PROFILE

Brigitte Bardot wedding to Roger Vadim, Paris, 12 December 1952

English

​Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot (born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French actress, model, singer and animal rights activist. amous for portraying sexually emancipated personae with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the best known sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s. Although she withdrew from the entertainment industry in 1973, she remains a major popular culture icon.

Born and raised in Paris, Bardot was an aspiring ballerina in her early life. She started her acting career in 1952, achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in And God Created Woman (1956), and also caught the attention of French intellectuals. She was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay The Lolita Syndrome, which described her as a "locomotive of women's history" and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France. Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris (1963). For her role in Louis Malle's film Viva Maria! (1965) she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress.

​Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973 and became an animal rights activist.

At the time of her retirement she had acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals and recorded more than 60 songs. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985 but refused to accept it.

---

French

​Brigitte Bardot (également connue sous les initiales de « BB »), née le 28 septembre 1934 à Paris, est une actrice de cinéma, mannequin, chanteuse et militante des droits des animaux française.

​Figure féminine des années 1950 et 1960, elle est une star mondiale, l'égérie et la muse de grands artistes de l'époque. Emblème de l'émancipation des femmes et de la liberté sexuelle de cette époque, elle incarne des rôles de femme-enfant et de femme fatale.

Elle tourne avec plusieurs grands réalisateurs, interprétant des personnages à l'élégante légèreté et à la sensualité photogénique. Elle devient rapidement un sex-symbol et acquiert une renommée internationale. Avec à son actif 45 films et plus de 70 chansons en près de vingt-et-un ans de carrière, Brigitte Bardot est une des artistes françaises les plus célèbres au monde.

En 1973, elle met un terme à sa carrière d'actrice pour se consacrer à la défense des droits des animaux, notamment avec la création de la Fondation Brigitte-Bardot.

Biography

English

​Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born on 28 September 1934 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, the first child and elder daughter of Louis Bardot (1896–1975) and Anne-Marie Mucel (1912–1978). Bardot's father was an engineer and the proprietor of several industrial factories in Paris. Her mother was the daughter of an insurance company director.

Bardot grew up in a conservative Catholic family. As a child, she suffered from amblyopia, which resulted in decreased vision of her left eye.

Bardot's childhood was prosperous; she lived in her family's seven-bedroom apartment in the luxurious 16th arrondissement. However, she recalled feeling resentful in her early years. Her father demanded she follow strict behavioural standards, including good table manners, and that she wear appropriate clothes. Her mother was extremely selective in choosing companions for her, and as a result Bardot had very few childhood friends.

​Bardot cited a personal traumatic incident when she and her sister broke her parents' favourite vase while they were playing in the house; her father whipped the sisters 20 times and henceforth treated them like "strangers", demanding them to address their parents by the pronoun "vous", which is a formal style of address, used when speaking to unfamiliar or higher-status persons outside the immediate family. The incident decisively led to Bardot resenting her parents, and to her future rebellious lifestyle.

During World War II, when Paris was occupied by Nazi Germany, Bardot spent more time at home due to increasingly strict civilian surveillance. She became engrossed in dancing to records, which her mother saw as a potential for a ballet career. Bardot was admitted at the age of seven to the private school Cours Hattemer. She went to school three days a week, which gave her ample time to take dance lessons at a local studio, under her mother's arrangements. In 1949, Bardot was accepted at the Conservatoire de Paris. For three years she attended ballet classes held by Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev. She also studied at the Institut de la Tour, a private Catholic high school near her home.

​Hélène Gordon-Lazareff, the then-director of the magazines Elle and Le Jardin des Modes, hired Bardot in 1949 as a "junior" fashion model.

On 8 March 1950, 15 year old Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle, which brought her an acting offer for the film Les Lauriers sont coupés from director Marc Allégret

Brigitte Bardot, photo by Robert Doisneau, 1950

Her parents opposed her becoming an actress, but her grandfather was supportive, saying that "If this little girl is to become a whore, cinema will not be the cause." At the audition, Bardot met Roger Vadim. Although she did not get the role, the two subsequently fell in love.

Her parents fiercely opposed their relationship and Bardot reacted by putting her head into an oven with open fire one day. Her parents stopped her on time and ultimately accepted the relationship, on condition that she marry Vadim at the age of 18.

On 20 December 1952, aged 18, Bardot married director Roger Vadim.

