Brigitte Bardot

1.1. Birth and Family

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born on 28 September 1934 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. Her father, Louis Bardot (1896-1975), was an engineer and owned several industrial factories in Paris. He was also a poet who published collections and received awards from the Académie française. Her mother, Anne-Marie Mucel (1912-1978), was the daughter of an insurance company director and had a passion for fashion and dance, spending much of her childhood in Italy. Bardot grew up in a conservative Catholic family, similar to her father's background. She has one younger sister, Mijanou Bardot, born on 5 May 1938. Mijanou later became an actress from 1956 to 1970 before transitioning to furniture design.

1.2. Childhood and Education

Bardot's childhood was prosperous, spent in her family's seven-bedroom apartment in the luxurious 16th arrondissement of Paris. Despite this affluence, she recalled feeling resentful in her early years. Her father enforced strict behavioral standards, including proper table manners and appropriate clothing. Her mother was highly selective about her companions, resulting in Bardot having very few childhood friends. Bardot also suffered from amblyopia as a child, which led to decreased vision in her left eye. She often felt that her parents favored her younger sister, Mijanou, who excelled academically, while Bardot struggled with her studies.

A traumatic incident occurred when Bardot and her sister broke their parents' favorite vase while playing. Their father whipped them 20 times and subsequently treated them like "strangers," demanding they address their parents with the formal French pronoun "vous". This incident profoundly affected Bardot, leading to a deep resentment towards her parents and contributing to her later rebellious lifestyle.

During the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War II, Bardot spent more time at home due to strict civilian surveillance. She became engrossed in dancing to records, which her mother recognized as a potential path for a ballet career. At age seven, Bardot was admitted to the private school Cours Hattemer. She attended school three days a week, allowing ample time for dance lessons arranged by her mother at a local studio. In 1949, Bardot was accepted into the Conservatoire de Paris, where she attended ballet classes for three years under Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev. She also studied at the Institut de la Tour, a private Catholic high school near her home.

1.3. Modeling Career and Entry into Film

In 1949, Hélène Gordon-Lazareff, the director of the magazines Elle and Le Jardin des Modes, hired Bardot as a "junior" fashion model. On 8 March 1950, at 15 years old, Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle, which garnered her an acting offer for the film Les Lauriers sont coupés from director Marc Allégret. Her parents initially opposed her becoming an actress, but her grandfather supported her, stating that cinema would not determine her character.

At the audition for Les Lauriers sont coupés, Bardot met Roger Vadim, Allégret's assistant director at the time. Although she did not get the role, Bardot and Vadim subsequently fell in love. Her parents fiercely opposed their relationship. One evening, her father announced that she would continue her education in England and had bought her a train ticket for the following day. Bardot reacted by attempting suicide, putting her head into an oven with an open gas fire. Her parents intervened and ultimately accepted the relationship, on the condition that she marry Vadim only after she turned 18. Bardot and Vadim married on 21 December 1952, the day after her 18th birthday.

2.1. Beginnings (1952-1955)

Bardot's second appearance on the cover of Elle in 1952 led to her first film role in the comedy Crazy for Love (1952), directed by Jean Boyer and starring Bourvil. She was paid 200.00 K FRF for her small part as a cousin of the main character. Her second film role was in Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (1952), directed by Willy Rozier, although it was released after her third film, Les Dents longues (1952). She also appeared in The Long Teeth (1953) and His Father's Portrait (1953).

In 1953, Bardot had a small role in Act of Love, a Hollywood-financed film shot in Paris starring Kirk Douglas. She gained media attention when she attended the Cannes Film Festival in April 1953. In 1954, Bardot took on leading roles in the Italian melodrama Concert of Intrigue and the French adventure film Caroline and the Rebels. She delivered a notable performance as a flirtatious student in School for Love (1955), opposite Jean Marais and directed by Marc Allégret.

