Biography: life and films
In May 1949, Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle magazine, and was noticed by Roger Vadim, then an assistant to the film director Marc Allegrét. Vadim was infatuated with Bardot and encouraged her to start working as a film actress. (Later, Vadim would become Bardot's first husband, although the marriage would only last five years.)
Bardot's film career began with Jean Boyer's 1952 film Le Trou normand. A string of similar small parts followed but it wasn't until she appeared in Vadim's 1956 film Et Dieu… créa la femme that she achieved celebrity. The film was a sensation, on both sides of the Atlantic, and earned Bardot an instant international reputation as a sex goddess.
Film directors were quick to capitalise on Bardot's money-spinning potential. Although she appeared in a few American films, her preference was for French cinema. The actress starred in a number of high profile films, including Autant-Lara'sEn Cas de malheur, Clouzot's La Verité and Louis Malle's Vie privée. She also starred in Jean-Luc Godard's landmark 1963 film Le mépris, although this film was far less successful at the box office. During this period, she began recording songs.
Bardot's film career showed a steady decline in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After a series of flops, and tired of the pressures of being an actress (which pushed her to the brink of suicide on a few occasions), she decided to retire from film making. After her last film in 1975, B.B. announced that she would dedicate the rest of her career to her main passion in life: animal rights.
In 1976, the former actress set up the Birigitte Bardot Foundation for Distressed Animals, an organisation for which she has worked actively ever since. For this work, she was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1984.
© James Travers 2002
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Filmography
Key: a = actor
Manina, la fille sans voile (1952) [a]
Manina, la fille sans voiles (1952) [a]
Le Portrait de son père (1953) [a]
Tradita (1954) [a]
La Lumière d'en face (1955) [a]
Le Fils de Caroline chérie (1955) [a]
Les Grandes manoeuvres (1955) [a]
Cette sacrée gamine (1956) [a]
En effeuillant la marguerite (1956) [a]
Et Dieu... créa la femme (1956) [a]
Helen of Troy (1956) [a]
La Mariée est trop belle (1956) [a]
Les Bijoutiers du clair de lune (1958) [a]
Babette s'en va-t-en guerre (1959) [a]
La Femme et le pantin (1959) [a]
Voulez-vous danser avec moi? (1959) [a]
L'Affaire d'une nuit (1960) [a]
La Vérité (1960) [a]
La Bride sur le cou (1961) [a]
Le Repos du guerrier (1962) [a]
Le Mépris (1963) [a]
Une ravissante idiote (1964) [a]
Dear Brigitte (1965) [a]
Tentazioni proibite (1965) [a]
The Love Goddesses (1965) [a]
Marie Soleil (1966) [a]
Histoires extraordinaires (1968) [a]
Shalako (1968) [a]
L'Ours et la poupée (1969) [a]
Hollywood Babylon (1972) [a]
Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme... (1973) [a]
Film Portrait (1973) [a]
L'Histoire très bonne et très joyeuse de Colinot Trousse-Chemise (1973) [a]
Notre Dame de la Croisette (1981) [a]
Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1989) [a]
Chacun son cinéma (2007) [a]
Final Cut: Hölgyeim és uraim (2012) [a]
The best French Films of the 1920s
The very best American film comedies
The very best fantasy films in French cinema