Brigitte Bardot at her wedding to Roger Vadim, 21 December 1952

​Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle again in 1952, which landed her a movie offer for the comedy Crazy for Love (1952). She was paid 200,000 francs (€4,700 in 2019 euros). 

Bardot had a small role in a Hollywood-financed film being shot in Paris, Act of Love (1953), starring Kirk Douglas. She received media attention when she attended the Cannes Film Festival in April 1953.

Bardot had a leading role in an Italian melodrama, Concert of Intrigue (1954) and in a French adventure film, Caroline and the Rebels (1954). 

Bardot played her first sizeable English-language role in Doctor at Sea (1955), as the love interest for Dirk Bogarde. The film was the third-most popular movie at the British box-office that year.

She had a small role in The Grand Maneuver (1955) for director René Clair, supporting Gérard Philipe and Michelle Morgan. 

​Bardot then appeared in four movies that made her a star. First up was a musical, Naughty Girl (1956), where Bardot played a troublesome school girl. It was co-written by Roger Vadim and was a big hit, the 12th most popular film of the year in France. It was followed by a comedy, Plucking the Daisy (1956), written by Vadim with the director Marc Allégret, and another success at France. So too was the comedy The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful (1956) with Louis Jourdan.

Finally there was the melodrama And God Created Woman (1956), Vadim's debut as director, with Bardot starring opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant and Curt Jurgens. The film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a huge success, not just in France but also around the world – it was among the ten most popular films in Britain in 1957. It turned Bardot into an international star. From then on, she was being hailed as the "sex kitten".The film scandalized the United States and theatre managers were arrested for screening it.

Durimg filming of  And God Created Woman, Bardot became romantically involved with her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant who at the time was also married.

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim divorced in 1957.

Brigitte Bardot on the set of And God Created Woman (1956), photo by Edward Quinn, 1956

Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman (1956)

During her early career, professional photographer Sam Lévin's photos contributed to the image of Bardot's sensuality. One showed Bardot from behind, dressed in a white corset. British photographer Cornel Lucas made images of Bardot in the 1950s and 1960s that have become representative of her public persona.

Bardot followed And God Created Woman with La Parisienne (1957), a comedy co-starring Charles Boyer. She was reunited with Vadim in another melodrama The Night Heaven Fell (1958).

On 18 June 1959, Bardot married actor Jacques Charrier. Bardot's only child, her son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, was born on 11 January 1960. After she and Charrier divorced in 1962, Nicolas was raised in the Charrier family and had little contact with his biological mother until his adulthood.

Brigitte Bardot on her wedding to French actor Jacques Charrier, 1959

The courtroom drama The Truth (1960), from Henri-Georges Clouzot. was Bardot's biggest ever commercial success in France, the third biggest hit of the year, and was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar. Bardot was awarded a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign actress for her role in the film.

Bardot starred alongside Marcello Mastroianni in a film inspired by her life in A Very Private Affair (Vie privée, 1962), directed by Louis Malle.

​In the mid-1960s, Bardot made films which seemed to be more aimed at the international market. 

Dear Brigitte (1965), Bardot's first Hollywood film, was a comedy starring James Stewart as an academic whose son develops a crush on Bardot. Bardot's appearance was relatively brief and the film was not a big hit.

On 14 July 1966, Bardot married German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs, and they divorced in 7 October 1969

Over the next few years, Bardot was romantically involved with various men, including American actor Warren Betty,writer John Gilmore, French singer Serge Gainsbourg, with whom she recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, such as "Je t'aime... moi non-plus". Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release this duet and he complied with her wishes; the following year, he rerecorded a version with British-born model and actress Jane Birkin that became a massive hit all over Europe. 

​From 1969 to 1978, Bardot was the official face of Marianne (who had previously been anonymous) to represent the liberty of France.

In 1973, Bardot made one more film with Vadim, Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973), playing the title role.  During the filming, Bardot said, "If Don Juan is not my last movie it will be my next to last". She kept her word and only made one more film, The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot (1973).

After the film, Bardot announced she was retiring from acting as "a way to get out elegantly". 

Next year in 1974, she appeared in a nude photo shoot in Playboy magazine, which celebrated her 40th birthday.

​After appearing in more than forty motion pictures and recording several music albums she used her fame to promote animal rights.