Her first significant English-language role came in 1955 with Doctor at Sea, where she played the love interest for Dirk Bogarde. This film was the third-most-popular movie in Britain that year. Bardot also had a small role in The Grand Maneuver (1955) for director René Clair, supporting Gérard Philipe and Michèle Morgan. A larger part followed in The Light Across the Street (1956) for director Georges Lacombe. She also appeared in the Hollywood film Helen of Troy, playing Helen's handmaiden. For the Italian movie Mio figlio Nerone (1956), the brunette Bardot was asked to appear as a blonde. She opted to dye her hair rather than wear a wig and was so pleased with the result that she decided to maintain the color.

2.2. Rise to Stardom (1956-1962)

Bardot's career took off with a series of four films that cemented her status as a star. The first was the musical Naughty Girl (1956), where she played a troublesome schoolgirl. Directed by Michel Boisrond and co-written by Roger Vadim, it was a significant success, becoming the 12th most popular film in France that year. This was followed by the comedy Plucking the Daisy (1956), also written by Vadim, which achieved further success in France. She then starred in the comedy The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful (1956) with Louis Jourdan.

The melodrama And God Created Woman (1956) marked Roger Vadim's directorial debut, with Bardot starring opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant and Curt Jurgens. The film, depicting an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, achieved immense success not only in France but also internationally, ranking among the top ten most popular films in Great Britain in 1957. In the United States, it became the highest-grossing foreign film ever released at the time, earning 4.00 M USD, an "astonishing amount for a foreign film." This film transformed Bardot into an international star, and from at least 1956, she was widely hailed as the "sex kitten". The film caused a scandal in the United States, leading to the arrest of some theater managers for screening it. Paul O'Neil of Life magazine noted in June 1958 that Bardot's international popularity was due to her arrival on the American scene when the public was "ready, even hungry, for something racier and more realistic than the familiar domestic product." Professional photographers Sam Lévin and Cornel Lucas significantly contributed to shaping Bardot's sensual public image through their iconic photos during this period.

Bardot followed her breakthrough with La Parisienne (1957), a comedy co-starring Charles Boyer and directed by Boisrond. She reunited with Vadim for another melodrama, The Night Heaven Fell (1958), and played a criminal who seduced Jean Gabin in In Case of Adversity (1958), which was the 13th most-watched film in France that year. By 1958, Bardot had become the highest-paid actress in France.

The Female (1959), directed by Julien Duvivier, was popular, but Babette Goes to War (1959), a comedy set during World War II, was a massive hit, ranking as the fourth-biggest movie of the year in France. Come Dance with Me (1959) by Boisrond was also widely seen.

Bardot's next major film was the courtroom drama The Truth (1960), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. This highly publicized production was Bardot's biggest commercial success in France, becoming the third-biggest hit of the year and earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. For her role, Bardot was awarded a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress. During the filming of The Truth, Bardot experienced personal turmoil, including an affair and a suicide attempt.

She made a comedy with Vadim, Please, Not Now! (1961), and had a role in the all-star anthology Famous Love Affairs (1962). Bardot also starred alongside Marcello Mastroianni in A Very Private Affair (Vie privée, 1962), a film directed by Louis Malle and inspired by her own life. More popular than that was her role in Love on a Pillow (1962).

2.3. International Films and Singing Career (1962-1968)

In the mid-1960s, Bardot increasingly took on films aimed at the international market. She starred in Jean-Luc Godard's influential film Le Mépris (1963), produced by Joseph E. Levine and co-starring Jack Palance. The following year, she appeared opposite Anthony Perkins in the comedy Une ravissante idiote (1964).

Dear Brigitte (1965) marked Bardot's first Hollywood film, a comedy starring James Stewart as an academic whose son develops a crush on Bardot. Her appearance in the film was relatively brief, and the movie was not a major success. More successful was the Western buddy comedy Viva Maria! (1965), directed by Louis Malle, in which she appeared opposite Jeanne Moreau. It was a big hit in France and worldwide, although its performance in the United States did not meet expectations.

