Brigitte Bardot, French actress and model Options

[saritaa]

Brigitte Bardot (born September 28, 1934) is a French actress, model and singer, considered the embodiment of the 1950s "sex kitten."

In the 1970s after her retirement from the entertainment industry - Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist, which she continues today. During the 1990s she was outspoken about her political views on such issues as immigration, Islam in France, race mixing, and homosexuality.

Bardot was born in Paris to Anne-Marie Mucel and Charles "Pilou" Bardot, an industrialist. At an early age her mother encouraged her interest in music and dance, she had modelled for popular magazine Elle by the time she was 15 years old. [1]



In 1952, she appeared on screen for the first time in Le Trou Normand. That same year, at age 18, she married director Roger Vadim, with whom she had been romantically involved for several years.

Although the European film industry was then in the ascendant, her personal rise was remarkable; she has been one of the few European actresses to receive mass media attention in the United States. She and Marilyn Monroe were the icons of female sexuality in the 1950s and 1960s and whenever she made public appearances in the United States the media hordes covered her every move.

Her films of the early and mid 1950s were lightweight romantic dramas, some of them historical, in which she was cast as ingénue or siren, often with an element of undress. She played bit parts in three English-language films, the British comedy Doctor at Sea (1955), Helen of Troy (1954), in which she was understudy for the title-role but only appears as Helen's handmaid, and Act of Love (1954) with Kirk Douglas. Her French-language films were dubbed for international release. "She is every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris" said the film-critic Ivon Addams in 1955.

Vadim was not content with this light fare. The New Wave of French and Italian art directors and their stars were riding high internationally and he felt Bardot was being undersold. Looking for something more like an art-film to push her as a serious actress, he showcased her in And God Created Woman (1956) with Jean-Louis Trintignant.

The film, about an amoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a big international success. She may have had an affair with her co-star Trintignant, but this was more likely a pre-release publicity gimmick. The film is often wrongly described as her first film (it was her seventeenth) and to have launched her overnight, but it did help move her towards the cinematic mainstream.

It also ruled out a transition to Hollywood, where she was thought too risqué to handle. The Doris Day era was in still in full swing and even Jane Russell in The French Line (1953) had been thought to be going too far by showing her midriff. Erotica like Bardot's Cette sacrée gamine (That Crazy Kid, 1955) was considered fine at the box-office as long as it was clearly labelled "European". Bardot's limited English and strong accent, while beguiling to the ears of men, did not suit rapid-fire Hollywood scripts. In any event, staying in Europe benefited her image when the 1960s began to swing and Hollywood slipped into the background for a while, and Bardot was voted honorary sex-goddess of the decade.

Divorced from Vadim in 1957, she married actor Jacques Charrier (1959-62), by whom in 1960 she had her only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier from whom she is estranged. She once referred to her only child as "a tumour". The marriage was preyed on by the paparazzi and there were clashes over the direction of Bardot's career. Her films became more substantial, but this brought a heavy pressure of dual celebrity as she sought critical acclaim while remaining to most of the world a glamour model.


Poster for Bardot's film Le Mépris (Contempt).Vie privée (1960), directed by Louis Malle has more than an element of autobiography in it. The scene in which, returning to her flat, Bardot's character is harangued in the lift by a middle-aged cleaning-lady calling her a tramp and a tart was based on an actual incident, and is a resonant image of celebrity in the mid-20th century.

Soon after, Bardot withdrew to the seclusion of Southern France and is now known to have attempted suicide, but as the sexual revolution of the early 1960s gathered momentum her lifestyle began to seem more like the norm and the pressure lifted. Through the sixties, she was happy to appear in glossy star-vehicles like Viva Maria (1969), to dabble in pop music and to play the role of glamour model and icon. In 1965 she appeared as herself in the Hollywood production Dear Brigitte starring Jimmy Stewart.

