French film icon Brigitte Bardot, star of such movies as “And God Created Woman” and “Contempt,” and who became a fierce animal rights activist and immigration critic in her later years, died early Sunday at her home in the south of France. She was 91.
Her death was announced on social media by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals. No cause was given.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the passing of its Founder and President, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a globally renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to the defense of animals and to her Foundation,” the organization noted on X.
“A true pioneer, at 39 she renounced the spotlight and the artistic world to put her fame and all her determination at the service of animals and the weakest beings, such as the elderly. Under her impetus, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, created in 1986, became a major player in animal protection in France and worldwide. Forty years later, it has welcomed more than 12,000 animals [from rescue] actions in 70 countries, 4 shelters, 300 employees, hundreds of volunteers, and 40,000 donors.”
The X post highlighted her worldwide travels on behalf of animal welfare and pledged to continue her work.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation wishes to honor the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything and sacrificed everything for a world more respectful of animals.” the post continued. “Her legacy lives on through the actions and battles that the Foundation continues with the same passion and fidelity to her ideals. We extend our sincere condolences to her family, her loved ones, the municipality of Saint-Tropez and the Tropéziens, and all those who share this fight.”
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, praised the actress who became an international sex symbol for her “dazzling glory.”
“Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom, French existence, universal brilliance,” he noted on X “She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) remembered her as “a symbol of sexual liberation in film.”
In her later years, Bardot became better known for making disparaging remarks about the LGBTQ+ community, noting on her website that Muslims were “destroying our country by imposing their ways,” and being convicted five times in France for “inciting hatred.”
She also made controversial remarks in January 2018 about the #MeToo movement, saying actresses who complained about sexual harassment were being “hypocritical.”
Born Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot on Sept. 28, 1934, she studied classical ballet and was discovered by a family friend, who put her photo on the cover of Elle magazine at age 14.
The magazine caught the attention of future director Roger Vadim, who became the first of her four husbands and cast her in his debut film, “And God Created Woman.”
The 1956 movie, where the 18-year-old first appears face down and nude, featured Bardot as a bored and sexually liberated newlywed. It an international box office hid and made her superstar.
Her other films included “Contempt” directed by Jean-Luc Godard; “Viva Maria!” directed by Louis Malle; “Shalako,” co-starring Sean Connery; and “Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman” directed by Vadim.
Bardot also recorded several albums in the 1960s.
She retired in 1973, saying she was fed up with the invasive nature of stardom.
“Nobody can imagine how horrific it was, such an ordeal,” she later told reporters. “I couldn’t go on living like that.”
Years later she told Paris Match magazine: “I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous and very unhappy. I’ve been let down too often. I’ve had really terrible disappointments in my life. That is why I’ve chosen to withdraw, to live alone.”
She is survived by her husband, Bernard d’Ormale, and a son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.