Brigitte Bardot: Stunning photos of a timeless French beauty

Brigitte Bar­dot, born on Sep­tem­ber 28, 1934, in Paris, France, rose from bal­let begin­nings to become one of the most rec­og­niz­able faces of the 20th cen­tu­ry. Her entrée into the arts began with dance, study­ing at the pres­ti­gious Con­ser­va­toire de Paris, but it was a film that cat­a­pult­ed her to inter­na­tion­al star­dom.

Bardot’s break­out role came in 1956 with “And God Cre­at­ed Woman,” direct­ed by her then-hus­band Roger Vadim. The film not only chal­lenged soci­etal norms with its bold sex­u­al­i­ty but also marked a seis­mic shift in the por­tray­al of women on screen. Bardot’s sen­su­al­i­ty, paired with a dis­tinct unapolo­getic free­dom, defined her as the epit­o­me of French glam­our and a lead­ing fig­ure in the cul­tur­al phe­nom­e­non known as “Bar­dot-mania.”

Through­out her career, Bar­dot starred in more than 40 films, includ­ing notable works like “Con­tempt” (1963), direct­ed by Jean-Luc Godard, and “Viva Maria!” (1965) along­side Jeanne More­au. Despite her appar­ent ease in front of the cam­era, Bardot’s off-screen life was marked by intense media scruti­ny and per­son­al strife, con­tribut­ing to her deci­sion to retire from the film indus­try in 1973, at the age of 39.

Post-retire­ment, Bar­dot redi­rect­ed her for­mi­da­ble ener­gy toward ani­mal rights advo­ca­cy. Dis­turbed by the treat­ment of ani­mals she wit­nessed, Bar­dot estab­lished the Brigitte Bar­dot Foun­da­tion for the Wel­fare and Pro­tec­tion of Ani­mals in 1986. Her advo­ca­cy efforts have spanned from cam­paign­ing against the fur trade to fight­ing for the rights of slaugh­tered live­stock, mak­ing her voice as influ­en­tial in ani­mal rights as it was in cin­e­ma.