BRIGITTE BARDOT - Individual card from the Series of 10 issued by Redsky in 2011.

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot (born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French former actress and singer, and animal rights activist. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated personae with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the best known sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s. Although she withdrew from the entertainment industry in 1973, she remains a major popular culture icon.

Born and raised in Paris, Bardot was an aspiring ballerina in her early life. She started her acting career in 1952. She achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in the controversial And God Created Woman, and also caught the attention of French intellectuals. She was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay The Lolita Syndrome, which described her as a "locomotive of women's history" and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France. Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Le Mépris. For her role in Louis Malle's 1965 film Viva Maria! she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress.

Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973. She had acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals and recorded more than 60 songs. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985 but refused to accept it. After retiring, she became an animal rights activist. During the 2000s, she generated controversy by criticizing immigration and Islam in France, and she has been fined five times for inciting racial hatred.

Early life

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born on 28 September 1934 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, to Louis Bardot (1896–1975) and Anne-Marie Mucel (1912–1978). Bardot's father, originated from Ligny-en-Barrois, was an engineer and the proprietor of several industrial factories in Paris. Her mother was the daughter of an insurance company director. She grew up in a conservative Catholic family, as had her father. She suffered from amblyopia as a child, which resulted in decreased vision of her left eye. She has one younger sister, Mijanou.

Bardot's childhood was prosperous; she lived in her family's seven-bedroom apartment in the luxurious 16th arrondissement. However, she recalled feeling resentful in her early years. Her father demanded she follow strict behavioural standards, including good table manners, and that she wear appropriate clothes. Her mother was extremely selective in choosing companions for her, and as a result Bardot had very few childhood friends. Bardot cited a personal traumatic incident when she and her sister broke her parents' favourite vase while they were playing in the house; her father whipped the sisters 20 times and henceforth treated them like "strangers", demanding them to address their parents by the pronoun "vous", which is used to address unfamiliar or respectable persons in the French language. The incident decisively led to Bardot resenting her parents, and to her future rebellious lifestyle.

During World War II, when Paris was occupied by Nazi Germany, Bardot spent more time at home due to increasingly strict civilian surveillance. She became engrossed in dancing to phonograph records, which her mother saw as a potential for a ballet career. Bardot was admitted at the age of seven to the private school Cours Hattemer. She went to school three days a week, which gave her ample time to take dance lessons at a local studio, under her mother's arrangements. In 1949, Bardot was accepted at the Conservatoire de Paris. For three years she attended ballet classes held by Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev. She also studied at the Institut de la Tour, a private Catholic high school near her home.

Hélène Gordon-Lazareff, the then-director of the magazines Elle and Le Jardin des Modes, hired Bardot in 1949 as a "junior" fashion model. On 8 March 1950, Bardot (aged 15 at the time) appeared on the cover of Elle, which brought her an acting offer for the film Les Lauriers sont coupés from director Marc Allégret. Her parents opposed her becoming an actress, but her grandfather was supportive, saying that "If this little girl is to become a whore, cinema will not be the cause." At the audition, Bardot met Roger Vadim, who later notified her that she did not get the role. They subsequently fell in love. Her parents fiercely opposed their relationship; her father announced to her one evening that she would continue her education in England and that he had bought her a train ticket, the journey to take place the following day. Bardot reacted by putting her head into an oven with open fire; her parents stopped her and ultimately accepted the relationship, on condition that she marry Vadim at the age of 18.

Career

Beginnings

Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle again in 1952, which landed her a movie offer for the comedy Crazy for Love (1952), starring Bourvil and directed by Jean Boyer. She was paid 200,000 francs (€4,700 in 2019 euros) for the small role portraying a cousin of the main character. On 21 December 1952, Bardot (then 18 years old) married Vadim, under the consent of her parents. The wedding was held at the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Church of Passy in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Bardot had her second film role in Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (1953), directed by Willy Rozier. She also had roles in the 1953 films The Long Teeth and His Father's Portrait.

Bardot had a small role in a Hollywood-financed film being shot in Paris, Act of Love (1953), starring Kirk Douglas. She received media attention when she attended the Cannes Film Festival in April 1953.

