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Brigitte Bardot

(1934-), Film actress

Sitter in 4 portraits
Bardot studied ballet from early childhood and first came to the notice of the film director Roger Vadim when he saw her on the cover of Elle magazine photographed when she was fifteen. They married between 1952 and 1957. Bardot made her film debut in 1952 debut in Crazy for Love (1952) followed by The Girl in the Bikini. Her success in Europe spread to America whilst her reputation as a new type of international sex symbol was established by Vadim's direction of her in Et Dieu créa la femme (And God Created Woman, 1956). Bardot continued to appear in films until her retirement in the 1970s after which she devoted her time and money to animal welfare.

Watch a film clip on the sitter from the BBC Archive in the Media section below

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Brigitte Bardot, by Cornel Lucas - NPG x127218

Brigitte Bardot

by Cornel Lucas
C-type colour print, 1955
NPG x127218

Brigitte Bardot, by Cornel Lucas - NPG x127240

Brigitte Bardot

by Cornel Lucas
bromide print, 1955
NPG x127240

Vivien Leigh at the French Crystal Dove Award, Paris, by Keystone Press Agency Ltd - NPG x139810

Vivien Leigh at the French Crystal Dove Award, Paris

by Keystone Press Agency Ltd
vintage press print, 2 November 1966
NPG x139810

Brigitte Bardot, by Terry O'Neill - NPG x126144

Brigitte Bardot

by Terry O'Neill
bromide fibre print, 1971
NPG x126144

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