Brigitte Bardot, the French actress and singer who became an erotic myth of the 50s and 60s, has died this Sunday at 91, according to her Foundation. She starred in about 50 films and recorded over 60 songs before retiring in 1973 to focus on animal rights activism.
Brigitte Bardot, born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, rose to fame in 1956 with the film And God Created Woman, directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim. In this film set in Saint-Tropez, she played a young orphan desired by several men, embodying the sensuality of the 50s on par with Marilyn Monroe. The movie heralded a revolution in the image of the femme fatale, where innocence seduced more than malice.
Throughout her career, Bardot starred in classics like Contempt (1963) by Jean-Luc Godard, where she posed nude in the opening images, or A Very Private Affair (1961) by Louis Malle, in which she played a version of herself fighting fame. She also shone in Love Is My Profession (1958) with Jean Gabin and The Truth (1960), nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In total, she filmed about 50 movies, many mediocre, like Shalako (1968) with Sean Connery.
Her personal life was tumultuous: she married four times, including to Vadim and German tycoon Gunter Sachs, and attempted suicide several times. In 1973, at 39, she retired from cinema, stating: "I gave my youth and beauty to men, I give my wisdom and experience to animals." She founded her foundation for animal defense and rejected the Legion of Honor in 1985.
Bardot became a controversial figure for her activism, criticizing France's Islamization and the MeToo movement, which she called hypocritical. In an interview with Paris Match, she said: "Actresses complaining about sexual abuse just seek publicity." She spent her last years in southern France and was hospitalized several times recently for a serious illness.
Her death, announced by her Foundation, closes an era. She was France's most exportable image, a symbol of sexual liberation and a victim of media harassment, embodying her time's paradoxes.