Bardot had a leading role in an Italian melodrama, Concert of Intrigue (1954) and in a French adventure film, Caroline and the Rebels (1954). She had a good part as a flirtatious student in School for Love (1955), opposite Jean Marais, for director Marc Allégret.

Bardot played her first sizeable English-language role in Doctor at Sea (1955), as the love interest for Dirk Bogarde. The film was the third-most popular movie at the British box office that year.

She had a small role in The Grand Maneuver (1955) for director René Clair, supporting Gérard Philipe and Michelle Morgan. The part was bigger in The Light Across the Street (1956) for director Georges Lacombe. She did another with Hollywood film, Helen of Troy, playing Helen's handmaiden.

For the 1956 Italian movie Mio figlio Nerone Bardot was asked by the director to appear as a blonde. Rather than wear a wig to hide her naturally brunette hair she decided to dye her hair. She was so pleased with the results that she decided to retain the hair colour.

Rise to stardom

Bardot then appeared in four movies that made her a star. First up was a musical, Naughty Girl (1956), where Bardot played a troublesome school girl. Directed by Michel Boisrond, it was co-written by Roger Vadim and was a big hit, the 12th most popular film of the year in France. It was followed by a comedy, Plucking the Daisy (1956), written by Vadim with the director Marc Allégret, and another success at France. So too was the comedy The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful (1956) with Louis Jourdan.

Finally there was the melodrama And God Created Woman (1956), Vadim's debut as director, with Bardot starring opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant and Curt Jurgens. The film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a huge success, not just in France but also around the world – it was among the ten most popular films in Britain in 1957. It turned Bardot into an international star. From at least 1956, she was being hailed as the "sex kitten".

During her early career, professional photographer Sam Lévin's photos contributed to the image of Bardot's sensuality. One showed Bardot from behind, dressed in a white corset. British photographer Cornel Lucas made images of Bardot in the 1950s and 1960s that have become representative of her public persona.

Bardot followed And God Created Woman with La Parisienne (1957), a comedy co-starring Charles Boyer for director Boisrond. She was reunited with Vadim in another melodrama The Night Heaven Fell (1958) and played a criminal who seduced Jean Gabin in In Case of Adversity (1958). The latter was the 13th most seen movie of the year in France.

The Female (1959) for director Julien Duvivier was popular, but Babette Goes to War (1959), a comedy set in World War II, was a huge hit, the fourth biggest movie of the year in France. Also widely seen was Come Dance with Me (1959) from Boisrond.

Her next film was the courtroom drama The Truth (1960), from Henri-Georges Clouzot. It was a highly publicised production, which resulted in Bardot having an affair and attempting suicide. The film was Bardot's biggest ever commercial success in France, the third biggest hit of the year, and was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar. Bardot was awarded a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign actress for her role in the film.

She made a comedy with Vadim, Please, Not Now! (1961) and had a role in the all-star anthology, Famous Love Affairs (1962).

Bardot starred alongside Marcello Mastroianni in a film inspired by her life in A Very Private Affair (Vie privée, 1962), directed by Louis Malle. More popular in France was Love on a Pillow (1962), another for Vadim.

International films and singing career

In the mid-1960s Bardot made films which seemed to be more aimed at the international market. In 1963, she starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris, produced by Joseph E. Levine and starring Jack Palance. The following year she co-starred with Anthony Perkins in the comedy Une ravissante idiote (1964).

Bardot finally appeared in a Hollywood film in Dear Brigitte (1965), a comedy starring James Stewart as an academic whose son develops a crush on Bardot. Bardot's appearance was relatively brief and the film was not a big hit.

More successful was the Western buddy comedy Viva Maria! (1965) for director Louis Malle, appearing opposite Jeanne Moreau. It was a big hit in France and around the world although it did not break through in the US as much as was hoped.

After a cameo in Godard's Masculin Féminin (1966), she had her first flop in a long time, Two Weeks in September (1968), a French–English co-production. She had a small role in the all-star Spirits of the Dead (1968), acting opposite Alain Delon, then tried a Hollywood film again: Shalako (1968), a Western starring Sean Connery, which was a box office disappointment.