After a cameo in Godard's Masculin Féminin (1966), she experienced her first outright box-office flop in years with Two Weeks in September (1968), a French-English co-production. She had a small role in the all-star Spirits of the Dead (1968), acting opposite Alain Delon, before attempting another Hollywood film, Shalako (1968), a Western starring Sean Connery, which also proved to be a box-office disappointment. During the filming of Shalako, she reportedly rejected Sean Connery's advances, stating, "It didn't last long because I wasn't a James Bond girl! I have never succumbed to his charm!"

During this period, Bardot also embarked on a significant singing career. She participated in several musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury, and Sacha Distel. Her notable songs include "Harley Davidson", "Je Me Donne À Qui Me Plaît", "Bubble gum", "Contact", "Je Reviendrai Toujours Vers Toi", "L'Appareil À Sous", "La Madrague", "On Déménage", "Sidonie", "Tu Veux, Ou Tu Veux Pas?", and "Le Soleil De Ma Vie" (a cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"). Her duet with Serge Gainsbourg, "Je t'aime... moi non-plus", became particularly famous. Bardot initially pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release this sexually explicit duet, and he complied. However, the following year, he rerecorded a version with British-born model and actress Jane Birkin that became a massive hit across Europe. The version with Bardot was eventually released in 1986 and became a popular download in 2006 when Universal Music made its back catalogue available online, with Bardot's version ranking as the third most popular download.

2.4. Final Films and Retirement (1969-1973)

From 1969 to 1978, Brigitte Bardot served as the official face of Marianne, the symbolic personification of the French Republic, who had previously remained anonymous.

Her film Les Femmes (1969) was a commercial failure, although the screwball comedy The Bear and the Doll (1970) performed somewhat better. Her final films were predominantly comedies: Les Novices (1970) and Boulevard du Rhum (1971), which co-starred Lino Ventura. The Legend of Frenchie King (1971) proved more popular, aided by Bardot co-starring with Claudia Cardinale.

She made one last movie with her former husband Roger Vadim, Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973), in which she played the title role. Vadim commented that the film aimed to explore the intriguing aspects beneath the "Bardot myth," noting that while she was not considered the most professional actress, she possessed a unique "sexual freedom" and an "open and free person" without aggression. He found it amusing to cast her in a male role to express what he felt was within her. During filming, Bardot stated, "If Don Juan is not my last movie it will be my next to last." She kept her word, making only one more film, The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot (1973).

In 1973, at the age of 39, Brigitte Bardot announced her retirement from acting, describing it as "a way to get out elegantly."

4.1. Fondation Brigitte Bardot

In 1986, Bardot established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. To fund the foundation, she became a vegetarian and raised 3.00 M FRF by auctioning off her jewelry and personal belongings. The foundation works to protect animals and promote their welfare.

4.2. Major Campaigns and Advocacy

Bardot's activism began even before her foundation. In 1976, she joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare to expose the reality of the Canadian seal hunt. In 1977, she met Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, during an operation to condemn the "massacre" of seal pups and seal hunting on the Canadian ice floe. Bardot traveled to the ice floe at Watson's invitation, where she posed lying down next to seal pups. These photos were seen worldwide, and Bardot and Watson remained friends. In response to these efforts, the then-French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing banned the import of seal fur in 1977. On 28 March 1983, following its acceptance by the Council of Europe, the European Union banned the import of seal pup fur and white seal overcoats.

Bardot has been a staunch animal rights activist and a major opponent of the consumption of horse meat. In 1980, she spoke on the television channel TF1, advocating for the end of horse slaughter in France. In January 1994, she urged French television viewers to boycott horse meat, which resulted in death threats against her. Undeterred, she sent a letter to the French Minister of Agriculture, Jean Puech, calling for a ban on the sale of horse meat. In 1996, she requested a ban on horse tail docking.

In 1989, while caring for her neighbor Jean-Pierre Manivet's donkey, Bardot had the donkey castrated due to concerns that its mating with her older donkey would be fatal for her mare. Manivet sued Bardot, but she won the case, with the court ordering Manivet to pay 20.00 K FRF for creating a "false scandal."

