Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was a French actress, singer, model and animal rights activist. Famous for portraying characters with hedonistic lives, she was one of the best-known symbols of the sexual revolution. Although she withdrew from the entertainment industry in 1973, she remained a major pop culture icon. She acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals, and recorded more than 60 songs. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985.
Born and raised in Paris, Bardot was an aspiring ballerina during her childhood. She started her acting career in 1952 and achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in And God Created Woman (1956), catching the attention of many French intellectuals and earning her the nickname "sex kitten". She was the subject of philosopher 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 most liberated woman of France. She won a 1961 David di Donatello Best Foreign Actress Award for her work in The Truth (1960). Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris (1963). For her role in Louis Malle's film Viva Maria! (1965), she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress. French President Charles de Gaulle called Bardot "the French export as important as Renault cars".
After retiring from acting in 1973, Bardot became an animal rights activist and created the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. She was known for her strong personality, outspokenness, and speeches on animal defense; she was fined twice for public insults. She had also been a controversial political figure, having been fined six times for inciting racial hatred when she criticised immigration and Islam in France and called residents of Réunion "savages". She was married to Bernard d'Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, a French far-right politician. Bardot was a member of the Global 500 Roll of Honour of the United Nations Environment Programme and received several awards and accolades from UNESCO and PETA.