She participated in several musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distel, including "Harley Davidson"; "Je Me Donne À Qui Me Plaît"; "Bubble gum"; "Contact"; "Je Reviendrai Toujours Vers Toi"; "L'Appareil À Sous"; "La Madrague"; "On Déménage"; "Sidonie"; "Tu Veux, Ou Tu Veux Pas?"; "Le Soleil De Ma Vie" (the cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"); and the notorious "Je t'aime... moi non-plus". Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release this duet and he complied with her wishes; the following year, he rerecorded a version with British-born model and actress Jane Birkin that became a massive hit all over Europe. The version with Bardot was issued in 1986 and became a popular download hit in 2006 when Universal Music made its back catalogue available to purchase online, with this version of the song ranking as the third most popular download.

Final films

From 1969 to 1978, Bardot was the official face of Marianne (who had previously been anonymous) to represent the liberty of France.

Les Femmes (1969) was a flop, although the screwball comedy The Bear and the Doll (1970) performed slightly better. Her last few films were mostly comedies: Les Novices (1970), Boulevard du Rhum (1971) (with Lino Ventura). The Legend of Frenchie King (1971) was more popular, helped by Bardot co-starring with Claudia Cardinale. She made one more with Vadim, Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973), playing the title role. Vadim said the film marked "Underneath what people call "the Bardot myth" was something interesting, even though she was never considered the most professional actress in the world. For years, since she has been growing older, and the Bardot myth has become just a souvenir... I was curious in her as a woman and I had to get to the end of something with her, to get out of her and express many things I felt were in her. Brigitte always gave the impression of sexual freedom – she is a completely open and free person, without any aggression. So I gave her the part of a man – that amused me.

"If Don Juan is not my last movie it will be my next to last", said Bardot during filming. She kept her word and only made one more film, The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot (1973).

In 1973, Bardot announced she was retiring from acting as "a way to get out elegantly".

Animal rights activism

In 1973, before her 39th birthday, Bardot announced her retirement. After appearing in more than forty motion pictures and recording several music albums, most notably with Serge Gainsbourg, she used her fame to promote animal rights.

In 1986, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She became a vegetarian and raised three million francs (€811,000 in 2019 euros) to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and personal belongings.

She is a strong animal rights activist and a major opponent of the consumption of horse meat. In support of animal protection, she condemned seal hunting in Canada during a visit to that country with Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. On 25 May 2011 the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society renamed its fast interceptor vessel, MV Gojira, as MV Brigitte Bardot in appreciation of her support.

She once had a neighbour's donkey castrated while looking after it, on the grounds of its "sexual harassment" of her own donkey and mare, for which she was taken to court by the donkey's owner in 1989. Bardot wrote a 1999 letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, published in French magazine VSD, in which she accused the Chinese of "torturing bears and killing the world's last tigers and rhinos to make aphrodisiacs".

She has donated more than $140,000 over two years for a mass sterilization and adoption program for Bucharest's stray dogs, estimated to number 300,000.

In August 2010, Bardot addressed a letter to the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II of Denmark, appealing for the sovereign to halt the killing of dolphins in the Faroe Islands. In the letter, Bardot describes the activity as a "macabre spectacle" that "is a shame for Denmark and the Faroe Islands ... This is not a hunt but a mass slaughter ... an outmoded tradition that has no acceptable justification in today's world".

On 22 April 2011, French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand officially included bullfighting in the country's cultural heritage. Bardot wrote him a highly critical letter of protest.

From 2013 onwards the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in collaboration with Kagyupa International Monlam Trust of India has operated an annual Veterinary Care Camp. She has committed to the cause of animal welfare in Bodhgaya year after year.

On 23 July 2015, Bardot condemned Australian politician Greg Hunt's plan to eradicate 2 million cats to save endangered species such as the Warru and Night parrot.

Personal life

On 21 December 1952, aged 18, Bardot married director Roger Vadim. They divorced in 1957; they had no children together, but remained in touch, and even collaborated on later projects. The stated reason for the divorce was Bardot's affairs with two other men. In 1956, she had become romantically involved with Jean-Louis Trintignant, who was her co-star in And God Created Woman. Trintignant at the time was married to actress Stéphane Audran. The two lived together for about two years, spanning the period before and after Bardot's divorce from Vadim, but they never married. Their relationship was complicated by Trintignant's frequent absence due to military service and Bardot's affair with musician Gilbert Bécaud.