In 1994, Bardot appealed to fashion designers to stop using fur. In 1999, she wrote a letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, published in the French magazine VSD, accusing the Chinese of "torturing bears and killing the world's last tigers and rhinos to make aphrodisiacs."

In 2001, Bardot donated over 140.00 K USD over two years to fund a mass animal sterilization and adoption program for Bucharest's stray dogs, estimated to number 300,000. In December 2001, she publicly criticized dog meat consumption in South Korea, stating that she would not eat dog meat unless deceived and that she could no longer communicate with "lying Koreans." She called dog meat consumption "barbaric."

In August 2010, Bardot addressed a letter to Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, appealing for the sovereign to halt the killing of dolphins in the Faroe Islands. In the letter, Bardot described the activity as a "macabre spectacle" that "is a shame for Denmark and the Faroe Islands... This is not a hunt but a mass slaughter... an outmoded tradition that has no acceptable justification in today's world."

On 22 April 2011, French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand officially included bullfighting in the country's cultural heritage. Bardot wrote him a highly critical letter of protest. On 25 May 2011, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society renamed its fast interceptor vessel, MV Gojira, as MV Brigitte Bardot in appreciation of her support.

From 2013, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, in collaboration with Kagyupa International Monlam Trust of India, operated an annual veterinary care camp. Bardot committed to the cause of animal welfare in Bodhgaya over several years. On 23 July 2015, Bardot condemned Australian politician Greg Hunt's plan to eradicate 2 million cats to save endangered species.

In March 2016, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, in collaboration with local organizations, rescued approximately 500 dogs in Thailand that were being trafficked for meat to Vietnam and China. Twelve of these dogs were transported to an animal welfare facility in Normandy, France, to await adoption. In 2012, Bardot intervened in the case of two elephants in Lyon suspected of tuberculosis and slated for euthanasia. She wrote multiple letters to the government, threatening to seek Russian citizenship if France became an "animal graveyard." The elephants were eventually saved and are now living in Monaco.

In July 2024, when her friend Paul Watson was detained in Denmark and faced extradition to Japan for interfering with Japanese whaling research vessels, Bardot published an article in the French newspaper Le Parisien criticizing Japan and stating that Watson had saved 5,000 whales and was "hated by Japan." She called for his assistance. At the age of 90, Bardot appealed to free Watson, who had been detained in Greenland since 21 July 2024, when Japan requested his extradition. Through a request expressed in mid-October 2024 by her lawyers and Sea Shepherd France, Bardot asked French President Emmanuel Macron to grant Watson political asylum. Bardot asked Macron to show "a little bit of courage." During that month, she initiated a demonstration in support of Watson in front of the Hôtel de Ville, Paris. Bardot also wrote a letter to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, asking her to "not choose the camp of the oceans gravediggers."

5.1. Marriages and Relationships

Bardot has been married four times and has stated that she has had a total of 17 romantic relationships. She characterized her tendency to move from one relationship to another as leaving when "the present was getting lukewarm," always seeking passion. She admitted to often being unfaithful, packing her suitcase when passion ended.

Her first marriage was to director Roger Vadim on 20 December 1952, when she was 18. They separated in 1956 after she became involved with her And God Created Woman co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant, divorcing in 1957. Trintignant was married to actress Stéphane Audran at the time. Bardot and Vadim had no children together but remained in contact throughout his life and collaborated on later projects. Bardot and Trintignant lived together for about two years, spanning the period before and after her divorce from Vadim, but they never married. Their relationship was complicated by Trintignant's frequent absence due to military service and Bardot's affair with musician Gilbert Bécaud.

After her separation from Vadim, Bardot acquired two properties: Le Castelet, a 16th-century villa with fourteen bedrooms in Cannes, and La Madrague, located in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, which she bought in 1958. In early 1958, following her breakup with Trintignant, newspaper reports indicated she suffered a nervous breakdown in Italy and attempted suicide by taking sleeping pills two days prior, though her public relations manager denied the suicide attempt. She recovered within weeks and began a relationship with actor Jacques Charrier.

