Appears as herself in documentary Sois belle et tais-toi by Delphine Seyrig (released 1980-03-04 France).

[Das] she has a relation with Joan Townsend, photographer and Avis-heir. Joan was sent to a mental hospital in Rome. Maria Schneider committed herself as a voluntary patient in order to be with Joan. “She was schizophrenic, I wanted to help. She eventually went back home to the States but now, I don't know what has happened to her.”

[OldLoves]: Schneider had walked off of the set of the movie Caligula and checked herself into the facility in order to be with Townsend who was already a patient there.

With Joan Townsend in Rome

[Das]: She was due to film Caligula alongside Peter O'Toole and Helen Mirren but walked off when she realised its pornographic content.

She was offered the role of Mary in Franco Zeffirelli's TV spectacular, Jesus of Nazareth, but turned it down - a decision she regrets.

Main role of Hypolyte in short (55 min.) movie Voyage au jardin des morts by Philippe Garrel (released 1978-02-08 France; see Voyage au jardin des morts).

[BuetJ] When I had problems, I worked in the most obscure circles, with Garrel, Rivette… I did Le Voyage au jardin des morts (1976), a film hardly ever shown, that only the fans of Garrel have seen. There was no money at all. Garrel did everything: sound, image… We had to shoot at night in the studios. Rassam gave us thousend francs here, thousand francs there to make the film. Nobody got payed. This film really was made for the love of the art. The images are magnificent, it is an enlarged 16 mm black and white. I didn’t have make-up, and there are set designs of an extraordinary beauty.