On 28 September 1983, her 49th birthday, Bardot took an overdose of sleeping pills or tranquilizers with red wine. She had to be rushed to the hospital, where her life was saved after a stomach pump was used to evacuate the pills from her body.

Bardot was treated for breast cancer in 1983 and 1984.

In 1986, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals.She became a vegetarian and raised three million francs (€811,000 in 2019 euros) to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and personal belongings.

Bardot's fourth and current husband is Bernard d'Ormale; they have been married since 16 August 1992.

---

French

​Brigitte Bardot naît le 28 septembre 1934 au domicile de ses parents, 5 place Violet, dans le 15e arrondissement de Paris. Son père, Louis Bardot est le propriétaire des usines Bardot (appartenant aujourd'hui à Air liquide); Sa mère, Anne-Marie Mucel (1912-1978), artiste contrariée, est la fille du directeur d'une compagnie d'assurances.

Dans son enfance marquée par une éducation catholique rigoureusea, Brigitte Bardot souffre d’une amblyopie, qui l'empêche de bien voir de son œil gauche. Dissipée, elle souffre de la préférence de ses parents pour sa sœur cadette, Marie-Jeanne (dite « Mijanou », née le 5 mai 1938), et se pose souvent la question de savoir pourquoi elle vit1.

Elle se passionne pour la danse classique et fait ses premiers pas, à sept ans, au cours Bourgat.

En 1949, elle entre au Conservatoire de Paris et y obtient un premier accessit. Son père, dont un recueil de poèmes est primé par l'Académie française, est un passionné de cinéma et adore filmer : il existe ainsi de nombreux films de Brigitte enfant, ce qui est rare à cette époque. 

​Hélène Lazareff, directrice de Elle et du Jardin des Modes, engage Brigitte Bardot en 1949 pour présenter la mode « junior ». À 15 ans, l'adolescente devient la « mascotte » du magazine Elle, dont elle fait la couverture dès 1949, sa silhouette élancée, la moue boudeuse et le regard sauvage enflammant la pellicule.

Le réalisateur Marc Allégret, voyant une de ses photos sur le numéro du 8 mai 1950, demande à la rencontrer. À l'audition, elle rencontre l'assistant d'Allégret, Roger Vadim, qui lui donne la réplique pour une scène du film Les Lauriers sont coupés. Le film ne se fait pas, mais ils tombent amoureux. Ses parents s'opposent à cette relation.

Brigitte Bardot se voit proposer son premier rôle par le réalisateur Jean Boyer dans Le Trou normand (1952). Peu enthousiaste, elle accepte ce petit rôle pour les 200 000 francs qui lui sont promis.

Sachant que le réalisateur du film Si Versailles m'était conté… (1954), Sacha Guitry, cherche une comédienne « pas chère » pour jouer mademoiselle de Rosille, maîtresse d'un soir du roi Louis XV, interprété par Jean Marais, l'agent de Brigitte Bardot, Olga Horstig, lui propose de jouer une scène. Brigitte Bardot accepte l’offre avec enthousiasme.

La jeune actrice se rend ensuite à Rome, où du travail lui est promis.

Elle obtient un rôle dans un film américain, Hélène de Troie (1956), de Robert Wise. Elle déclare à ce sujet : « Mon anglais était minable et mon trac formidable. J'appris mon rôle sur le bout des doigts. Je ne savais même pas ce que je disais, mais je le disais avec tant d'assurance que je fus choisie ». 

De retour en France, elle se voit proposer de jouer avec Michèle Morgan et Gérard Philipe dans Les Grandes Manœuvres (1955) de René Clair. Cette fois encore, son rôle n'est pas important, mais elle affirme préférer « un petit rôle dans un très bon film à un grand rôle dans un mauvais film ». 

Dans le même temps, Roger Vadim et Raoul Lévy écrivent un scénario intitulé Et Dieu… créa la femme. Après avoir manqué de ne pouvoir se réaliser faute de moyens financiers, le film est tourné à Saint-Tropez. Cette production va permettre à Brigitte Bardot d'entrer dans la légende du cinéma mondial et de devenir un mythe vivant, un modèle social et un « sex-symbol » international.

À sa sortie en France, le film est accueilli avec une certaine réserve par la critique et suscite l’hostilité des milieux conservateurs. 

Raoul Lévy et Roger Vadim décident d'exploiter le film à l'étranger en espérant qu'il y sera un succès. Rebaptisé And God Created Woman, il fait un triomphe aux États-Unis, Brigitte Bardot devenant l’une des Françaises les plus connues outre-Atlantique. Le film ressort alors en France et connaît un triomphe retentissant. 

