French screen legend who became an animal rights activist
Brigitte Bardot, the 1960s French sex symbol who became one of the great screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant and controversial animal rights activist, has died. He was 91 years old.
Bruno Jacquelin of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for Animal Welfare said the former actor died at his home in southern France. No cause of death was stated. Bardot was hospitalized in November.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with great sadness the death of its founder and president, world-famous actress and singer Madame Brigitte Bardot, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to devote her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” the foundation said in a statement.
Bardot rose to international fame as a sexualized young bride in the 1956 film. And God Created Woman. The film, directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim, triggered a scandal with scenes in which the leggy beauty dances naked on tables.
At the height of her film career, which spanned nearly 28 films and three marriages, Bardot came to symbolize a nation breaking out of bourgeois respectability. Her messy blonde hair, voluptuous body and sullen irreverence have made her one of France’s best-known stars.
She had such widespread appeal that in 1969 she was chosen as the model for Marianne, whose facial features became the national emblem of France and the official Gallic seal. Bardot’s face has appeared in statues, postage stamps, and even coins.
Bardot’s second career as an animal rights activist was equally sensational. He traveled to the Arctic to announce the slaughter of baby seals; condemned the use of animals in laboratory experiments; and opposed sending monkeys into space.
“Man is an insatiable predator,” Bardot said on her 73rd birthday in 2007. “I don’t care about my past victory. It means nothing against a suffering animal, because it has neither the strength nor the words to defend itself.”
His activism earned him the respect of his fellow citizens, and in 1985 he was awarded the Legion of Honor, the nation’s highest honor.
A turn to the far right
But he later fell out of public favor as his criticisms of animal protection took on a decidedly extremist tone, and his far-right political views sounded racist as he frequently condemned the influx of immigrants into France, particularly Muslims.
He was convicted five times in French courts for inciting racial hatred. In particular, he criticized the Muslim practice of slaughtering sheep during annual religious holidays such as Eid al-Adha.
Bardot’s marriage in 1992 to her fourth husband, Bernard d’Ormale, an advisor to former National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, contributed to her political transition.
In 2012, he caused controversy again when he wrote a letter supporting Marine Le Pen, the current leader of the party (now renamed National Rally) who is running unsuccessfully for the French presidency.
In an interview in 2018, at the height of the #MeToo movement, Bardot said that most actors protesting sexual harassment in the film industry were “hypocritical” and “ridiculous” because many of them were “taunting” producers to get roles.
A privileged but ‘difficult’ upbringing
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born on September 28, 1934, the child of a wealthy industrialist. A shy, mysterious child, she studied classical ballet and was discovered by a family friend who put her on the cover of the magazine. by hand 14 year old magazine.
Bardot once described her childhood as “difficult” and said that her father was a strict disciplinarian and sometimes punished her with a horse whip.
But it was French filmmaker Vadim, whom she married in 1952, who recognized and wrote about her potential. And God Created Woman To showcase her provocative sensuality, an explosive cocktail of childlike innocence and raw sexuality.
Depicting Bardot as a bored newlywed sleeping with her brother-in-law, the film had a decisive influence on New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut and embodied the hedonism and sexual liberation of the 1960s.
The film was a huge success at the box office and made Bardot a superstar. Her girlish pout, slim waist, and generous breasts were often appreciated more than her talent.
“It’s a shame to have such bad acting,” Bardot said of her early films. “I suffered a lot in the beginning. I was treated like I really didn’t exist.”
Bardot’s shameless off-screen love affair with her leading man, Jean-Louis Trintignant, further shocked the country. He blurred the boundaries between his public and private life and turned it into a hot prize for the paparazzi.
Bardot never got used to being in the spotlight. He blamed the constant media attention for his suicide attempt, which occurred 10 months after the birth of his only child, Nicolas. Photographers had broken into her home just two weeks before she was due to give birth to photograph her pregnancy.
Nicolas’s father was the handsome French actor Jacques Charrier, whom she married in 1959 but was never comfortable in the role of Monsieur Bardot. Bardot soon gave her son to his father, who later said that she was chronically depressed and not ready to be a mother.
In his autobiography in 1996 initials BB, She compared her pregnancy to “a tumor growing inside me” and described Charrier as “temperamental and abusive”.
Bardot married her third husband, German millionaire playboy Gunther Sachs, in 1966, but the relationship ended in divorce three years later.
His films included: A Parisian (1957); In Case of MisfortuneIn 1958, he starred with the legend of the silver screen, Jean Gabin; Actually (1960); Private Life (1962); A charming fool (1964); Shalako (1968); Women (1969); Bear and Doll (1970); Greek Boulevard (1971); And Don Juan (1973).
Except for the critically acclaimed of 1963 disdainBardot’s films directed by Godard were rarely complicated by plot. They were often vehicles that showed off Bardot’s curves and legs in tight dresses or frolicking naked in the sun.
“It’s never been a big passion of mine,” he said of filmmaking. “And sometimes it can be fatal. That’s why Marilyn (Monroe) died.”
Bardot retired to her villa on the Riviera in St Tropez in 1973, at the age of 39. Female Catcher.
Reinventing himself in middle age
Ten years later he emerged with a new persona: an animal rights lobbyist. She abandoned the jet-set life and sold movie memorabilia and jewelry to create a foundation dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to animals.
His activism knew no bounds. He called on South Korea to ban the sale of dog meat and once wrote to then-US President Bill Clinton, asking why the US Navy had recaptured two dolphins it had released into the wild.
He attacked centuries-old French and Italian sporting traditions and campaigned on behalf of wolves, rabbits, kittens and doves.
By the late 1990s, Bardot was making headlines that would cost her many fans. He was convicted and fined five times between 1997 and 2008 for inciting racial hatred in incidents inspired by anger at Muslim animal slaughter rituals.
“It’s true that I get carried away sometimes, but when I see how slowly things are progressing… and despite all the promises that different governments have come together to make to me, my distress increases,” he said.
In 1997, many towns removed Bardot-inspired statues of Marianne (the bare-breasted statue representing the French Republic) after the actress expressed anti-immigrant sentiments.
Bardot once said that she identified with the animals she was trying to save. “I can understand animals being hunted because of the way I was treated,” he said. “What happened to me was inhumane. The world press was constantly surrounding me.”
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