Brigitte Bardot, the French actor and singer who became one of the world’s most recognisable screen icons before abandoning her film career to champion animal-rights activism and align herself with far-right politics, has died aged 91.
The news was confirmed on Sunday, prompting tributes from political leaders and public figures in France and abroad. Paying tribute to Bardot, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, wrote on social media that France was mourning “a legend of the century”.
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory … her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” Macron said.
Bardot died at her home, La Madrague, in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, according to a statement from her foundation.
“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,” it said.
No cause of death was disclosed. Bardot had briefly been hospitalised in October for what her office described as a “minor” medical procedure.
Authorities in Saint-Tropez, where Bardot spent childhood holidays and later filmed “And God Created Woman,” said the star had “helped make Saint-Tropez shine across the world”.
The town described Bardot as its “most radiant ambassador” and part of “the collective memory of Saint-Tropez, which we must preserve”.
Bardot rose to international fame in 1956 with “And God Created Woman,” directed by her then husband, Roger Vadim. For the next two decades, she came to personify the archetypal “sex kitten”, a role that defined her celebrity image.
In the early 1970s, she retired from acting and shifted her focus to animal-rights campaigning, while becoming increasingly vocal in far-right political circles.
Her outspoken remarks on immigration, Islam, homosexuality and minority groups led to several convictions for inciting racial hatred.
Between 1997 and 2008, French courts fined her six times, particularly over comments targeting Muslims in France. In one ruling, a Paris court fined her €15,000 (£13,000) after she referred to Muslims as “this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts”.
Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party (RN), which Bardot supported, wrote: “Brigitte Bardot was a woman of heart, conviction and character. An ardent patriot, devoted to animals that she protected throughout her life, she embodied a whole French era, but also above all a certain idea of courage and freedom.”
Le Pen, whom Bardot once described as “the Joan of Arc of the 21st century”, wrote that Bardot was “exceptional for her talent, courage, frankness and beauty”.
“She was incredibly French,” she said. “Free, indomitable, whole. She will be hugely missed.”
Bardot’s symbolic importance to the European far right also drew reaction from Italy, where the deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, called her “a timeless star, but above all a woman who was free, nonconformist, protagonist of courageous battles in defence of our traditions”.
Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, said: “Brigitte Bardot was not only one of the great protagonists of world cinema, but also an extraordinary interpreter of western fundamental freedoms.” He said she “resolutely defended her vision of cultural and social values and civic engagement”.
Born in Paris in 1934, Bardot grew up in a conservative Catholic family but excelled in dance and earned a place at the Conservatoire de Paris.
She began modelling as a teenager and appeared on the cover of Elle magazine in 1950, eventually leading to film offers. She married Vadim in 1952 after turning 18 and gradually moved from minor roles into higher-profile performances, including a prominent role in the 1955 comedy “Doctor at Sea”.
Her breakthrough came with “And God Created Woman,” in which she portrayed a free-spirited young woman in Saint-Tropez, a performance that cemented her international star status and reshaped French screen culture.
Bardot soon became a cultural phenomenon as well as a film star, inspiring artists, writers and musicians.
The columnist Raymond Cartier wrote extensively about “le cas Bardot” in 1958, while Simone de Beauvoir’s 1959 essay “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome” cast her as a symbol of female liberation.
In 1969 she became the first living woman chosen as the model for Marianne, the emblem of the French Republic.
Throughout the 1960s she appeared in major French productions, including “The Truth”, “A Very Private Affair” and “Contempt”. Later, she accepted roles in international co-productions such as “Viva Maria!” and the western “Shalako” with Sean Connery.
Alongside acting, Bardot also pursued a music career, recording the original version of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je T’Aime … Moi Non Plus” during their affair. The track was later re-recorded with Jane Birkin after Bardot requested that Gainsbourg not release the original.
By the early 1970s Bardot had become disillusioned with fame, later recalling: “The madness which surrounded me always seemed unreal. I was never really prepared for the life of a star.”
She retired from cinema in 1973, aged 39, after filming “The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot”, and redirected her public life to animal-rights campaigning. She joined protests against seal hunts in 1977 and founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.
She went on to campaign internationally on animal-welfare issues, writing protest letters to world leaders and criticising practices such as dolphin killing in the Faroe Islands and dog culling in Romania.
Her 2003 book “A Cry in the Silence” expressed right-wing views and included remarks about Islam and homosexuality that led to another conviction for inciting racial hatred.