Dès lors, les projets de films s'accumulent. Elle les accepte tous.

En 1957, elle tourne dans Une Parisienne de Michel Boisrond, avec Henri Vidal et Charles Boyer; selon elle, il s'agit d'une comédie « fine et spirituelle, pleine d'humour et d'amour ». Le film a un grand succès.

En 1958, Brigitte Bardot devient l'actrice française la mieux payée du cinéma français. Elle reçoit de nombreuses lettres et beaucoup d'appels téléphoniques de la part d'admirateurs, et décide de prendre un secrétaire, Alain Carré, qui quelques années plus tard vendrait ses mémoires pour 50 millions d'anciens francs à France Dimanche, mettant ses secrets et sa vie privée sur la place publique.

En 1959,  elle accepte de jouer dans Babette s'en va-t-en guerre et lance la mode du vichy à carreaux, des cheveux longs et blonds, ainsi que des ballerines. Le film est un succès.

Avec ses cheveux décoiffés, ses pieds nus, ses tenues minimalistes, sa moue boudeuse, ses attitudes nonchalantes, son côté sauvage, sa franchise à toute épreuve, sa nature insoumise et sa sexualité assumée, Bardot, qui a radicalement bouleversé l’image de la femme française, est devenue une icône absolue. Dans les années 1960, elle rapporte autant de devises à la France que la régie Renault.
​
En 1961, Elle accepte de jouer dans Vie privée, adapté de sa propre vie, sous la direction de Louis Malle. 

À la fin des années 60 Brigitte Bardot est choisie pour être le modèle du buste de Marianne, trônant dans toutes les mairies de France. En acceptant, la célèbre comédienne devient la première actrice à prêter ses traits au symbole français. Le buste est réalisé par le sculpteur Aslan.

Le 6 novembre 1973, elle se fait le serment que son nom, sa gloire, sa fortune et sa force lui serviront à les aider jusqu'à sa mort, à se battre pour eux, à les venger, à les aimer et à les faire aimer.

La dernière image du dernier plan de son dernier film, le 48e de sa carrière, la montre une colombe à la main, symbole de sa vie future consacrée aux animaux. 

En 1986, Bardot crée, à Saint-Tropez, la Fondation Brigitte-Bardot, organisme ayant pour objet la protection des animaux. Pour la faire reconnaître d'utilité publique, elle disperse aux enchères les objets de son ancienne gloire : bijoux, effets personnels, robes ou encore des photos et affiches, pour la plupart dédicacées. 

Afin d'en augmenter le capital et d'obtenir la reconnaissance d'utilité publique, elle fait don de sa propriété La Madrague à sa fondation et celle-ci est finalement déclarée d'utilité publique par le Conseil d’État en 1992.

FIGURE

Height/Taille/Altezza/Alto/Größe/高さ/高度:  
166cm / 5ft 4inch             
​
Weight/Poids/Peso/Gewicht/重量:  
53kg / 119pounds

Chest/Poitrine/Busto/Pechos/Brustumfang /バスト/胸围
89cm / 35inch

Waist/Taille/Vita/Talle/Taillenweite/ウエスト周囲/腰围：
58cm / 23inch

Hip/Bassin/Fianchi/Caldera/Hüftumfang/股関節周囲/臀围 ：
89cm / 35inch

Dress size/Taille/Taglia/Talla/Kleidergröße/服のサイズ/尺碼:
UK  / EU / US 

Shoe size/Chaussure/Calzature/Calzado/Schuhgröße/靴のサイズ/鞋码:  ​EU / US  

Wardrobe

The designers

​​Clothing:

• Jacques Esterel
• ​Madame Ogive
  

Shoes:​

Handbags:​

Gloves:​

Perfume:
L’Heure bleue de Guerlain

Jewellery:

---

Wardrobe highlights

sTYLE influence

English

In fashion, the Bardot neckline (a wide open neck that exposes both shoulders) is named after her. Bardot popularized this style which is especially used for knitted sweaters or jumpers although it is also used for other tops and dresses.

