The one who starred in many B movies before becoming the well-known icon has shed a lot of ink and has also been the subject of several biographies. The author, Baptiste Vignol, has decided to publish a new biography about Brigitte Bardot, telling the story of the French actress through more than 200 photos, many of which are unpublished. It is a courageous woman with great convictions that we discover there.
If in those beginnings Brigitte Bardot showed audacity to achieve fame and was not ashamed to strip in front of the cameras, her personality developed greatly as she got older. Some will say she’s calmed down while others will talk about her big fight.
One thing is for sure, she put her heart and soul into defending animal rights and gave up her acting career at the age of 39 to pursue her new passion full-time.
Brigitte Bardot was lucky enough to be born into the middle class and to grow up as a young girl from a “good family”. His upbringing is very strict. She was already dancing classical dance at the age of seven. She wants to be an actress, but her parents are against it. She started modeling at 15 and made the cover of Elle magazine.
Photo courtesy of Editions Grund
Bardomania
Brigitte Bardot is so popular in France that we speak of Bardomania. The one, also called BB, will star in about forty films. In particular, we will see her in the cinema, where she will answer big names like Alain Delon, Jean Gabin, Annie Girardot, Jean-Louis Trintignant. She fascinates and seduces all men in her path.
A French journalist writes about her: “Bardot is a purely Parisian product. The upscale bourgeoisie has a knack for producing smart, charming young ladies who pretend to be ill-bred…’ Others go so far as to say that they have royalty in their blood and embody dignity.
However, when we read her bio, we learn that Brigitte Bardot also said publicly that she did not find herself more beautiful than even comparing herself to a Pekingese dog with a cold. That she is not afraid to provoke or be photographed completely naked, which she has done in many films, at the risk of being hated by women.
But she doesn’t care, Bardot, who is considered an intelligent woman, is aware that in show business the men pull the strings.
She didn’t consider herself an actress, but a phenomenon. A woman who is not afraid to disrupt the codes already established. Many have also compared her to Marilyn Monroe. Just like the latter, the success wasn’t there from the start.
In her book, which is full of quotes, she will say: “My first films left me with bitter memories, but I had become a fashionable starlet”.
After a few mediocre B movies, she’ll say she finally had a movie that was tailored for her, And God… Created Woman, a movie that brought her international fame. She became the absolute icon of the 1950s and 1960s and was considered the main sex symbol. In addition to the cinema, she will perform many songs.
Testing
Despite everything, she had her share of hardships. After filming the film The Truth, which was a huge commercial success, Brigitte Bardot is unhappy and will attempt suicide on her birthday in 1960. It wasn’t the first, because at 17 she had also tried to end her life.
In 1984 she found out she had breast cancer. She refuses to be treated. Luckily, a friend convinces her to accept the treatments that will allow her to overcome the disease.
In love, she will marry for the first time at the age of 18. Then she will fall in love with Jean-Louis Trintignant, with whom she will have an affair. He will leave her when he finds out that she is also having an affair with Gilbert Bécaud. She will then marry Jacques Charrier, with whom she will have her only son. But Bardot does not want a child and unsuccessfully attempts an abortion. She will get divorced and then experience a series of lovers and husbands.
But fame doesn’t only have good sides. The one who had found refuge in La Madrague, a magnificent villa in southern France on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, lives a real hell because of the many tourists who go there hoping to see her.
Later, almost disgusted with everything, she will say: “What is so extraordinary about me? I’m tired of being a star, an idol. I only dream of sandals and old sweaters.”
The animal cause
After becoming a spokesperson for the SPA, where she denounced the abandonment of dogs, she took her first serious steps for the animal cause in 1973 by denouncing the seal hunt.
She will call Canadians barbarians and murderers after going to the ice of Blanc-Sablon, Quebec to denounce the hunt for baby seals. She will make the same denunciations in Norway.
Eventually, his hard work and dedication to the cause will bear fruit. Imports of baby seal skins and skins are banned in several places in Europe. Due to the lower demand, fewer of them are slaughtered.
Some of the awards she has received
- In 1957 she won the Victory for French Cinema for the film And God… Created Woman.
- In 1992 she received the Global 500 (award from the United Nations Environment Programme).
- She is ranked 66th in the “100 Greatest French People of All Time” ranking.