100 Facts About Brigitte Bardot

1.

Brigitte Bardot achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in And God Created Woman, and caught the attention of French intellectuals.

2.

Brigitte Bardot was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay The Lolita Syndrome, which described her 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.

3.

Brigitte Bardot won a 1961 David di Donatello Best Foreign Actress Award for her work in The Truth.

4.

Brigitte Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mepris.

5.

Brigitte Bardot had acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals, and recorded more than 60 songs.

6.

Brigitte Bardot was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985.

7.

Brigitte Bardot is known for her strong personality, outspokenness, and speeches on animal defence; she has been fined twice for public insults.

8.

Brigitte Bardot has been a controversial political figure, having been fined five times for inciting racial hatred when she criticised immigration and Islam in France.

9.

Brigitte Bardot is married to Bernard d'Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, a French far-right politician.

10.

Brigitte Bardot is a member of the Global 500 Roll of Honour of the United Nations Environment Programme and has received awards from UNESCO and PETA.

11.

Brigitte Bardot was born on 28 September 1934 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, to Louis Brigitte Bardot and Anne-Marie Mucel.

12.

Brigitte Bardot's father, originated from Ligny-en-Barrois, was an engineer and the proprietor of several industrial factories in Paris.

13.

Brigitte Bardot's mother was the daughter of an insurance company director.

14.

Brigitte Bardot grew up in a conservative Catholic family, as had her father.

15.

Brigitte Bardot suffered from amblyopia as a child, which resulted in decreased vision of her left eye.

16.

Brigitte Bardot's childhood was prosperous; she lived in her family's seven-bedroom apartment in the luxurious 16th arrondissement.

17.

Brigitte Bardot's father demanded that she follow strict behavioural standards, including good table manners, and wear appropriate clothes.

18.

Brigitte Bardot's mother was extremely selective in choosing companions for her, and as a result, Bardot had very few childhood friends.

19.

Brigitte Bardot cited a personal traumatic incident when she and her sister broke her parents' favourite vase while they were playing in the house; her father whipped the sisters 20 times and henceforth treated them like "strangers", demanding them to address their parents by the pronoun "vous", which is a formal style of address, used when speaking to unfamiliar or higher-status persons outside the immediate family.

20.

The incident decisively led to Brigitte Bardot resenting her parents, and to her future rebellious lifestyle.

21.

Brigitte Bardot became engrossed in dancing to records, which her mother saw as a potential for a ballet career.

22.

Brigitte Bardot was admitted at the age of seven to the private school Cours Hattemer.

23.

Brigitte Bardot went to school three days a week, which gave her ample time to take dance lessons at a local studio, under her mother's arrangements.

24.

In 1949, Brigitte Bardot was accepted at the Conservatoire de Paris.

25.

Brigitte Bardot studied at the Institut de la Tour, a private Catholic high school near her home.

26.

On 8 March 1950, Brigitte Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle, which brought her an acting offer for the film Les Lauriers sont coupes from director Marc Allegret.

27.

Brigitte Bardot reacted by putting her head into an oven with open fire; her parents stopped her and ultimately accepted the relationship, on condition that she marry Vadim at the age of 18.

28.

Brigitte Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle again in 1952, which landed her a movie offer for the comedy Crazy for Love, starring Bourvil and directed by Jean Boyer.

29.

Brigitte Bardot was paid 200,000 francs for the small role portraying a cousin of the main character.

30.

Brigitte Bardot had her second film role in Manina, the Girl in the Bikini, directed by Willy Rozier.

31.

Brigitte Bardot had roles in the films The Long Teeth and His Father's Portrait.

32.

Brigitte Bardot had a small role in a Hollywood-financed film being shot in Paris, Act of Love, starring Kirk Douglas.

33.

Brigitte Bardot received media attention when she attended the Cannes Film Festival in April 1953.

34.

Brigitte Bardot had a leading role in an Italian melodrama, Concert of Intrigue and in a French adventure film, Caroline and the Rebels.

35.

Brigitte Bardot had a good part as a flirtatious student in School for Love, opposite Jean Marais, for director Marc Allegret.

36.

Brigitte Bardot played her first sizeable English-language role in Doctor at Sea, as the love interest for Dirk Bogarde.

37.

Brigitte Bardot had a small role in The Grand Maneuver for director Rene Clair, supporting Gerard Philipe and Michelle Morgan.

38.

Brigitte Bardot had another in the Hollywood film, Helen of Troy, playing Helen's handmaiden.

39.

Brigitte Bardot was so pleased with the results that she decided to retain the hair colour.

40.

Brigitte Bardot then appeared in four movies that made her a star.

41.

Finally there was the melodrama And God Created Woman, Vadim's debut as director, with Brigitte Bardot starring opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant and Curt Jurgens.

42.

Brigitte Bardot followed And God Created Woman with La Parisienne, a comedy co-starring Charles Boyer for director Boisrond.

43.

Brigitte Bardot was reunited with Vadim in another melodrama The Night Heaven Fell and played a criminal who seduced Jean Gabin in In Case of Adversity.

44.

Brigitte Bardot was awarded a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress for her role in the film.

45.

Brigitte Bardot starred alongside Marcello Mastroianni in a film inspired by her life in A Very Private Affair, directed by Louis Malle.

46.

Brigitte Bardot starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mepris, produced by Joseph E Levine and starring Jack Palance.

47.

Brigitte Bardot's appearance was relatively brief and the film was not a big hit.

48.

Brigitte Bardot had a small role in the all-star Spirits of the Dead, acting opposite Alain Delon, then tried a Hollywood film again: Shalako, a Western starring Sean Connery, which was a box-office disappointment.

49.

Brigitte Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release this duet and he complied with her wish; the following year, he rerecorded a version with British-born model and actress Jane Birkin that became a massive hit all over Europe.

