Brigitte Bardot, 1960s iconic sex symbol and controversial animal rights activist, dies at 91

PARIS — Brigitte Bardot, the French film star whose sultry image helped redefine global cinema in the 1950s and 1960s before she reinvented herself as a militant animal rights activist, has died. She was 91.

Bardot died Sunday at her home in southern France, according to Bruno Jacquelin of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Protection of Animals. No cause of death was disclosed, and funeral arrangements had not yet been announced. She had been hospitalized last month.

An international sensation, Bardot rose to fame with the 1956 film “And God Created Woman,” directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim. The movie’s provocative scenes, including the young actress dancing topless, ignited controversy and catapulted her to stardom, making her one of the most recognizable sex symbols of the 20th century.

With her tousled blond hair, voluptuous figure and defiant pout, Bardot embodied a France breaking free from postwar bourgeois restraint. Over a career spanning some 28 films and three marriages, she became a cultural phenomenon whose influence extended far beyond cinema.

Her status as a national icon was cemented in 1969, when her likeness was chosen as the model for “Marianne,” the symbol of the French Republic. Her features appeared on statues, stamps and coins.

“We are mourning a legend,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote Sunday on X.

Bardot abruptly retired from filmmaking in 1973 at age 39 and withdrew to her villa in St. Tropez. A decade later, she reemerged in a dramatically different role as a fierce and uncompromising advocate for animal rights.

She sold off personal jewelry and film memorabilia to establish the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, dedicating her life to combating animal cruelty. Her activism took her around the world, from condemning the slaughter of baby seals in the Arctic to urging South Korea to ban the dog meat trade. She also opposed animal testing and campaigned against long-standing European sporting traditions involving animals.

“Man is an insatiable predator,” Bardot told The Associated Press on her 73rd birthday in 2007. “I don’t care about my past glory. That means nothing in the face of an animal that suffers, since it has no power, no words to defend itself.”

Her advocacy earned widespread respect and, in 1985, France awarded her the Legion of Honor. However, her later years were marked by controversy as her rhetoric increasingly overlapped with extremist political views.

Bardot was convicted and fined five times by French courts for inciting racial hatred, largely stemming from statements opposing Muslim ritual slaughter practices. Her 1992 marriage to Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, underscored her political shift. She later described Le Pen as a “lovely, intelligent man” and publicly supported Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid in 2012.

Marine Le Pen paid tribute Sunday, calling Bardot an “exceptional woman” who was “incredibly French.”

In 2018, during the height of the #MeToo movement, Bardot again drew criticism after dismissing allegations of sexual harassment in the film industry as exaggerated. She said she had never been a victim herself and found certain remarks “charming.”

Born Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot on Sept. 28, 1934, to a wealthy industrialist family, she trained as a classical ballet dancer before being discovered as a teenager and appearing on the cover of Elle magazine at age 14. She later described her childhood as difficult, recalling a strict father who punished her harshly.

Her breakthrough role in “And God Created Woman” influenced French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut and came to symbolize the sexual liberation of the 1960s. Despite her fame, Bardot was often critical of her acting, once saying, “It’s an embarrassment to have acted so badly.”

Her personal life frequently made headlines. She married four times and had one son, Nicolas, whom she later said she was unprepared to raise amid intense media scrutiny. Bardot openly spoke of chronic depression and blamed relentless paparazzi attention for a suicide attempt following her son’s birth.

Her filmography included “A Parisian” (1957), “The Truth” (1960), “Private Life” (1962), “Contempt” (1963), “Shalako” (1968) and “Don Juan” (1973). With the exception of “Contempt,” many of her films were light on plot, serving primarily as vehicles for her magnetic screen presence.

Reflecting on her career, Bardot once said filmmaking “was never a great passion of mine,” adding, “Marilyn (Monroe) perished because of it.”

In her later years, Bardot said she identified deeply with the animals she sought to protect.

“I can understand hunted animals because of the way I was treated,” she told the AP. “What happened to me was inhuman. I was constantly surrounded by the world press.”

Brigitte Bardot leaves behind a complex legacy as a cinematic icon who reshaped modern celebrity culture and as a polarizing activist whose uncompromising views continued to provoke admiration and outrage in equal measure.