Brigitte Bardot, French film icon, dead at 91

Brigitte Bardot, the French movie icon and sex symbol and animal rights activist, has died. She was 91.

The news was announced on the website of her Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals, with a banner reading, “Thank you Brigitte. A lifetime and a foundation dedicated to serving animals.”

“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its Founder and President, Mrs. Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to give up her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her Foundation,” read a statement.

A spokesperson for the Foundation told the Associated Press that Bardot died Sunday at her home in France. No cause of death was announced.  

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, wrote on X, “Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals … Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom. French existence, universal brilliance. She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”

Bardot initially studied ballet, but then became a model, which led to her being cast in a number of films. Her breakthrough was 1956’s And God Created Woman, written and directed by her then-husband, Roger Vadim. Her portrayal of a hedonistic young woman made her a worldwide star, sex symbol and style icon, while the film was credited with paving the way for French filmmakers and movies to find a global audience.

Bardot became so revered in France that from 1969 to 1972, she became the model for “Marianne,” the female figure who has personified the country since the French Revolution.

Bardot went on to work with directors like Jean-Luc Godard and Louis Malle, earning acclaim and the French Legion of Honor. She retired from acting in 1973 and devoted her life to protecting animals, establishing her Foundation in 1986. 

Later in life, Bardot became controversial for her right-wing politics and was convicted and fined multiple times by French courts for “inciting racial hatred.”