Bardot became pregnant with Charrier's child before they married on 18 June 1959. She had an affair with Glenn Ford in the early 1960s. After she and Charrier divorced in 1962, Sami Frey was cited as the reason for their divorce, though Frey quickly left her.

From 1963 to 1965, she lived with Brazilian musician Bob Zagury. Bardot's third marriage was to German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs, lasting from 14 July 1966 to 7 October 1969, although they had separated the previous year. In 1968, she began dating Patrick Gilles, who co-starred with her in The Bear and the Doll (1970), but their relationship ended in spring 1971. Over the next few years, Bardot dated various figures, including bartender/ski instructor Christian Kalt, nightclub owner Luigi "Gigi" Rizzi, singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, writer John Gilmore, actor Warren Beatty, and Laurent Vergez, her co-star in Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman.

In 1974, Bardot appeared in a nude photo shoot in Playboy magazine, celebrating her 40th birthday. In 1975, she entered a relationship with artist Miroslav Brozek, also known as Jean Blaise, and posed for some of his sculptures. They lived together at La Madrague in Saint-Tropez for four years, separating in December 1979. From 1980 to 1985, Bardot had a live-in relationship with French TV producer Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.

Bardot's fourth and current husband is Bernard d'Ormale; they have been married since 16 August 1992. In a 2018 interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, she denied rumors of relationships with Johnny Hallyday, Jimi Hendrix, and Mick Jagger.

5.2. Children

Brigitte Bardot has one child, a son named Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, born on 11 January 1960, from her marriage to Jacques Charrier. After her divorce from Charrier in 1962, Nicolas was raised within the Charrier family and had limited contact with his biological mother until his adulthood.

5.3. Health Issues

On 27 September 1983, the eve of her 49th birthday, Bardot took an overdose of sleeping pills or tranquilizers with red wine. She was found on the beach and rushed to the hospital, where her life was saved after a stomach pump was used to remove the pills from her body.

In 1984, Bardot was diagnosed with breast cancer. She famously refused to undergo chemotherapy treatment, opting instead for radiation therapy. She recovered from the illness in 1986.

6.1. Political Stances and Statements

Bardot expressed support for President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s. In later years, she became a staunch supporter of the far-right in France. Her current husband, Bernard d'Ormale, is a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former leader of the far-right National Front party (now National Rally). Bardot has publicly endorsed Marine Le Pen, the current leader of the National Rally, calling her "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century." She supported Le Pen in both the 2012 and 2017 French presidential elections.

During the 2008 United States presidential election, Bardot publicly branded Republican Party vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as "stupid" and a "disgrace to women." She criticized Palin for her stance on global warming and gun control, and was particularly offended by Palin's support for Arctic oil exploration and perceived lack of consideration for protecting polar bears. In August 2010, Bardot criticized American filmmaker Kyle Newman's plan to produce a biographical film about her, telling him, "Wait until I'm dead before you make a movie about my life!" otherwise "sparks will fly." In 2018, she expressed support for the Yellow vests protests in France. She also criticized the #MeToo movement as "hypocritical and ridiculous," viewing it as a way for actresses to gain publicity.

6.2. Views on Immigration, Islam, and Social Issues

Bardot's public statements have often focused on her strong opposition to immigration and Islam in France. In her 1999 book Le Carré de Pluton (Pluto's Square), she criticized the procedure used in the ritual slaughter of sheep during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. In a section of the book titled "Open Letter to My Lost France," she wrote that "my country, France, my homeland, my land is again invaded by an overpopulation of foreigners, especially Muslims."

