Brigitte Bardot

1934-

Biography: life and films

Abstract picture representing Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot (famously known as B.B.) was born in Paris in 1934 to a bourgeois French family, her father being a successful industrialist. At the age of 13 she entered the Conservatoire Nationale de Danse to study ballet, before deciding to get work as a model.

In May 1949, Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle magazine, and was noticed by Roger Vadim, then an assistant to the film director Marc Allegrét. Vadim was infatuated with Bardot and encouraged her to start working as a film actress. (Later, Vadim would become Bardot's first husband, although the marriage would only last five years.)

Bardot's film career began with Jean Boyer's 1952 film Le Trou normand. A string of similar small parts followed but it wasn't until she appeared in Vadim's 1956 film Et Dieu… créa la femme that she achieved celebrity. The film was a sensation, on both sides of the Atlantic, and earned Bardot an instant international reputation as a sex goddess.

Film directors were quick to capitalise on Bardot's money-spinning potential. Although she appeared in a few American films, her preference was for French cinema. The actress starred in a number of high profile films, including Autant-Lara'sEn Cas de malheur, Clouzot's La Verité and Louis Malle's Vie privée. She also starred in Jean-Luc Godard's landmark 1963 film Le mépris, although this film was far less successful at the box office. During this period, she began recording songs.

Bardot's film career showed a steady decline in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After a series of flops, and tired of the pressures of being an actress (which pushed her to the brink of suicide on a few occasions), she decided to retire from film making. After her last film in 1975, B.B. announced that she would dedicate the rest of her career to her main passion in life: animal rights.

In 1976, the former actress set up the Birigitte Bardot Foundation for Distressed Animals, an organisation for which she has worked actively ever since. For this work, she was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1984.

© James Travers 2002
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.



The Carry On films, from the heyday of British film comedy
sb-img-17
Looking for a deeper insight into the most popular series of British film comedies? Visit our page and we'll give you one.
The best of American cinema
sb-img-26
Since the 1920s, Hollywood has dominated the film industry, but that doesn't mean American cinema is all bad - America has produced so many great films that you could never watch them all in one lifetime.
The greatest French Films of all time
sb-img-4
With so many great films to choose from, it's nigh on impossible to compile a short-list of the best 15 French films of all time - but here's our feeble attempt to do just that.
The silent era of French cinema
sb-img-13
Before the advent of sound France was a world leader in cinema. Find out more about this overlooked era.
The very best French thrillers
sb-img-12
It was American film noir and pulp fiction that kick-started the craze for thrillers in 1950s France and made it one of the most popular and enduring genres.

Other things to look at


Copyright © frenchfilms.org 1998-2024
All rights reserved



All content on this page is protected by copyright