Brigitte Bardot

She was known simply as BB – Brigitte Bardot, one of the most beautiful actresses ever to grace the screen, ruled in the 60s.

The pouting French sex kitten made more than 40 movies, pioneered the `bed hair’ look (at a time when no one was exactly sure what it was called), and is immortalised forever as the model for `Marianne”, France’s symbol of justice and freedom.

Born in Paris, Bardot learned ballet and singing at an early age and became a model for magazines like Elle while she was still in her teens. It wasn’t long before her gamin beauty attracted the attention of film producers.

Her first screen appearance was in the 1952 movie Le Trou Normand. But it wasn’t until she met and married French director Roger Vadim at the age of 18, that her screen career really took off.

Vadim made her his muse and his Goddess. He was ten years older than Bardot, and it was the first marriage for both of them. Their most successful film together was And God Created Woman, in which Bardot played a teenage temptress caught in a triangle with two brothers.

The film sealed Bardot’s future as a star, but it also sealed the fate of the marriage. The couple were divorced a year later. A regretful Vadim said, “from the moment I liberated Brigitte, the moment I showed her how to be truly herself, our marriage was all downhill.”

Bardot remained France’s greatest movie star of the 60s – although she was considered too hot for Hollywood in the era of Doris Day, she did make a western, Shalako, which was universally panned.

Bardot’s look epitomised 60s beauty – heavily made up eyes, soft pouting lips with beige or pale pink lipstick, tousled blonde hair and short sweet dresses (when she wore any).

Bardot made her last film in the early 70s, and retired from movies at the age of 40. A long time animal lover, she chose to devote the rest of her life to pursuing the cause of animals’ rights. She created the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which is currently protesting the hunting of bears and other wild animals in Romania.

Brigitte is no stranger to controversy. Her blatant sexuality, affairs and marriages made her a target in the 60s, and as an activist, she continues to stir criticism.

But in spite of her dedication to her cause, she will always be remembered as the 60s most bodacious babe.