In her 2003 book, Un cri dans le silence (A Scream in the Silence), Bardot made controversial comments about homosexuality. She contrasted her close gay friends with homosexuals who "jiggle their bottoms, put their little fingers in the air and with their little castrato voices moan about what those ghastly heteros put them through," and stated that some contemporary homosexuals behave like "fairground freaks." In her defense, Bardot wrote in a letter to a French gay magazine that, apart from her husband, she was "entirely surrounded by homos" who had been her "support, friends, adopted children, confidants" for years.

The book also contained sections attacking what she called the "mixing of genes" and praising previous generations who, she said, had given their lives to push out invaders. She criticized racial mixing, immigration, and the role of women in politics.

In March 2019, Bardot issued an open letter to Réunion prefect Amaury de Saint-Quentin, accusing inhabitants of the Indian Ocean island of animal cruelty. In her letter, sent through her foundation, she referred to them as "autochthones who have kept the genes of savages" and mentioned the "beheadings of goats and billy goats" during festivals, associating these practices with "reminiscences of cannibalism from past centuries." The public prosecutor filed a lawsuit the following day.

In 2014, Bardot wrote an open letter demanding the ban in France of Jewish ritual slaughter, shechita. In response, the European Jewish Congress released a statement saying, "Bardot has once again shown her clear insensitivity for minority groups with the substance and style of her letter... She may well be concerned for the welfare of animals but her longstanding support for the far-right and for discrimination against minorities in France shows a constant disdain for human rights instead."

6.3. Legal Issues and Fines

Brigitte Bardot has faced multiple legal actions and fines for her controversial public statements. In June 2000, a French court fined her 30.00 K FRF for comments in her 1999 book Le Carré de Pluton. She had previously been fined in 1997 for the original publication of her "Open Letter to My Lost France" in Le Figaro and again in 1998 for similar remarks.

On 10 June 2004, Bardot was convicted for a fourth time by a French court for inciting racial hatred and fined 5.00 K EUR. She denied the charge and apologized in court, stating, "I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character." In 2008, Bardot was convicted for a fifth time for inciting racial or religious hatred. This conviction stemmed from a letter she wrote, a copy of which she sent to Nicolas Sarkozy when he was Interior Minister of France. The letter expressed her objections to Muslims in France ritually slaughtering sheep by slitting their throats without anesthetizing them first. She also stated, 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." The trial concluded on 3 June 2008, with a conviction and a fine of 15.00 K EUR, the highest fine she had received at that point. The prosecutor noted her weariness of charging Bardot with offenses related to racial hatred.

In June 2021, at age 86, Bardot was fined 5.00 K EUR by the Arras court for public insults against hunters and their national president, Willy Schraen. She had published a post on her foundation's website in late 2019, calling hunters "sub-men" and "drunkards" and carriers of "genes of cruel barbarism inherited from our primitive ancestors," and insulting Schraen. The comments remained on the website at the time of the hearing. Following her controversial letter to the prefect of Réunion in 2019, she was convicted on 4 November 2021 by a French court for public insults and fined 20.00 K EUR, marking her largest fine to date. As of November 2021, Bardot had received six separate fines for inciting racial hatred.

In 2015, Bardot threatened to sue a Saint-Tropez boutique for selling items featuring her face, citing commercial "abuse" of her image.

7.1. Cultural Icon and Sex Symbol

The Guardian named Bardot "one of the most iconic faces, models, and actors of the 1950s and 1960s." She has been widely recognized as a "style icon" and a "muse for Dior, Balmain, and Pierre Cardin." Often described as the "French Marilyn Monroe" due to their shared status as global sex symbols and similar initials (BB and MM), Bardot herself stated in an interview that she was a fan of Monroe but never influenced by or imitated her, feeling she could not compare to her. French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir described Bardot as "a locomotive of women's history," highlighting her role in challenging societal norms.

In 2011, Los Angeles Times Magazine ranked her second on its list of "50 Most Beautiful Women In Film." A 2015 survey by Amway's beauty company in the UK, involving 2,000 women, ranked her sixth in "The Top Ten Most Beautiful Women of All Time." In 2020, Vogue named Bardot number one of "The most beautiful French actresses of all time," and Glamour listed her among "the most accomplished, talented and beautiful actresses of all time."

