At a Glance
- Brigitte Bardot, the French sex symbol and animal rights activist, died at 91.
- She passed away Sunday at her home in southern France, with no funeral arrangements announced.
- Her career spanned 28 films, 3 marriages, and a shift from Hollywood icon to controversial activist.
Why it matters: The death of a cultural icon marks the end of an era that shaped 1960s cinema, national identity, and animal rights activism.
Brigitte Bardot, the French sex symbol and animal rights activist, died at 91 on Sunday. The Brigitte Bardot Foundation said she had been hospitalized the month before and that no funeral plans were set.
Death and Funeral
Bruno Jacquelin, of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals, told News Of Philadelphia that she died Sunday at her home in southern France. He declined to give a cause of death and said no arrangements have been made for funeral or memorial services.
Film Career
Bardot rose to international fame with the 1956 film And God Created Woman. Directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim, the movie sparked scandal with scenes of the long-legged beauty dancing on tables naked. The film launched a career that spanned 28 movies and three marriages, and it positioned Bardot as a symbol of a France breaking out of bourgeois respectability. Her tousled blond hair, voluptuous figure and pouty irreverence made her one of France’s best-known stars.
In 1969, Bardot’s likeness was chosen as the model for Marianne, the national emblem of France and the official Gallic seal. Her face appeared on statues, postage stamps, and even on coins.
Activism and Controversy
Bardot’s second career as an animal rights activist was equally sensational. She traveled to the Arctic to expose the slaughter of baby seals, condemned the use of animals in laboratory experiments, and opposed sending monkeys into space. On her 73rd birthday in 2007, Bardot told News Of Philadelphia:
> “Man is an insatiable predator”, Bardot said. “I don’t care about my past glory. That means nothing in the face of an animal that suffers, since it has no power, no words to defend itself.”
She received the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor, in 1985. However, her activism later turned extremist. She was convicted five times in French courts for inciting racial hatred. She criticized the Muslim practice of slaughtering sheep during Eid al-Adha and decried the influx of immigrants, especially Muslims. Her 1992 marriage to Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, further shifted her politics. She described the nationalist as a “lovely, intelligent man.”
In 2012, Bardot wrote a letter supporting Marine Le Pen in her failed presidential bid. In 2018, amid the #MeToo movement, she called actors protesting sexual harassment “hypocritical” and “ridiculous,” saying she had never been a victim of harassment and found it “charming to be told that I was beautiful or that I had a nice little ass.”
Personal Life
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born September 28, 1934, to a wealthy industrialist. A shy, secretive child, she studied classical ballet and was discovered by a family friend who put her on the cover of Elle magazine at age 14. She described her childhood as “difficult” and said her father was a strict disciplinarian who sometimes punished her with a horse whip.
She married Roger Vadim in 1952, who wrote And God Created Woman to showcase her provocative sensuality. The film portrayed Bardot as a bored newly-wed who beds her brother-in-law, influencing New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. It became a box-office hit and made her a superstar. Bardot later said her early films were embarrassing and that she was “treated like someone less than nothing.”
Her off-screen love affair with co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant shocked the nation, erasing boundaries between public and private life and turning her into a paparazzi prize. She blamed the press for a suicide attempt 10 months after the birth of her only child, Nicolas. Photographers broke into her house two weeks before her birth to snap a picture of her pregnant. Nicolas’s father was Jacques Charrier, whom she married in 1959 but who never felt comfortable as Monsieur Bardot. Bardot gave up her son to his father and later said she had been chronically depressed and unready for motherhood. In her 1996 autobiography Initiales B.B., she likened pregnancy to a “tumor growing inside me” and described Charrier as “temperamental and abusive.”
Bardot married Gunther Sachs in 1966, divorcing in 1969. She retired to her Riviera villa in St. Tropez at age 39 in 1973 after The Woman Grabber.
Mid-life Transformation
Bardot reinvented herself as an animal rights lobbyist. Her face was wrinkled and her voice deep after years of heavy smoking. She sold off movie memorabilia and jewelry to create a foundation devoted exclusively to preventing animal cruelty. She urged South Korea to ban dog meat, wrote to U.S. President Bill Clinton asking why the U.S. Navy recaptured two dolphins it had released into the wild, attacked French and Italian sporting traditions such as the Palio, and campaigned for wolves, rabbits, kittens, and turtle doves.
By the late 1990s, her headlines drew many fans away. She was convicted and fined five times between 1997 and 2008 for inciting racial hatred in incidents inspired by her anger at Muslim animal slaughtering rituals. In 1997, towns removed Bardot-inspired statues of Marianne after her anti-immigrant statements. She received death threats after calling for a ban on horse meat. Bardot said:
> “It’s true that sometimes I get carried away, but when I see how slowly things move forward … and despite all the promises that have been made to me by all different governments put together – my distress takes over”, Bardot told News Of Philadelphia.
She identified with the animals she was saving: “I can understand hunted animals because of the way I was treated”, she said. “What happened to me was inhuman. I was constantly surrounded by the world press.”
Key Milestones
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1956 | And God Created Woman releases |
| 1969 | Model for Marianne |
| 1985 | Awarded Legion of Honor |
| 2007 | Bardot’s 73rd birthday statement |
| 2012 | Letter supporting Marine Le Pen |
| 2018 | Comments on #MeToo movement |
Key Takeaways
- Brigitte Bardot’s death at 91 closes a chapter of 1960s cinema and animal rights activism.
- Her career evolved from Hollywood icon to controversial activist, earning both honors and convictions.
- Her legacy remains complex, marked by cultural influence, political extremism, and fierce advocacy for animals.
Bardot’s passing marks the end of an era that shaped French cinema, national identity, and animal rights activism, leaving a complex legacy that will be debated for years to come.
