Brigitte Bardot, who has died at the age of 91, swept away cinema's staid 1950s' portrayal of women - coming to personify a new age of sexual liberation.
On screen, she was a French cocktail of kittenish charm and continental sensuality. One publication called her the princess of pout and the countess of come hither, but it was an image she grew to loathe.
Ruthlessly marketed as a hedonistic sex symbol, Bardot was frustrated in her ambition to become a serious actress. Eventually, she abandoned her career to campaign for animal welfare.
Years later, her reputation was damaged when she made homophobic slurs and was fined multiple times for inciting racial hatred. Her son also sued her for emotional damage after she said she would have preferred to give birth to a little dog.
It was a scar on the memory of an icon, who - in her prime - put the bikini, female desire, and French cinema on the map.
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born in Paris on 28 September 1934. She and her sister, Marie-Jeanne, grew up in a luxurious apartment in the plushest district of the city. Her Catholic parents were wealthy and pious, and demanded high standards of their children.
With German troops occupying Paris during World War II, Bardot spent most of her time at home, dancing to records. Her mother encouraged her interest and enrolled her in ballet classes from the age of seven. Her teacher at the Paris Conservatoire described her as an outstanding pupil, and she went on to win awards.
A family friend persuaded her to pose for the cover of Elle, the leading women's magazine in France, and the photographs caused a sensation. Bardot found life claustrophobic, and by the age of 15, she was seeking something, perhaps a fulfilment of herself.
In retaliation to parental opposition over an affair with Roger Vadim, she attempted to take her own life but was discovered and stopped just in time. Under pressure, her parents relented about their relationship, but forbade the couple from marrying until Brigitte was 18. Once she passed that milestone, the couple wed in 1952.
Vadim began to mould Bardot into the star he believed she could be. He sold wedding pictures to Paris-Match and instructed her in public performances. By 1956, she achieved stardom with Vadim's film, And God Created Woman, which sparked uproar in the United States.
Bardot's lack of inhibition and portrayal of a liberated woman caused cultural shifts, making her an embodiment of "absolute freedom" according to Simone de Beauvoir.
The film's success in France eventually led to Bardot becoming the highest-paid actress, though much of her early fame centered on posing in bikinis. After three failed marriages and several suicide attempts, she retired from acting in 1973 to dedicate her life to animal welfare, stating, I gave my beauty and my youth to men. I'm going to give my wisdom and experience to animals.
However, her later years were marked by controversy as she faced multiple prosecutions for racial hatred and comments regarding immigration. Thus, her legacy remains a mix of revolutionary prowess and later turmoil, as she spent her final years fighting legal battles.