7.2. Influence on Fashion and Beauty

Bardot's influence on fashion and beauty was immense. The "Bardot neckline," a wide-open neck that exposes both shoulders, is named after her due to her popularization of this style, particularly for knitted sweaters, jumpers, tops, and dresses. She is widely credited with popularizing the bikini in her early films, such as Manina (1952), and by being photographed in a bikini on every beach in southern France during the Cannes Film Festival in 1953. While the bikini was relatively accepted in France in the 1950s, it was still considered risqué in the United States, with some designers calling it "nothing more than a G-string." Her appearance in ...And God Created Woman (1956), where she cavorted in a bikini, further cemented its place in popular culture.

Bardot also brought into fashion the choucroute^French (sauerkraut) hairstyle, which is similar to the beehive hair style. She popularized gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Jacques Charrier. Her image was also linked to the shoemaker Repetto, who created a pair of ballerinas for her in 1956.

A well-known evocative pose, captured in an iconic modeling portrait around 1960, is known as the "Bardot Pose." In this image, Bardot is dressed only in a pair of black pantyhose, with her legs crossed over her front and arms crossed over her breasts. This pose has been emulated numerous times by models and celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Elle Macpherson, Gisele Bündchen, and Rihanna. In the late 1960s, Bardot's silhouette was used as a model for designing and modeling the bust of Marianne, a symbol of the French Republic.

7.3. Influence on Popular Culture

Bardot's cultural impact extended beyond film and fashion. She is credited with popularizing the city of St. Tropez and the town of Armação dos Búzios in Brazil, which she visited in 1964 with her then-boyfriend, Brazilian musician Bob Zagury. The place where she stayed in Búzios is now a small hotel, Pousada do Sol, and a French restaurant, Cigalon. The town also hosts a Bardot statue by Christina Motta.

She was idolized by the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They even made plans to shoot a film featuring The Beatles and Bardot, similar to A Hard Day's Night, though these plans never materialized. Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell, lightened her hair color to more closely resemble Bardot, while George Harrison drew comparisons between Bardot and his first wife, Pattie Boyd. Lennon and Bardot met in person once in 1968 at the May Fair Hotel, introduced by Beatles press agent Derek Taylor. Lennon, who had taken LSD before arriving, later recalled in a memoir, "I was on acid, and she was on her way out," indicating neither star impressed the other. Musician Bob Dylan dedicated the first song he ever wrote to Bardot, according to the liner notes of his self-titled debut album. He also mentioned her by name in "I Shall Be Free" on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

The first official exhibition spotlighting Bardot's influence and legacy opened in Boulogne-Billancourt on 29 September 2009, a day after her 75th birthday. Bardot was the subject of eight Andy Warhol paintings in 1974. A portrait of Bardot by Warhol, commissioned by Gunter Sachs in 1974, was sold at Sotheby's in London in May 2012, estimated at 4.00 M GBP. The Australian pop group Bardot was named after her.

In 2003, Kylie Minogue adopted the Bardot "sex kitten look" on the cover of her album Body Language. In 2013, Nicole Kidman had "Bardot-esque" hair for the British brand Jimmy Choo campaign. Women who have emulated and been inspired by Bardot include Claudia Schiffer, Emmanuelle Béart, Elke Sommer, Kate Moss, Faith Hill, Isabelle Adjani, Diane Kruger, Lara Stone, Minogue, Amy Winehouse, Georgia May Jagger, Zahia Dehar, Scarlett Johansson, Louise Bourgoin, and Paris Hilton. Bardot, however, stated, "None have my personality." Laetitia Casta embodied Bardot in the 2010 French drama film Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life by Joann Sfar. More recently, she was mentioned in Olivia Rodrigo's song "Lacy" from her 2023 album Guts, and Chappell Roan's "Red Wine Supernova" from her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The French drama television series Bardot was broadcast on France 2 in 2023, starring Julia de Nunez and covering Bardot's career from her first casting at age 15 until the filming of La Vérité ten years later.

