Bardot became world famous in the fifties and sixties for her free-spirited performances in movies such as “And God Created Woman”. – Image: Fotogramma/picture alliance
French movie star and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91, her foundation said Sunday. The French screen legend appeared in 56 films before ending her career in 1973 and dedicating herself to animal rights activism.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” it said in a statement sent to French news agency AFP.
The foundation’s Bruno Jacquelin told The Associated Press Bardot died at her home in southern France. He did not give a cause of death and said no immediate arrangements have been made for funeral or memorial services.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised Bardot for her excellence on and off the screen, writing on social media platform X: “Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom.”
“French existence, universal brilliance,” he added. “She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
Celebrated sex symbol
When her career began in the 1950s, she was widely regarded as a sex symbol, thanks to her figure and libertine lifestyle.
One of her most well-known films was “And God Created Woman,” in 1956, where she starred as an 18-year-old caught up in a love triangle, which was directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim.
Vadim once promised that Bardot would become “the unattainable fantasy of all married men.”
Bardot was known worldwide as one of the most famous women in post-war cinema. – Image: AFP
A few years later, in 1963, she played a sullen, frustrated wife of a screenwriter in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” which featured scenes that became part of cinema folklore.
Her popularity was so great that in 1969 she became the model for “Marianne,” France’s national emblem, appearing on statues, stamps, and coins.
However, by 1973 Bardot announced she had become “sick of being beautiful every day,” as she turned her back on acting to look after abandoned animals.
Foundation set up dedicated to animal protection
In the early 1980s, Bardot traveled to Canada and experienced a life-changing visit when she witnessed its annual seal cub culls.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation was set up in 1986 and dedicated to animal protection. Bardot crusaded for baby seals and elephants, called for the abolition of ritual animal sacrifice, and pushed for the closure of horse abattoirs.
In a 2011 letter to conservation group WWF, she recalled witnessing the cull of seal cubs, saying: “I will never forget these pictures, the screams of pain, they still torture me but they have given me the strength to sacrifice my whole life to defend the animal’s one.”
Bardot traveled to the Arctic to blow the whistle on the slaughter of baby seals; she condemned the use of animals in laboratory experiments; and she opposed Muslim slaughter rituals – Image: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
The French animal welfare society, SPA, in paying tribute called Bardot a “passionate advocate for the animal cause.”
“Her unwavering commitment helped change attitudes and achieve major advances in animal protection,” it said on Sunday.
Bardot made no secret of her far-right views
Despite her dedication to animal rights, Bardot’s outspoken views often sparked controversy.
She was repeatedly fined by French courts between 1997 and 2008 for remarks judged to constitute incitement to racial or religious hatred, including statements directed at France’s Muslim community.
According to court rulings, she was convicted at least five times during that period, with her most severe penalty coming in 2008, when a Paris court fined her €15,000 (about $16,000) over a letter criticizing Muslim ritual slaughter.
Bardot’s later years were marked by animal rights campaigns and far-right political sympathies – Image: Valery Hache/AFP
Bardot married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front, in 1992 and later publicly endorsed the party’s successive leaders, Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen.
On Sunday, National Rally leader Jordan Bardella desribed her as a woman with “heart, conviction, and character.”
“A passionate patriot and a lover of animals that she protected throughout her life, she alone embodied an entire era of French history, and above all a certain idea of courage and freedom,” he said.
In 2018, she denounced the #MeToo movement in an interview with the magazine Paris Match, claiming actresses who spoke out against sexual harassment were: “Hypocritical and ridiculous. Lots of actresses try to play the tease with producers to get a role.”
(DW.com/NAN 29-12-25)
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