Bardot popularized the bikini in her early films such as Manina (1952) (released in France as Manina, la fille sans voiles). The following year she was also photographed in a bikini on every beach in the south of France during the Cannes Film Festival. She gained additional attention when she filmed ...And God Created Woman (1956) with Jean-Louis Trintignant (released in France as Et Dieu Créa La Femme). In it Bardot portrays an immoral teenager cavorting in a bikini who seduces men in a respectable small-town setting. The film was an international success. The bikini was in the 1950s relatively well accepted in France but was still considered risqué in the United States. As late as 1959, Anne Cole, one of the United States' largest swimsuit designers, said, "It's nothing more than a G-string. It's at the razor's edge of decency."

She also brought into fashion the choucroute ("Sauerkraut") hairstyle (a sort of beehive hair style) and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier. She was the subject of an Andy Warhol painting.

The Bardot pose describes an iconic modeling portrait shot around 1960 where Bardot is dressed only in a pair of black pantyhose, cross-legged over her front and cross-armed over her breasts. This pose has been emulated numerous times by models and celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan, Elle Macpherson and Monica Bellucci.

In addition to popularizing the bikini swimming suit, Bardot has been credited with popularizing the city of St. Tropez and the town of Armação dos Búzios in Brazil, which she visited in 1964 with her boyfriend at the time, Brazilian musician Bob Zagury. The place where she stayed in Búzios is today a small hotel, Pousada do Sol, and also a French restaurant, Cigalon. The town hosts a Bardot statue by Christina Motta.

Bardot was idolized by the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They made plans to shoot a film featuring The Beatles and Bardot, but the plans were never fulfilled.

According to the liner notes of his first (self-titled) album, musician Bob Dylan dedicated the first song he ever wrote to Bardot. He also mentioned her by name in "I Shall Be Free", which appeared on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

​The first-ever official exhibition spotlighting Bardot's influence and legacy opened in Boulogne-Billancourt on 29 September 2009 – a day after her 75th birthday.The Australian pop group Bardot was named after her.

French

Après le passage de la tornade de Et Dieu… créa la femme, Bardot devient la star la plus copiée au monde. Y elle continue d'être admirée par les actrices d'aujourd'hui.

Elle reste l'une des stars les plus connues dans le monde. Brigitte Bardot fait également connaître au grand public Saint-Tropez, sur la côte d'Azur, et Buzios, au Brésil. Une statue lui a même été érigée dans cette commune.
Elle a également été une icône de la mode avant la lettre. Tout ce qu'elle faisait ou portait était immédiatement imité par des dizaines de millions de femmes. C'est avec Arlette Nastat, la créatrice de Real rencontrée dès 1956, qu'elle trouvera pleinement son style vestimentaire (robe vichy, pantalon corsaire…). Le voyage à New York montre pleinement la richesse de cette collaboration. 

Ensemble, elles créeront la ligne de vêtements « La Madrague », dans les années 1970, signant ainsi plus de 20 ans de complicité. À partir de 1964, et pour sept ans, elle adopte la mode hippie du créateur Jean Bouquin, installé à Saint-Tropez. Elle contribue à lancer Bouquin auprès du Tout-Paris et porte ses vêtements dans ses films de l'époque.

​

LIFESTYLE

​

Houses

• Main residence

---

people related to

further interest

Articles

Audios

GRANDES TRAVERSÉES : BRIGITTE BARDOT, À NU 
​1/5 Sacrée BB 
par Simonetta Greggio

---

---

Books:

---

---

Videos:

Films

En cas de malheur - Film Complet en Français (Drama, Crime, Romance) 1958 | Brigitte Bardot

En cas de malheur est un film franco-italien réalisé par Claude Autant-Lara, sorti le 17 septembre 1958. Tiré du roman de Simenon, le film a été nommé pour le Lion d'or au festival Mostra de Venise en 1958.

---

Documentaries

Documentaire sur Brigitte Bardot et son combat pour les animaux (2019)​

« Brigitte Bardot : le serment fait aux animaux », un documentaire inédit de Rachel Khan et François Chaumont, diffusé pour la première fois sur France 3, le 12 avril 2019. Ce documentaire retrace le combat de B.B. qui a accepté, exceptionnellement, de témoigner depuis sa maison de Saint-Tropez, « La Garrigue », durant l’automne 2018. ​

La "Jet Set" des années 60.B.Bardot,G. Sachs etc

Interviews

Brigitte Bardot - Interview (56-60)

---

---

​Websites​

Paragraph. Cliquer ici pour modifier.

back to top

---