7.4. Commemorations and Tributes

Bardot has been honored with various commemorations and tributes. An Asteroid 17062 Bardot was named after her in 1999. The town of Armação dos Búzios in Brazil, which she helped popularize, hosts a statue of Brigitte Bardot by Christina Motta. In 2017, a bronze statue of Bardot, weighing 1543 lb ^{(700 kg)} and measuring 8.2 ft ^{(2.5 m)} high, was erected in her honor in central Saint-Tropez. This statue was inspired by a watercolor by the Italian master of erotic cartoon comic, Milo Manara. In 2021, her effigy in Saint-Tropez was further adorned with 1400 gold leaves, each of 23.75 carats.

9.1. Studio albums

9.2. Other notable singles

11.1. Awards and nominations

• 1957: 12th Victoires du cinéma français (French cinema victories): Best Actress, win, as Juliette Hardy in And God Created Woman.
• 1958: 11th Bambi Awards: Best Actress, nomination, as Juliette Hardy in And God Created Woman.
• 1958: 13th Victoires du cinéma français: Most Popular Actress, win.
• 1959: 14th Victoires du cinéma français: Best Actress, win, as Yvette Maudet in In Case of Adversity.
• 1959: 15th Victoires du cinéma français: Most Popular Actress, win.
• 1960: Brussels European Awards: Best Actress, win, as Dominique Marceau in The Truth.
• 1960: 16th Victoires du cinéma français: Most Popular Actress, win.
• 1961: 5th David di Donatello Awards: Best Foreign Actress, win, as Dominique Marceau in The Truth.
• 1966: 12th Étoiles de cristal (Crystal stars) by the French Cinema Academy: Best Actress, win, as Marie Fitzgerald O'Malley in Viva Maria!.
• 1967: 18th Bambi Awards: Bambi Award of Popularity, win.
• 1967: 20th BAFTA Awards: BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress, nomination, as Marie Fitzgerald O'Malley in Viva Maria!.
• 1967: Trophée du Cinéma Français (French Cinema Success) Award.
• 1969: Trophée du Cinéma Français Award.

11.2. Honours

• 1980: Medal of the City of Trieste, Italy.
• 1980: Peace Star Award.
• 1985: Legion of Honour. Although awarded to her, Bardot refused to attend the ceremony, stating, "I dedicate my Legion of Honor to the suffering animals."
• 1985: Medal of the City of Lille, France.
• 1989: Peace Prize in humanitarian merit.
• 1992: Induction into the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honour.
• 1992: Creation in Hollywood of the Brigitte Bardot International Award as part of the Genesis Awards.
• 1994: Medal of the City of Paris, France.
• 1994: Spanish Animal Love Award.
• 1995: Grand Medal of the City of Saint-Tropez, France.
• 1995: Medal of the City of La Baule, France.
• 1996: Paul Léautaud Award for her autobiography Initiales B.B..
• 1997: Chianciano Award, Italy, for her autobiography Initiales B.B..
• 1997: Greece's UNESCO Ecology Award.
• 1997: Medal of the City of Athens, Greece.
• 1999: Asteroid 17062 Bardot was named after her.
• 2001: PETA Humanitarian Award.
• 2002: Austrian My Way Award.
• 2003: Autonomous Knowledge Award for her book Un cri dans le silence.
• 2007: Special Jury Prize for Nature Conservation and Animal Rights at the International Film Festival in Ukraine.
• 2008: Spanish Altarriba foundation Award.
• 2017: A statue of 1543 lb ^{(700 kg)} and 8.2 ft ^{(2.5 m)} high was erected in her honour in central Saint-Tropez.
• 2019: GAIA Lifetime Achievement Award from the Belgian association for the defence of animal rights.
• 2021: Her effigy in Saint-Tropez was dressed in 1400 gold leaves of 23.75 carats each.