Born into a Jewish family in France and raised in Vienna, Austria, Vigny's first significant work as a writer was the libretto for Robert Winterberg's operetta Fasching in Paris (1910).
There he established a jazz nightclub which played an instrumental role in the musical development of Charles Trenet during his formative years.
The film starred Marlene Dietrich in an Academy Award nominated performance as a bisexual nightclub singer; a portrayal regarded as an early icon of queer cinema.
His stepson Charles was heavily influenced by the jazz musicians he heard performing at this club, and they informed his musical tastes as a songwriter.
[2] Vigny began working as a screenwriter for Vita-Film;[6] creating the screenplay for the 1924 picture Ssanin which was based on the novel Sanin by Mikhail Artsybashev.
He collaborated with Lantz again on the screenplay for another German-British film, Number 17 (1928), which they adapted from the 1925 play of the same name by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon.
Der Roman einer Verjüngten (English: Nell John, The Tale of a Rejuvenated Woman), also appeared in 1927.
His last screenplay was the critically acclaimed Der Verlorene (The Lost One) (1951), co-written with Peter Lorre, who also directed and acted in the film.