Brigitte Bardot has died aged 91.
News of the French actor and singer’s death was shared today (December 28) by The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, per French news agency AFP. No cause of death has been given.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” the statement read.
Bardot shot to fame in 1956 with the film And God Created Women, written and directed by her then-husband Roger Radim.
The film, which sees Bardot take on the role of a teenager in Saint-Tropez, turned her into an international icon, and she went on to star in a series of French films in the early ’60s, including Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Oscar-nominated drama The Truth, Louis Malle’s Very Private Affair, and Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt.
Later, she starred in various Hollywood productions, including Viva Maria! and Shalako, a western with Sean Connery.
Bardot retired from acting in 1973, aged 39, and shifted her career focus to animal protection activism, joining protests against seal hunts in 1977 and establishing the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.
In recent years, Bardot was accused of making racist comments several times and has been fined six times by French courts for “inciting racial hatred” with her writing.
In 2018, she was criticised after accusing the female stars who spoke out as part of the #MeToo movement of being “hypocritical”.
Bardot is also a close friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party, who was convicted of anti-Semitism, racism, and Holocaust denial in France. His daughter, far-right politician Marine Le Pen, now runs the party.
This is a developing story.
The post French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot dies aged 91 appeared first on NME.
