives very late and not only does she miss the ceremony but she finds herself stuck at the airport in a New York paralyzed by a snowstorm! Not a taxi on the horizon to take him to his hotel, failing to bring him to the covetousness of New York photographers...

Acting credits

Barbarella poster
6.0

In the far future, a highly sexual woman is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand. Along the way she encounters various unusual people.

Barbarella

1968

The Night of the Generals poster
6.8

A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

The Night of the Generals

1967

Cross of Iron poster
7.1

It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich is still vastly superior to the Russian army. However, within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors.

Cross of Iron

1977

Rencontres poster
7.3

Bella Krastner is sunbathing on a beach on the Côte d'Azur when she attracts the attention of an attractive younger man, Ralph Scaffari. It is the start of a whirlwind romance which looks like it might last beyond the end of the summer. Unfortunately, Bella is already married, to Carl Krastner, a once renowned pianist who has become bitter and reclusive after a car accident that irreparably damaged one of his hands. Krastner no longer has any zest for living. He tyrannises both his wife and his sister Laurence and divides his time between scuba diving and gambling. After ratcheting up a small fortune in gambling debts, Krastner decides to fake his own death so that he can claim on his life insurance.

Rencontres

1962

Mayerling poster
6.2

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria clashes with his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, over implementing progressive policies for their country. Rudolf soon feels he is a man born at the wrong time in a country that doesn't realize the need for social reform. The Prince of Wales, later to become Britain's King Edward VII, provides comic relief. Rudolf finds refuge from a loveless marriage with Princess Stéphanie by taking a mistress, Baroness Maria Vetsera. Their untimely demise at Mayerling, the imperial family's hunting lodge, is cloaked in mystery.

Mayerling

1968

Becket poster
7.2

Thomas Becket, Henry II's longtime advisor, finds his friendship with the debauched king corroding when he is unwillingly appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury in an attempt to gain absolute loyalty from the Church.

Becket

1964

The Witches poster
6.0

Five short stories loosely dealing with the roles of women in society. A superstar actress travels to a mountain resort, only to evoke jealousy from women and lust from men. A woman offers to take an injured man to the hospital. A widowed father and his son seek for a new wife/mother. A man seeks revenge for a woman's honor. A bored housewife tries to explain to her husband that he's not as romantic as he used to be.

The Witches

1967

I Knew Her Well poster
7.5

A young woman from the Italian countryside experiences the dark side of the business after she moves to Rome to become a star.

I Knew Her Well

1965

Breakthrough poster
5.8

Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in its mission by coming up against a Russian tank. Steiner then takes a furlough to Paris just as the Allies launch their invasion of Normandy.

Breakthrough

1979

Battle of the Godfathers poster
5.0

Hamburg business man Otto Westermann is also the boss of organized crime in the city. His reign as godfather is in danger, though, as an ambitious Sicilian mafioso enters the fray. His goal is clear and simple: he wants to take over Hamburg. But Westermann isn't as easy to defeat as the Sicilian expects. And soon Hamburg is on the verge of a bloody mob war.

Battle of the Godfathers

1973

No artwork available
5.5

In this mystery, a nouveau-riche Frenchman returns to his Parisian home after finding a fortune in Africa. He is looking for a wife and begins advertising in the newspaper. Instead he finds himself victimized by con-artists.

House of Sin

1961

Weekend, Italian Style poster
6.5

Manager Marletti goes to the sea to meet his wife Giuliana to spend the weekend with her and many friends. After three days Marletti comes back driving his car to Rome. So he can sleep, alone and happy, with silence around him.

Weekend, Italian Style

1965

Tower of Screaming Virgins poster
5.3

King's swordsman Captain Buridan, hero of the Flanders campaign, returns to Paris to find it in a grip of fear -a "vampire/witch" in the "Tower of Sin" is luring young men to their deaths by offering them a night of sexual ecstasy followed by savage slaughter. Buridan is holding secrets of his own and his battle to save France from an evil Chancellor, an impotent King and a lascivious, wanton Queen make the battlefields of war seem like child's play.

Tower of Screaming Virgins

1968

Between Miracles poster
7.2

Benedetto is a child who came out of an accident uninjured on his first communion's day. The people of his village attribute that to a miracle and made him undergo a strict religious upbringing. That fact will determine his life, which will be affected by inner torment caused by the confrontation between sexual desires and sacrifices of faith, sin and grace.

Between Miracles

1971

The Adventures of Gerard poster
5.9

Based on satirical short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about a vain, egotistical Etienne Gerard, a French brigadier serving during the Napoleonic Wars. He thinks he's the best soldier and lover that ever lived and intends to prove it.

The Adventures of Gerard

1970

When the Pheasants Pass poster
6.7

Arsène Baudu and Hyacinthe, a pair of small-time crooks, fall prey to Alexandre Larsan-Bellac, who involves them (against their will) in high-profile swindling, but their success is quite limited. For starters they are deceived by Mrs. Paterson, a charming widow. Later on, Ribeiro, a Portuguese contractor and former victim of the two crooks, traces them and forces them to work on one of his building sites for damages. Just then, Larsan-Bellac resurfaces with plans to lure Ribeiro once again. —Guy Bellinger

When the Pheasants Pass

1965

I See Naked poster
6.2

Seven sketches including the title sketch "I See Naked" in which a fashion editor begins to see naked women everywhere he goes.

I See Naked

1969

Snobs! poster
6.0

Four vice-presidents fight among themselves to reach the top post after the president dies. Their wives take part in the various schemes to downgrade the opposition by unorthodox means.

Snobs!

1962

Dial Love for Murder poster
4.9

A man plans to kill his wealthy wife for her money and so he can be with his beautiful young mistress. However, things don't turn out exactly as he had planned.

Dial Love for Murder

1970

How to Play the Seduction Game poster
3.3

Armand seduces one woman after the other. However, he is supposed to consolidate his family's finances by marrying Amelie, a bankers daughter.

How to Play the Seduction Game

1970

Swinging Wives poster
4.5

Sex comedy about lonely housewives and their activities while the husband is away. It’s a series of vignettes connected by documentary-style interviews with people on the street. The eroticism relies completely on nudity, not altogether different from British sex comedies of the era.

Swinging Wives

1971

The Resort Girls poster
4.4

Workers of a journey company state about guys and females who pass their vacation time just by sexual enjoyment, which is shown overly thorough and commented on.

The Resort Girls

1971

Code 7, Victim 5 poster
5.0

The first victim is the butler of South African millionaire Wexler, who hires hard-hitting private eye Steve Martin for protection. Once at Wexler’s palatial Cape Town estate, Martin meets the patriarch’s family, close associates – and possible suspects. When it’s discovered that the key to the killing may lie in an old war photograph, Martin sets out on a mission to unravel the identities of the men in the picture before they become target two through VICTIM 5.

Code 7, Victim 5

1964

The Superwitness poster
5.9

A pimp is suspected of murdering his lover. He is convicted based on the testimony of a single witness. The woman begins doubting her memory of the event and then, her feelings towards the convict...

The Superwitness

1971