French actress, singer and model Brigitte Bardot became an icon of the 1960s by portraying sexually emancipated characters. The animal rights activist also harbored polarizing political views.
Brigitte Bardot, pictured here in 2007, began her career as a model before becoming an animal rights activistImage: Eric Feferberg/AFP
Often referred to simply by her initials, BB was considered both a feminist and a femme fatale — but controversy also became a recurring theme of her life.
Born the daughter of an industrialist in Paris on September 28, 1934, Brigitte Bardot was discovered as a model at the age of 15. She became even more sought-after once she had dyed her brunette hair blonde, making her one of the most famous "blondes" of the 20th century, not unlike Marilyn Monroe.
Well into the 21st century, fashion magazines celebrated "BB blonde" as the perfect shade of blonde.
Bardot, pictured here in 1965, was an icon of 1960s French cinemaImage: AFP
An icon of sexual liberation
Bardot started appearing in films at age 18, but international interest was first piqued in Roger Vadim's 1956 romantic drama And God Created Woman, in which she portrayed a liberated young woman in a respectable beachside town.
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In the US, the film was deemed too shocking to be screened; some theater managers who showed it were arrested. But that helped rather than hindered the movie's success, and Bardot became an international star.
She went on to star in more than 40 films, including Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt (1963), Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Truth (1960) and Louis Malle's Viva Maria! (1965).
Bardot also recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, collaborating with the likes of Serge Gainsbourg and Sacha Distel.
As a fashion model, she was a muse for great designers including Dior, Balmain and Pierre Cardin. Her numerous love stories and affairs never failed to make headlines, and she became an icon of the sexual liberation of the time.
In her 1959 essay, "The Lolita Syndrome," Simone de Beauvoir described BB as a "locomotive of women's history" and declared her the most liberated woman of postwar France.
Bardot retired from acting in 1973, but remained a major star throughout her life. From 1969 to 1978, she modelled for the official busts of Marianne, the national symbol of the liberty of France.
12 'grandes dames' of French cinema
Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau: Hardly any other country has so many grandes dames of cinema as France. Here are some of the country's most unforgettable artists — and those who might still become one.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Catherine Deneuve — the 'grande dame'
She is one of the most important French film actresses of our time. Born in Paris in 1943, it was the film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" that made her famous at the tender age of 21. The woman with the flawless appearance and cool expression played in films by renowned directors such as Roman Polanski, Francois Truffaut or Luis Bunuel.
Image: imago/United Archives
Isabelle Huppert — the unapproachable
She seems unapproachable and distant. Just a facade? One who should know is director Michael Haneke (pictured left). Huppert is his favorite actress; their latest collaboration was on the drama "Happy End." The exceptional actress became famous with films like "The Lacemaker," "Madame Bovary" and "The Piano Teacher."
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Jeanne Moreau — star of the Nouvelle Vague
She shot films with almost every famous director. Moreau starred in very influential films such as "Elevator to the Gallows," "Jules et Jim" or "The Lovers." In 1965 her striptease with Brigitte Bardot in the revolutionary comedy "Viva Maria!" caused a real scandal. The legendary actress died in July 2017.
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Brigitte Bardot — the erotic icon
Speaking of Brigitte Bardot... She should not be missing from this list, of course. In the 1960s she became an erotic icon as an actress, singer and model. She made film history through her role in "Contempt" by Jean-Luc Godard from 1963. Here she's lounging with Maurice Ronet in "Les Femmes."
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Sophie Marceau — the Bond girl
In the 1980s she became a star and was the crush of many teenage boys after playing in "La Boum." After part two, the then 16-year-old got out of the contract so she wouldn't have to shoot a third part. Through the erotic drama "Descent Into Hell" she proved she was not an innocent teenager anymore. Here she is seen as a Bond girl in "The World Is Not Enough."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/UIP
Fanny Ardant — the muse
Fanny Ardant, Francois Truffaut's last muse and companion, is one of the most popular actresses on the screen and on stage in her home country. Director Truffaut discovered Ardant in a TV series and wanted to get to know her. A lunch with him and Gerard Depardieu followed. In 1981 she had her breakthrough in the "The Woman Next Door."
Image: picture-alliance/RIA Novosti/R. Sitdikov
Isabelle Adjani — femme fatale with humor
She celebrated her first major success at the Comedie Francaise, but it was Truffaut's "The Story of Adele H." that made her famous as a film actress. By working with many renowned directors she soon became one of the sought after cinema names in Europe — and her image changed from comedy actress to femme fatale.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Villard/Lydie
Juliette Binoche — the picky one
From a very young age, the daughter of a theater director and an actress was present on stages and celebrated her film debut at 18. It did not take long for Hollywood to take note. In 1996, she won an Oscar for best supporting actress in "The English Patient." Binoche is considered to be very headstrong: She refused a role in the blockbuster "Jurassic Park."
Image: picture-alliance/AP/Joel Ryan
Audrey Tautou — the fabulous
She is one of the divas of the new generation: Audrey Tautou. She couldn't completely rid herself of the image of the strange but lovable Amelie Poulain. The movie "Amelie" helped her with her breakthrough as an actress and she later starred in several other successful films. Tautou created a buzz internationally by playing alongside Tom Hanks in "The Da Vinci Code."
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Charlotte Gainsbourg — the daredevil
The daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg created a stir in Lars von Trier's "Nymphomanic." The film shows a woman who experiments with her sexuality in all kinds of ways. It is not Gainsbourg's first appearance in a daring role. The film "Antichrist" (pictured), also directed by von Trier, gained a reputation as a scandalous film.
Long before her highly debated death scene in "Batman — The Dark Knight Rises" the beautiful Marion Cotillard was talked about. In 2011 she was named the best-paid French actress. Cotillard has shown that she can be very versatile — particularly in her role as Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose," for which she won an Oscar in 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Hahn-Nebinger
Lea Seydoux — the indie star
Seydoux is another French actress who became a Bond girl (here with Christoph Waltz in "Spectre"). She first became famous with "Blue Is the Warmest Color" — a film that both fascinated and shocked critics and audiences, particularly with its seven-minute lesbian sex scene. Together with co-star Adele Exarchopoulos and director Abdellatif Kechiche, Seydoux received the Golden Palm in 2013.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Sony
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From acting to animal welfare
Instead of acting, she increasingly used her international fame to campaign for animal rights and protection, which was to become the main focus of the later part of her life.
Among other things, she urged the introduction of bolt guns in slaughterhouses to kill animals with as little pain as possible.
In 1976, she joined a global campaign against seal hunting. Then in 1986, she founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which still campaigns for animal welfare worldwide.
Bardot later founded her own animal protection foundationImage: picture-alliance/ dpa
Drift to the far right
Later in her life, she made headlines for what were alleged to be racially insensitive statements, and was fined many times by French courts for inciting racial hatred against Muslims or native Indian Ocean islanders.
In 2012, Bardot emerged as an ardent supporter of France's far-right presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, at one point calling her "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century" who would "save France."
Bardot also repeatedly spoke out on gay rights and gender issues, though she denied being homophobic, saying she had many homosexual friends.
At the same time, she blamed the number of gender reassignment surgeries for skyrocketing health care costs.
