French actress and singer Brigitte Bardot (Paris, 1934) died this Sunday at the age of 91, her foundation announced in a statement.
Bardot rose to international fame with the film ‘And God Created Woman’ (1956), written and directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim. However, in the early 1970s, she announced her retirement from acting and became increasingly politically active, particularly in her support of animal rights.
Born in 1934 in Paris, Bardot grew up in a traditional Catholic family, but excelled enough as a dancer to study ballet and earn a place at the prestigious Paris Conservatory. Simultaneously, she found work as a model, appearing on the cover of Elle magazine in 1950 at just 15 years old.
Her acting career began in 1952. Her first major success came when she starred in ‘And God Created Woman,’ directed by Roger Vadim in 1956, which garnered international recognition. Although it wasn’t her first film, it is widely considered the one that propelled her into the public spotlight.
In the early 1960s, Bardot appeared in a series of highly successful French films, including the Oscar-nominated drama ‘The Truth,’ by Henri-Georges Clouzot; ‘A Very Private Affair,’ by Louis Malle (alongside Marcello Mastroianni); and ‘Contempt,’ by Jean-Luc Godard. In the second half of the decade, Bardot accepted several Hollywood offers, including ‘Viva Maria!’, a period comedy set in Mexico with Jeanne Moreau, and ‘Shalako,’ a Western with Sean Connery.
Bardot also had a musical career, which included recording the original version of Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus,’ which he had written for her while they were in a relationship. She retired from acting in 1973, at the age of 39, after filming the romantic movie ‘The Edifying and Joyful Story of Colinot’. Her main focus became animal rights activism, joining protests against seal hunting in 1977 and founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.
The French actress has been hospitalized several times in recent months. Last October, it was reported that she had been hospitalized in Toulon for several weeks due to surgery for a serious illness.
In recent years, Bardot has caused controversy with her statements on politics, immigration, and hunting. Some of these statements led to defamation convictions. “Freedom is being yourself, even when it’s uncomfortable,” she wrote in the epilogue of a book titled ‘Mon BBcédaire’, published in France in October.
In the book, she also asserted that her country has become “gloomy, sad, submissive, sick, damaged, devastated, ordinary, vulgar…” The right wing is the “only urgent remedy for the agony” of France, added the artist, who declared her support for the far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
