Victoria Mercanton

Victoria Mercanton, or Victoria Spiri-Mercanton (1911–2007), was a French film editor and director, born Viktoria Aleksandrovna Pozner (Russian: Виктория Александровна Познер) on 25 January [O.S. 12 January] 1911, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, active from the 1930s to 1970s. Known as Toto, she was a frequent collaborator on the films of Roger Vadim since his directorial debut in 1956 with And God Created Woman. After surviving a couple of disastrous fires of nitrate film in the editing suite - including one which claimed the life of a director sitting next to her - Mercanton successfully lobbied the government to legislate that the French film industry switch to safety film by the mid-1950s. She flippantly explained to Vadim, "You understand, I wanted to be able to smoke my Gauloises while working." ()