Her other husbands were German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs (1966-69), and French right-wing politician, Bernard d'Ormale (1992-present). She has also had reputed relationships with many men including singers Serge Gainsbourg and Sacha Distel. In the late 1950s, she shared an exchange she considered “croiser de deux sillages” with writer John Gilmore, then an actor in France for a New Wave film to have starred Jean Seberg. Gilmore told Paris Match, “I felt a beautiful warmth with Bardot but found it difficult to discuss things to any depth whatsoever”.

She is recognised for popularising bikini swimwear in early films such as Manina (Woman without a Veil, 1952) and in her appearances at Cannes and in many photo shoots. She even sported an early version of the monokini from time to time. Though this was not considered extraordinary in France, it was considered nearly scandalous in the US. The fashions of the 1960s looked effortlessly right and spontaneous on her and she joined Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy, in becoming a subject for Andy Warhol paintings.

In 1970, the sculptor Alain Gourdon used Bardot as the model for a bust of Marianne, the French national emblem.


In 1974, just before her fortieth birthday, Bardot announced her retirement. After appearing in more than fifty motion pictures, and recording several music albums, most notably with Serge Gainsbourg, she chose to use her fame to promote animal rights.

In 1986, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She raised three million French francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewelry and many personal belongings. Today, she is one of the world's most influential animal rights activists and a major opponent of the consumption of horse meat.

Considered a militant for animal protection, she condemned seal hunting in Canada during a visit to that country. She sought to discuss the issue with Stephen Harper, though her request for a meeting was denied


She is also one of the most celebrated supporters of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the extreme right-wing Front National political party, with which her husband is associated. With the publication of her 2003 book, A Scream in the Silence, the reclusive Bardot has come under considerable fire for anti-Muslim, and anti-gay comments. In May 2003, The MRAP announced that it would sue Bardot for her published views. Another organisation, The "Ligue des Droits de l'Homme" (League of Human Rights), announced that it was considering similar legal proceedings.

Bardot, in a letter to a French gay magazine, wrote in her defense, "Apart from my husband—who maybe will cross over one day as well—I am entirely surrounded by homos. For years they have been my support, my friends, my adopted children, my confidants".

On June 10, 2004 Bardot was convicted by a French court of "inciting racial hatred" and fined 5,000 €, which was the fourth such conviction/fine she has faced from French courts. Bardot's previous comments that led to convictions included ones encouraging civilian massacres in Algeria.[citation needed] The courts cited passages where Bardot referred to the "Islamization of France" and the "underground and dangerous infiltration of Islam"[2], her descriptions of France's Muslim community, the largest in Europe. In the book she also referred to homosexuals as "fairground freaks" and she condemns the presence of women in government.

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[SontaSejou]

honest enough ? she just doesn't care about her looks because she's not in the biz anymore, she's just the crazy old lady fighting for animals rights now...

Oh please. My apologies if I'm wrong, but you say that as though its a bad thing. Brigitte is amazing. She is one of the few celebrities that actually use their influence for the betterment of a worthy cause. She is fighting so hard for the rightful equality of animals. She has selflessly sacrified every valuable material possession she's earned for the advancement of animal welfare. I love her - she was/is my favourite celebrity.

[Guest_lisa1_*]

beautiful...........

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[Guest_lisa1_*]

bb

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[alisa]

i personally think that her fight for animal rights is amazing...
and i liked her always cos she showed all of us,that growing old is normal, and going under knife is not the solution...

[PinkCouture]

I recently got a graphic tee w/ her face on it

[Guest_lisa1_*]

Brigitte Bardot: "Harley Davidson"

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Brigitte Bardot. Everybody loves my baby 1965

[Guest_lisa1_*]

C'est rigolo - Brigitte Bardot

[story]

She is AMAZING

[Guest_lisa1_*]

yes so charming!!!!

[Guest_lisa1_*]

Brigitte Bardot & Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie & Clyde

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Comic Strip-Brigitte Bardot/Serge Gainsbourg

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[Guest_lisa1_*]

i love brigitte..........
Ce n'est pas vrai - Brigitte Bardot

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[Guest_lisa1_*]

Les amis de la musique - Brigitte Bardot

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[Guest_lisa1_*]

so class!!! Un jour comme un autre - Brigitte Bardot

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