A symbol of rebellious youth and beauty, Brigitte Bardot helped usher in the sexual revolution in the movies with her sensual, uninhibited performances in films like Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt.” Then in the second half of her life, she carved an unconventional path as a fierce advocate for animal rights.
The legendary French actress died at 91, according to a statement from her foundation provided to CNN on Sunday.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation pays tribute to the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything and gave up everything for a world more respectful of animals,” the foundation said. “Her legacy lives on through the actions and struggles the Foundation continues with the same passion and the same fidelity to her ideals.”
Known in France merely by her initials B.B., Bardot tantalized audiences and scandalized moral authorities with her raw display of sexuality in the 1950s and ‘60s. She became a box-office phenomenon in the United States and helped to popularize foreign films with Americans at a time when censorship in Hollywood movies forbade frank discussions of sex, much less nudity.
Describing her impact, Life magazine said in 1961, “Everywhere girls walk, dress, wear their hair like Bardot and wish they were free souls like her.”
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