French actress, sex symbol of the 1960s and active animal rights activist. Brigitte Bardot died. She was 91 years old.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Protection of Animals said the actress died on Sunday at her home in Saint-Tropez in the south of France.
Bardot first rose to fame in the controversial 1956 film directed by then-husband Roger Vadim in Saint-Tropez. And God created woman in the role of a freedom-loving 18-year-old girl, whose natural sensuality incited passions and jealousy in the then simple fishing village.
At the time, the film caused a scandal for its depiction of female sexuality and was banned in several countries and parts of the United States.
Bardot first met Vadim when she was 16 years old and married him in 1952, when she was 18 years old. Their marriage began to fall apart on the set of the film. And God created womanwhen Bardot was having an affair with co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant.
They divorced amicably in 1957, but Vadim forever remained an integral part of the Bardo myth. And God created woman will mark the beginning of Saint-Tropez as a destination for the elite.
During her career, Bardot starred in 28 films, including a film by Christian Jacques. Babette's War and Jean-Luc Godard Contemptbut for France she was more than an actress.
With her “sex kitten” nickname, curvaceous figure and outspoken sensuality, she became a symbol of the moment in French history as the country emerged from World War II and the society loosened its ties to the Catholic Church and political conservatism.
Her career and image were very much at odds with her childhood.
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 in Paris in the family of a wealthy engineer and manufacturer Louis Bardot and Anne-Marie Musel, the daughter of an insurance company director. The actress received a conservative Catholic upbringing.
She grew up in a luxurious apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris with her younger sister Mijanu Bardot, her life and friendships strictly controlled by her parents.
As a child and teenager, she seemed destined for a ballet career: she attended the Paris Conservatoire, where she studied for three years with Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev.
Her life took a different direction after she began modeling for magazines, and her appearance on the cover of Elle at 15 led to her being asked to audition for Marc Allegre. Laurels are cutwhere she met Vadim.
In 1973, at the age of 39, Bardot announced her retirement to devote herself to animal rights. In 1986, she founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which has since saved hundreds of thousands of animals.
“I gave my youth and beauty to men, I give my wisdom and experience to animals,” she would say later.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Bardot in a post on X, saying: “We mourn the legend of the century.”
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling fame, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face, which became Marianne,” he wrote, referring to the fact that Bardot became the first the first real model of Marianne, symbol of the French Republic in 1969. “She represented free living.”
