Le Figaro newspaper quoted her family as saying she had died this morning in Paris after a long illness.
The daughter of French actor Daniel Gelin and a Parisian bookshop owner, Schneider was just 19 when she was cast in only her second screen role opposite the legendary Brando, who was 48 at the time.
Iconic role: Maria Schneider with Marlon Brando in Last Tango In Paris (1972), directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Pushing boundaries: Brando and Schneider's passionate coupleing caused shockwaves in cinema
But the age difference wasn't the most controversial thing about the 1972 movie, which featured lots of nudity and an infamous scene featuring the use of butter.
Three years later, Schneider appeared opposite Jack Nicholson in The Passenger.
Born in 1952 in Paris, Schneider began her film career at 17 with uncredited appearances before landing her first role in Roger Kahane's 1970 film, Madly.
Garlanded: Maria Schneider with Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand as she receives a medal of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters at the Ministry of Culture in 2010
The next year she won her most famous part after Bernardo Bertolucci cast her in the sexually charged drama Last Tango in Paris.
She played a young Parisian women who embarks on a passionate affair with a middle-aged businessman, played by Brando, who declares their relationship will only be based on sex.
The movie won Oscar nominations for Brando and Bertolucci.
In a 2007 interview with the Daily Mail, Schneider said Bertolucci was 'overrated' and said she felt uncomfortable while making the notoriously graphic film.
'Bertolucci was fat and sweaty and very manipulative, both of Marlon and myself, and would do certain things to get a reaction from me,' she said.
'Some mornings on set he would be very nice and say hello and on other days, he wouldn't say anything at all.
'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.
'I felt very sad because I was treated like a sex symbol - I wanted to be recognised as an actress and the whole scandal and aftermath of the film turned me a little crazy and I had a breakdown.
Schneider suffered drug abuse problems in the 1970s but said she turned her life around after meeting her longterm partner in 1980 - it is not known whether she was in a relationship with a man or woman.
Her last significant role was in Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre in 1996, while her most most recent listed film is Cliente from 2008.
Yesterday French arts minister Frederic Mitterrand paid tribute to her. ‘She remains the singular image of today’s woman, one of those living conduits of female liberty who is eternally reconquering a new generation,’ he said. ( dalymail.co.uk )
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