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Brigitte Bardot, former French screen icon and animal activist, died at 91
Brigitte Bardot, the French actress who was once the original “sex kitten,” has passed away at the age of 91, her foundation named after her revealed.
“With great sorrow, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces the passing of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-famous actress and singer, who decided to give up her very successful career in order to fully devote her life and energy to animals and her foundation,” the group said on its website Sunday.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation pays tribute to the memory of a remarkable woman who gave her all for a world that is more respectful of animals,” the letter went on.
Brigitte Bardot Remembered as Foundation Vows to Carry On Her Work
The Foundation said in its statement that, “We offer our deepest sympathies to her family and friends, the Saint-Tropez town hall and the inhabitants, and all those who share this cause. The Bardot Foundation will, more than ever, take up the subject of the work of Brigitte Bardot.”
Bruno Jacquelin, a spokesperson for the Foundation, told the Associated Press that Bardot was hospitalized last month and passed away at her home in the south of France. No funeral or memorial services have been announced yet, and the cause of death has not been revealed.
French President Emmanuel Macron also honored Bardot, the animal rights activist and screen icon, in a post on X.
President Macron Pays Tribute to Brigitte Bardot as Her Cultural Legacy Is Celebrated
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot was the embodiment of a life of freedom,” the French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X Sunday.
“French existence, universal brilliance. She inspired us. We are saddened by the passing of a legend of the century,” he wrote in a subsequent post.
With her breakout role as a highly sexualized adolescent bride in And God Created Woman, Bardot was converted into an international sex symbol in 1956. The film, which caused a sensation, was directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim and featured Bardot’s provocative dances including one where she is nude and dancing on tables. The scenes shocked the then conservative society but they also had a significant impact and formed the transition to the open expression of female sexuality.
Brigitte Bardot’s Later Years and Animal Rights
After she had acted in almost 30 films, Brigitte Bardot stopped her career in 1973.
She got back into the public eye about ten years later as an animal rights activist with great passion.
Bardot, by selling her film memorabilia and personal jewelry, was able to raise money for her charity work. With the money she made, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which since then has become a very influential animal welfare organization.
Bardot leaves behind her fourth husband, Bernard d’Ormale, her perhaps estranged son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, and her sister.