In early 1958, her break-up with Trintignant was followed in quick order by a reported nervous breakdown in Italy, according to newspaper reports. A suicide attempt with sleeping pills two days earlier was also noted, but was denied by her public relations manager. She recovered within weeks and began a relationship with actor Jacques Charrier. She became pregnant well before they were married on 18 June 1959. Bardot's only child, her son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, was born on 11 January 1960. After she and Charrier divorced in 1962, Nicolas was raised in the Charrier family and had little contact with his biological mother until his adulthood.

Bardot had an affair with Glenn Ford in the early 1960s. From 1963 to 1965, she lived with musician Bob Zagury.

Bardot's third marriage was to German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs, lasting from 14 July 1966 to 7 October 1969, though they had separated the previous year. In 1968, she began dating Patrick Gilles, who went on to co-star with her in The Bear and the Doll (1970); but she ended their relationship in spring 1971.

Over the next few years, Bardot dated in succession bartender/ski instructor Christian Kalt, club owner Luigi Rizzi, singer Serge Gainsbourg, writer John Gilmore, actor Warren Beatty, and Laurent Vergez, her co-star in Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman.

In 1974 Bardot appeared in a nude photo shoot in Playboy magazine, which celebrated her 40th birthday. In 1975, she entered a relationship with artist Miroslav Brozek and posed for some of his sculptures. Brozek was also an actor; his stage name is Jean Blaise. The couple lived together at the house La Madrague in Saint-Tropez. They split up in December 1979.

From 1980 to 1985, Bardot had a live-in relationship with French TV producer Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.

Bardot was treated for breast cancer in 1983–84.

Bardot's fourth and current husband is Bernard d'Ormale; they have been married since 16 August 1992.

Legacy

In fashion, the Bardot neckline (a wide open neck that exposes both shoulders) is named after her. Bardot popularized this style which is especially used for knitted sweaters or jumpers although it is also used for other tops and dresses. Bardot popularized the bikini in her early films such as Manina (1952) (released in France as Manina, la fille sans voiles). The following year she was also photographed in a bikini on every beach in the south of France during the Cannes Film Festival. She gained additional attention when she filmed ...And God Created Woman (1956) with Jean-Louis Trintignant (released in France as Et Dieu Créa La Femme). In it Bardot portrays an immoral teenager cavorting in a bikini who seduces men in a respectable small-town setting. The film was an international success. The bikini was in the 1950s relatively well accepted in France but was still considered risqué in the United States. As late as 1959, Anne Cole, one of the United States' largest swimsuit designers, said, "It's nothing more than a G-string. It's at the razor's edge of decency."

She also brought into fashion the choucroute ("Sauerkraut") hairstyle (a sort of beehive hair style) and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier. She was the subject of an Andy Warhol painting.

The Bardot pose describes an iconic modeling portrait shot around 1960 where Bardot is dressed only in a pair of black pantyhose, cross-legged over her front and cross-armed over her breasts. This pose has been emulated numerous times by models and celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan, Elle Macpherson and Monica Bellucci.

In addition to popularizing the bikini swimming suit, Bardot has been credited with popularizing the city of St. Tropez and the town of Armação dos Búzios in Brazil, which she visited in 1964 with her boyfriend at the time, Brazilian musician Bob Zagury. The place where she stayed in Búzios is today a small hotel, Pousada do Sol, and also a French restaurant, Cigalon. The town hosts a Bardot statue by Christina Motta.

