French actress Brigitte Bardot dies at 91

The French actress and singer Brigitte Bardot (Paris, 1934) died this Sunday at the age of 91, as reported by her foundation 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, especially in her support of animal rights.

Born in 1934 in Paris, Bardot grew up in a traditional Catholic family, but stood out enough as a dancer to allow her to study ballet and obtain a place at the prestigious Paris Conservatory. Simultaneously, she found work as a model, appearing on the cover of Elle in 1950 at just 15 years old.

Her career as an actress began in 1952. Her first success was starring in ‘And God Created Woman’ directed by Roger Vadim in 1956, which gained international recognition. Although it was not her first film, it is widely recognized as the one that brought her into the public spotlight.

In the early 1960s, Bardot appeared in a series of high-profile French films, including Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Oscar-nominated drama The Truth; ‘A Very Private Affair’, by Louis Malle (with Marcello Mastroianni); and ‘Contempt’, Jean-Luc Godard. In the second half of the decade, Bardot accepted several offers from Hollywood, including ‘Viva María!’, 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. He retired from acting in 1973, at the age of 39, after filming the romantic film ‘The uplifting and happy story of Colinot’. Her main objective was activism in defense of animals, joining the 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 became known to the media that she had been admitted to Toulon for weeks for surgery due to a serious illness.

In recent years, Bardot caused controversy with her statements about politics, migration or the world of hunting. Some earned him convictions for defamation. “Freedom is being yourself, even when it makes you uncomfortable,” he wrote in the afterword of a book titled ‘Mon BBcédaire’, published in France in October.

In the book he also claimed that his country has become “somber, sad, submissive, sick, damaged, devastated, ordinary, vulgar…”. The right is the “only most urgent remedy for the agony” of France, added the artist, who claimed her closeness to the far-right Marine Le Pen.