Bardot

Briggitte Bardot Photo made available by: femalefirst.com **Born:**28-Sep-1934 **Birthplace:**Paris, France **Gender:** Female **Religion:**Roman Catholic **Race or Ethnicity:** White **Sexual orientation:** Straight **Occupation:** Actor, Activist **Nationality:** France

In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer. She started her acting career in 1952 and, after appearing in 16 films, became world-famous due to her role in her then-husband Roger Vadim's controversial film //And God Created Woman//. She later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 cult film, //Contempt//. She was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for her role in Louis Malle's 1965 film, //Viva Maria!//. She caught the attention of French intellectuals. She was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay, //The Lolita Syndrome//, which described Bardot as a "locomotive of women's history" and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France. Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973. During her career in show business Bardot starred in 47 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. She was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1985 but refused to receive it. After her retirement, Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist. During the 1990s, she became controversial due to her criticism of immigration,Islamization and Islam in France, and has been fined five times for "inciting racial hatred".

Bardot's beauty and natural sensuality began to show as a teenager and in 1952, she appeared on screen for the first time in //Le Trou Normand//. That same year, at age 18, she married director Roger Vadim, with whom she had been romantically involved for several years. Although the European film industry was then in the ascendant, her personal rise was remarkable: she has been one of the few European actresses to receive mass media attention in the United States. She and Marilyn Monroe were the icons of female sexuality in the 1950s and 1960s and whenever she made public appearances in the United States the media hordes covered her every move.

Her films of the early and mid 1950s were lightweight romantic dramas, some of them historical, in which she was cast as ingénue or siren, often with an element of undress. She played bit-parts in three English-language films, the British comedy //Doctor at Sea// (1955), Warner Brothers' //Helen of Troy// (1954), in which she was understudy for the title-role but only appears as Helen's handmaid, and //Act of Love// (1954) wth Kirk Douglas. Her French-language films were dubbed for internationally release. "She is every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris" said the film-critic Ivon Addams in 1955.

Detailed Citations

"Brigitte Bardot." //NNDB: Tracking the Entire World//. Web. 03 June 2011. . - this site was used for the first paragraphs information, and the last part of the last paragraph. "Brigitte Bardot's Ex-husband Gunter Sachs Kills Himself at 78 | Mail Online." //Home | Mail Online//. Web. 03 June 2011. . -this site was also used for general information listed above.