Among those paying tribute on Sunday was the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who wrote on social media that Bardot had “embodied a life of freedom” and “universal brilliance”. France was mourning “a legend of the century”, he said.
Bardot’s death was announced on Sunday by her foundation in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse, which did not say when or where she had died.
“The Brigitte Bardot foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” it said.
Bardot shot to international fame in 1956 with And God Created Woman, written and directed by her then husband, Roger Vadim, and for the next two decades was said to have embodied the idea of the archetypal “sex kitten”. In the early 1970s, however, she announced her retirement from acting and became increasingly active politically and an outspoken campaigner on animal rights. Born in 1934 in Paris, Bardot grew up in a prosperous, traditional Catholic family but excelled enough as a dancer to be allowed to study ballet, gaining a place at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris.
