Brigitte Bardot

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

In the 1970s Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist. During the 1990s she was outspoken about her political views on such issues as immigration, Islam in France, race mixing, and homosexuality.

Career

Bardot was born in Paris to Anne-Marie Mucel and Charles "Pilou" Bardot, an industrialist.

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. 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.

Activism and controversy

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.

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 ("Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples" - Movement against racism and for friendship between peoples) 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".

Bardot has lost a considerable amount of sympathy from her fans due to her now-frequent anti-Muslim, anti-gay and anti-immigrant comments. 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 courtsBardot's previous comments that led to convictions included ones encouraging civilian massacres in Algeria.. The courts cited passages where Bardot referred to the "Islamization of France" and the "underground and dangerous infiltration of Islam"http://http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/05/1610376.php, 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.

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 deniedhttp://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/site/fbb_a.php?IdPere=&Id=314.

Quotation

"She is the princess of pout, the countess of come hither. Brigitte Bardot exuded a carefree, naïve sexuality that brought a whole new audience to French films." Time magazine.

"Well, my telephone rang it would not stop, / It's President Kennedy callin' me up. / He said, "My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?" / I said, "My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot, / Anita Ekberg, / Sophia Loren. / Country'll grow." — Bob Dylan"I Shall Be Free," The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, 1963

Filmography

1950s

1960s-70s

The Testament of Orpheus (1960)
It Happened All Night (1960) (Cameo)
The Truth (1960)
Please, Not Now (1961)
Famous Love Affairs (1961)
A Very Private Affair (1961)
Lykke og krone (1962) (documentary)
Love on a Pillow (1962)
Contempt (1963)
Paparazzi (1964) (short subject)
Bardot and Godard (1964) (short subject)
Agent 38-24-36 (1964)
Forbidden Temptations (1965) (documentary)
Marie Soleil (1965) (Cameo)
Dear Brigitte (1965)
Viva Maria! (1965)
In 15 Acts (1966)
Two Weeks in September (1967)
Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Shalako (1968)
The Bear and the Doll (1969)
The Vixen (1969)
The Novices (1970)
Rum Runners (1971)
The Legend of Frenchie King (1971)
Film Portrait (1972 film) (1972) (documentary)
Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973)
The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot (1973)

Discography

Studio Albums

Brigitte Bardot (1963, Philips)
B.B. (1964, Philips)
Bonnie And Clyde (1968, Fontana) with Serge Gainsbourg
Brigitte Bardot Show (1968, Disc'AZ)
Brigitte Bardot (unreleased) (1970, Barclay) issued in 2004 on Mercury

Compilation

Best Of BB (1998, Philips/Mercury) 1963-1973

Box Set

Initiales B.B. (1993, 3CDs, Philips/Mercury) 1962-1973/1982

Trivia

Bardot is also known as BB and was known as "Bebe" in childhood.

References

External links

Fondation Brigitte Bardot
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Bardot's remarks regarding Muslim immigrants in France
a biography by Universal Music France, distributor of her labels (in French)

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