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A symbol of rebellious youth and beauty, Brigitte Bardot helped fuel the sexual revolution in cinema with her sensual and uninhibited performances in films such as Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt” (“Le Mepris”). Then, in the second half of her life, she forged an unconventional path as a fierce advocate for animal rights.
The legendary French actress died at age 91, according to a statement from her foundation provided to CNN this Sunday.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation pays tribute to the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything and left everything for a world more respectful of animals,” the foundation said. “His legacy lives on through the actions and struggles that the Foundation continues with the same passion and the same fidelity to its ideals.”
Known in France simply by her initials BB, Bardot fascinated audiences and scandalized moral authorities with her display of raw sexuality in the 1950s and 1960s. She became a box office phenomenon in the United States and helped popularize foreign cinema among Americans at a time when censorship in Hollywood prohibited frank discussions of sex, much less nudity.
Describing her impact, Life magazine said in 1961: “Everywhere girls walk, dress, wear their hair like Bardot, and wish they were free souls like her.”
He divided public opinion as one of the first truly modern celebrities. Long before Madonna, Bardot had several romances on her own terms and was unapologetic about her behavior and hedonistic lifestyle in a pre-feminist era.
“In the game of love, she is as much hunter as prey,” observed French writer Simone de Beauvoir in a famous 1959 essay first published in Esquire, “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome.” “The man is an object for her, just as she is for him. And that is precisely what hurts male pride.”
The star downplayed her acting talent and rarely received critical praise, but her charisma was undeniable for nearly two decades in more than 40 films such as “…And God Created Woman” (1956), “Contempt” (1963) and “Viva María!” (1965). She also became a popular singer in France in the 1960s.
Beyond her films and music, Bardot’s fashion sense kept her at the forefront of pop culture in the second half of the 20th century. Her bleach blonde hair, long and straight, or tied up in loose strands, as well as her preference for casual, form-fitting outfits, kept her image contemporary long after the ’60s. Jane Fonda and Julie Christie were among the actresses who imitated her, while models such as Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer also copied her sexy, tousled look.
A London art dealer explained what made Bardot a trendsetter during a photography exhibition in 2009 to celebrate the star’s 75th birthday.
“She was natural, she went barefoot, she didn’t comb her hair, she didn’t wear makeup, she wore ballet flats because she trained as a ballet dancer,” James Hyman told The Guardian.
“It’s that image of freedom, exuberance and youth. She was authentic, instinctive, free. For women, it was something feminist; it was about behaving like men, having lovers and romances.”
After retiring from film at age 39 in 1973, Bardot used her fame to draw attention to the plight of animals.
“I gave my beauty and my youth to men, and now I give my wisdom and experience, the best of me, to animals,” she told a crowd at a 1987 auction of her memorabilia to raise money for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for Animal Welfare.
But he remained a controversial figure, facing criticism for expressing anti-immigrant stances by denouncing Islamic rituals involving animal sacrifice. Her marriage in 1992 to Bernard d’Ormale, an associate of far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, cemented the idea that she was disconnected from a modern and diverse France.
Further defying public expectations, Bardot aged naturally and resisted plastic surgery like so many of her Hollywood contemporaries. The former “sex kitten” of cinema let her hair turn gray and did not hide the wrinkles on her face after years of tanning.
Born on September 28, 1934, Bardot grew up in an upper-middle class Parisian family, far from the world of show business. She aspired to be a dancer, but her appearance on the cover of Elle magazine at age 15 attracted the attention of film director Marc Allégret and, especially, his young assistant, Roger Vadim. Six years older than Bardot, Vadim, an aspiring filmmaker, would become her partner and play a key role in her rise to stardom.
Her family initially disapproved of the relationship and forbade them from seeing each other. Distraught, Bardot attempted suicide—the first of several reported attempts—but her parents relented and agreed to her marriage to Vadim in 1952, when she turned 18.
Bardot built her career with small roles in French films and captivated photographers at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival with her youthful and spontaneous appearance. Three years later, Vadim directed his first film, “…And God Created Woman,” with his wife as a young seductress who comes between two brothers. Audiences couldn’t get enough of Bardot, from the moment she appears naked behind sheets to a sweat-soaked lap dance near the end of the film.
“People pretended to be scandalized by Brigitte’s nudity and uninhibited sensuality when, in reality, they were attacking a film that spoke without hypocrisy of the right of women to enjoy sex, a right until then reserved for men,” Vadim wrote three decades later.
The landmark French film was the first of five in which Vadim would direct Bardot, and the runaway success established her as one of the top ten box office draws in the US in 1958. Before that, foreign actresses only became international celebrities after starring in American films, but Bardot resisted pressure to go to Hollywood.
The Vadims divorced in 1957 following Bardot’s affair with co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant, the first of several high-profile romances that made her a favorite of the paparazzi.
“My life was completely turned upside down,” Bardot told CNN in 2007. “They followed me, they spied on me, they worshiped me, they insulted me. My private life became public. Overnight, I found myself a prisoner, a golden prison, but a prison nonetheless.”
At the peak of her fame, Bardot alternated between light comedies such as “Une Parisienne” (1957), “Come Dance With Me!” (1959) and “Abette Goes to War” (1959), and more dramatic roles in “En Cas de Malheur” (1958) and “La Vérité” (1960). In the latter, she received praise playing a suicidal young woman who is tried for murder after accidentally killing her lover.
Filming was an emotionally difficult time for Bardot, shortly after the birth of her only son, Nicolas, and as her second marriage, to actor Jacques Charrier, fell apart. Bardot gave birth while trapped in her Paris apartment, outside which photographers crowded awaiting the event.
After finishing the difficult role in “La Vérité,” Bardot made world news when she attempted suicide in September 1960, on her 26th birthday. A child miraculously discovered the star – who had taken pills and cut her wrists – in the woods of a farm after she had disappeared.
But Bardot proved to be a survivor, even enduring criticism for being considered a bad mother for giving up custody of her son. He soon played the autobiographical role of an emotionally tormented star trapped by fame in “Vie Privée” (1962).
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot, whose death was announced Sunday, saying she “embodied a life of freedom.”
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne (the symbol of the French republic), Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” Macron published in X this Sunday.
The French president added that Bardot represented “universal brilliance.”
“We were moved. We mourn the loss of a legend of the century,” he said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
