Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot was a French actress, singer and model whose screen image made her one of the most recognisable symbols of postwar popular culture. Born in Paris in 1934, she trained as a ballet dancer in childhood and began acting in 1952. International fame followed in the late 1950s with And God Created Woman, and she went on to work with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard in Le Mepris and Louis Malle in Viva Maria!. Over her career she appeared in 47 films, took part in several musicals and recorded more than 60 songs. Her work won her the David di Donatello award for best foreign actress for The Truth, and critics and writers, including Simone de Beauvoir, treated her as a cultural phenomenon as much as a performer. She left the entertainment industry in 1973 and devoted herself to animal welfare through her own foundation. She died in December 2025. Her later public statements drew legal penalties in France for insults and incitement to racial hatred.