50.

The version with Brigitte Bardot was issued in 1986 and became a download hit in 2006 when Universal Music made its back catalogue available to purchase online, with this version of the song ranking as the third most popular download.

51.

From 1969 to 1978, Brigitte Bardot was the official face of Marianne to represent the liberty of France.

52.

The Legend of Frenchie King was more popular, helped by Brigitte Bardot co-starring with Claudia Cardinale.

53.

Brigitte Bardot made one more with Vadim, Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman, playing the title role.

54.

For years, since she has been growing older, and the Brigitte Bardot myth has become just a souvenir.

55.

Brigitte Bardot kept her word and only made one more film, The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot.

56.

In 1973, Brigitte Bardot announced she was retiring from acting as "a way to get out elegantly".

57.

Brigitte Bardot became a vegetarian and raised three million francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and personal belongings.

58.

Brigitte Bardot has donated more than $140,000 over two years for a mass sterilization and adoption program for Bucharest's stray dogs, estimated to number 300,000.

59.

Brigitte Bardot is a strong animal rights activist and a major opponent of the consumption of horse meat.

60.

Brigitte Bardot has committed to the cause of animal welfare in Bodhgaya year after year.

61.

On 23 July 2015, Brigitte Bardot condemned Australian politician Greg Hunt's plan to eradicate 2 million cats to save endangered species such as the Warru and night parrot.

62.

On 20 December 1952, aged 18, Brigitte Bardot married director Roger Vadim.

63.

Brigitte Bardot recovered within weeks and began a relationship with actor Jacques Charrier.

64.

Brigitte Bardot became pregnant well before they were married on 18 June 1959.

65.

Brigitte Bardot's only child, her son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, was born on 11 January 1960.

66.

Brigitte Bardot had an affair with Glenn Ford in the early 1960s.

67.

Brigitte Bardot was enamoured of Frey, but he quickly left her.

68.

In 1974, Brigitte Bardot appeared in a nude photo shoot in Playboy magazine, which celebrated her 40th birthday.

69.

From 1980 to 1985, Brigitte Bardot had a live-in relationship with French TV producer Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.

70.

On 28 September 1983, her 49th birthday, Brigitte Bardot took an overdose of sleeping pills or tranquilizers with red wine.

71.

Brigitte Bardot had to be rushed to the hospital, where her life was saved after a stomach pump was used to evacuate the pills from her body.

72.

Brigitte Bardot refused to undergo chemotherapy treatment and decided only to do radiation therapy.

73.

Brigitte Bardot expressed support for President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s.

74.

Brigitte Bardot had been fined in 1997 for the original publication of this open letter in Le Figaro and again in 1998 for making similar remarks.

75.

Brigitte Bardot said, in reference to Muslims, that she was "fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its habits".

76.

Brigitte Bardot criticized the former Alaskan governor for her stance on global warming and gun control.

77.

Brigitte Bardot was further offended by Palin's support for Arctic oil exploration and by her lack of consideration in protecting polar bears.

78.

On 13 August 2010, Brigitte Bardot criticised American filmmaker Kyle Newman for his plan to produce a biographical film about her.

79.

In 2014, Brigitte Bardot wrote an open letter demanding the ban in France of shechita, describing it as "ritual sacrifice".

80.

In 2015, Brigitte Bardot threatened to sue a Saint-Tropez boutique selling items featuring her face.

81.

In 2018, Brigitte Bardot expressed support for the yellow vests movement.

82.

On 19 March 2019, Brigitte Bardot issued an open letter to Reunion prefect Amaury de Saint-Quentin in which she accused inhabitants of the Indian Ocean island of animal cruelty and referred to them as "autochthonous who have kept the genes of savages".

83.

Brigitte Bardot's husband Bernard d'Ormale is a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, former leader of the far-right party National Front, the main far-right party in France, known for its nationalist beliefs.

84.

Brigitte Bardot expressed support for Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, calling her "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century".

85.

Brigitte Bardot endorsed Le Pen in the 2012 and 2017 French presidential elections.

86.

Brigitte Bardot has been called a "style icon" and a "muse for Dior, Balmain, and Pierre Cardin".

87.

In fashion, the Brigitte Bardot neckline is named after her.

88.

Brigitte Bardot popularized this style which is especially used for knitted sweaters or jumpers although it is used for other tops and dresses.

89.

Brigitte Bardot popularized the bikini in her early films such as Manina.

90.

Brigitte Bardot's image was linked to the shoemaker Repetto, who created a pair of ballerinas for her in 1956.

91.

Brigitte Bardot brought into fashion the choucroute hairstyle and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier.

92.

Brigitte Bardot was the subject of an Andy Warhol painting.

93.

Isabella Biedenharn of Elle wrote that Brigitte Bardot "has inspired thousands of women to tease their hair or try out winged eyeliner over the past few decades".

94.

Brigitte Bardot was idolized by the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

95.

Lennon and Brigitte Bardot met in person once, in 1968 at the May Fair Hotel, introduced by Beatles press agent Derek Taylor; a nervous Lennon took LSD before arriving, and neither star impressed the other.

96.

Brigitte Bardot mentioned her by name in "I Shall Be Free", which appeared on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

97.

Brigitte Bardot inspired Nicole Kidman to promote the 2013 campaign shoot of the British brand Jimmy Choo.

98.

In 2015, Brigitte Bardot was ranked number six in "The Top Ten Most Beautiful Women Of All Time", according to a survey carried out by Amway's beauty company in the UK which involved 2,000 women.

99.

The French drama television series Brigitte Bardot was scheduled to be broadcast on France 2 in 2023.

100.

Brigitte Bardot has been convicted of inciting racial hatred multiple times.