Larisa Vadko’s filmography includes fewer than ten films. The actress, who once charmed audiences with her lively dance alongside Georgy Vitsin on screen, suddenly disappeared from Soviet cinema, leaving her fans puzzled. What happened to her, and how did her fate eventually lead her to a French prison?
Larisa Vadko was born on January 31, 1949, in the settlement of Eskhar, Kharkiv region. After finishing school, she plunged headfirst into the world of cinema, becoming a student at the legendary VGIK. She was fortunate — that year, the institute was specifically recruiting applicants from the Ukrainian SSR, as the republic’s film industry was in need of new names.
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Vadko made her film debut in 1973 in the detective drama Everyday Life of the Criminal Investigation Department. The film was a major success, and the young actress, who played a technical school student in love with an older man (played by Yuri Kamorny), immediately attracted attention. However, her greater fame came from a brief but memorable role in the comedy The Incorrigible Liar. Her energetic dance with Georgy Vitsin became one of the film’s most memorable moments.
In 1974, Larisa Vadko appeared in several films. In the children’s movie Valya’s Sails, she played a schoolteacher, and in the industrial drama The Rivers Are Turbulent in the Mountains, she portrayed a crane operator, adding a lyrical touch to the story. She also had a small role in the romantic melodrama A Romance for Lovers. In 1975, she appeared in My Home Is the Theater as actress Sofya Akimova of the Maly Theater. Soon after came her final film, From Dawn to Dawn.
Why Did the Actress Disappear from the Screen?
In that fruitful year of 1974, Larisa Vadko married a well-known French chef, François Doublet, and soon moved with him to France. He was a wealthy man, having served as the personal chef to President Georges Pompidou (1969–1974) and often accompanying him on foreign trips.
François Doublet, whose culinary skills had been honed serving elite clients, fulfilled his lifelong dream by opening the restaurant La Tourelle in the quiet Paris suburb of Vanves. Located in a historic mansion, the restaurant quickly won over gourmet diners who appreciated the chef’s refined dishes. The first floor was occupied by the restaurant, while the family lived in cozy apartments upstairs.
The Death of François Doublet
On Sunday, July 16, 1978, at 2:45 a.m., two police officers saw a woman running barefoot down the Boulevard Lamartine, dressed only in a robe and holding a small child. She shouted to the officers: “Quick, my husband has been killed at La Tourelle!”
The police ran only a few steps before stumbling upon the body of a large man, about 1.70 meters tall and weighing 120 kilograms, dressed in a white shirt. It was François Doublet, 39, the woman’s husband and owner of the restaurant. He had fallen at the doorway of the establishment, shot in the back of the head as he turned to open the door for his killer. Forensic experts determined that a single bullet fired at close range had caused instant death. The weapon — most likely a pistol — was never found.
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According to Larisa Doublet (née Vadko), it was nearly 2 a.m. when she heard the gunshot. Terrified, she hid on the terrace with her four-month-old son André. She remained there for about half an hour, afraid that the shooter might come inside. When she finally went down to the restaurant, François was already dead.
Investigators found no signs of forced entry. On a small table near the entrance stood two glasses and an open bottle of champagne from La Tourelle’s cellar. One glass bore the victim’s fingerprints, but the other had none — no foreign prints, and none belonging to Larisa either. She insisted that her husband, with whom she had lived for four years, must have been killed by mistake. But the police were puzzled by her delayed call for help.
The Accusation and Imprisonment
During the hearings, Larisa Doublet faltered while answering questions from police inspector Pierre Ottavioli and prosecutor Claude Cancès. “We felt we were a hair’s breadth from the truth,” Cancès later recalled. “Pierre asked the right question — Larisa panicked — but he didn’t realize it was the right one and moved on. We were so close to learning what had really happened.”
After spending four weeks in prison, Larisa was acquitted, but the case has never been solved. The murder of François Doublet remains a mystery, and his widow stayed under investigation for several more years.
Having inherited her husband’s estate, Larisa opened her own restaurant and tried to restart her career in French cinema. She also dabbled in writing and restaurant management. What ultimately became of her — remains unknown.
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