Bardot was idolized by the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They made plans to shoot a film featuring The Beatles and Bardot, similar to A Hard Day's Night, but the plans were never fulfilled. Lennon's first wife Cynthia Powell lightened her hair color to more closely resemble Bardot, while George Harrison made comparisons between Bardot and his first wife Pattie Boyd, as Cynthia wrote later in A Twist of Lennon. Lennon and Bardot met in person once, in 1968 at the Mayfair Hotel, introduced by Beatles press agent Derek Taylor; a nervous Lennon took LSD before arriving, and neither star impressed the other. (Lennon recalled in a memoir, "I was on acid, and she was on her way out.") According to the liner notes of his first (self-titled) album, musician Bob Dylan dedicated the first song he ever wrote to Bardot. He also mentioned her by name in "I Shall Be Free", which appeared on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The first-ever official exhibition spotlighting Bardot's influence and legacy opened in Boulogne-Billancourt on 29 September 2009 – a day after her 75th birthday. The Australian pop group Bardot was named after her.

Filmography

Year

Film

Role

Notes

1952

Le Trou normand

Javotte Lemoine

(Crazy for Love)

Manina, la fille sans voile

Manina

(The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter / The Girl in the Bikini)

Les dents longues

Bridesmaid

(The Long Teeth) Uncredited

1953

Le Portrait de son père

Domino

(His Father's Portrait)

Act of Love

Mimi

1954

Si Versailles m'était conté

Mademoiselle de Rozille

(Royal Affairs in Versailles)

Tradita

Anna

(Concert of Intrigue)

1955

Le Fils de Caroline chérie

Pilar d'Aranda

(Caroline and the Rebels)

Futures vedettes

Sophie

(Sweet Sixteen / School for Love)

Doctor at Sea

Hélène Colbert

Les grandes manoeuvres

Lucie

(The Grand Maneuver)

La Lumière d'en face

Olivia Marceau

(The Light Across the Street )

1956

Helen of Troy

Andraste

Cette sacrée gamine

Brigitte Latour

(Mam'zelle Pigalle / Naughty Girl)

Mio figlio Nerone

Poppaea

(Nero's Weekend)

En effeuillant la marguerite

Agnès Dumont

(Plucking the Daisy / Mademoiselle Striptease)

Et Dieu créa la femme

Juliette Hardy

(And God Created Woman)

La Mariée est trop belle

Chouchou

(The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful)

1957

La Parisienne

Brigitte Laurier

1958

Les bijoutiers du clair de lune

Ursula

(The Night Heaven Fell)

En cas de malheur

Séverine Serizy

(In Case of Adversity)

1959

La femme et le Pantin

Eva Marchand

(A Woman Like Satan)

Babette s'en va-t-en guerre

Babette

(Babette Goes to War)

Voulez-vous danser avec moi?

Virginie Dandieu

(Come Dance with Me!)

1960

Le Testament d'Orphée

Herself

(The Testament of Orphée) Cameo

Affaire d'une nuit

Woman in restaurant

(It Happened All Night) Cameo, uncredited

La Vérité

Dominique Marceau

(The Truth) David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress

1961

La Bride sur le cou

Sophie

(Please!, Not Now!)

Les Amours célèbres

Agnes Bernauer

(Famous Love Affairs)

1962

Vie privée

Jill

(A Very Private Affair)

Le Repos du guerrier

Geneviève Le Theil

(Warrior's Rest) or (Love on a Pillow)

1963

Le Mépris

Camille Javal

(Contempt)

1964

Une ravissante idiote

Penelope Lightfeather

(The Ravishing Idiot)

1965

Dear Brigitte

Herself

Viva Maria!

Maria I

Nomination – BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress

1966

Marie Soleil

Herself

Cameo

Masculin, féminin

Herself

Actress in bistro (cameo)

1967

À coeur joie

Cecile

(Two Weeks in September)

1968

Histoires extraordinaires

Giuseppina

(Spirits of the Dead)

Shalako

Countess Irina Lazaar

1969

Les Femmes

Clara

(The Vixen)

1970

L'Ours et la Poupée

Felicia

(The Bear and the Doll)

Les Novices

Agnès

(The Novices)

1971

Boulevard du Rhum

Linda Larue

(Rum Runners)

Les Pétroleuses

Louise

(The Legend of Frenchie King)

1973

Don Juan 1973 ou Si Don Juan était une femme...

Jeanne

(Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman)

L'histoire très bonne et très joyeuse de Colinot Trousse-Chemise

Arabelle

(The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot)



Discography

Bardot released several albums and singles during the 1960s and 1970s

Books

Bardot has also written five books: