I think you know who Brigitte Bardot is. The words “legend” and “icon” are overused in the 21st century, and I am as guilty as anyone of that lazy phrasing, but I feel pretty comfortable in exercising those cliches to describe La Bardot.
In the late 50s and early 60s, as the French “sex kitten” extraordinaire, she was one of the most famous people in the world. She must hold some kind of record for having acquired the most fame among people totally unfamiliar with her work. Although nobody in my family had ever seen any of her films, we all knew her face, her name, and the fact that she was a famous sex symbol. We were typical Americans. Almost nobody in the States had seen her films, but she was a famous actress anyway! Bob Hope used her name, as he used Marilyn’s, as a punchline for his hackneyed suggestive jokes, because everyone in his audiences understood the reference.
After Bardot retired from film, now more than 50 years ago, her fame continued to grow, as she became a public face of animal rights causes throughout the world, and was always willing to court controversy in service of activism.
Fame did not bring her much happiness. She went through a string of failed relationships, several suicide attempts, and constant battles with mainstream journalists and jurists, who found her frequent public espousal of right-wing positions insulting, demeaning and by French law sometimes actionable.
She’s still around, close to 90 now, and just as feisty as ever, recently emerging as a critic of the equestrian events at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
1952 – The Girl in the Bikini, AKA Manina, la fille sans voiles
1955 – The Light Across the Street, AKA La lumière d’en face
1956 – And God Created Woman, AKA Et Dieu… créa la femme
1956 – Naughty Girl, AKA Cette sacrée gamine
1956 – Plucking the Daisy, AKA En effeuillant la marguerite
1957 – La Parisienne
1958 – Love is My Profession, AKA En cas de malheur
1958 – The Night Heaven Fell, AKA Les bijoutiers du clair de lune
1959 – Come Dance With Me, AKA Voulez-vous danser avec moi?
1960 – La Verite, AKA The Truth
1960 – Nero’s Big Weekend, AKA Nero’s Mistress, AKA Les week-ends de Néron, AKA Mio figlio Nerone
1961 – Please, Not Now; AKA La bride sur le cou
1962 – Love on a Pillow, aka Le repos du guerrier
1963 – Contempt, AKA Le mépris
1967 – Two Weeks in September, AKA À coeur joie
1968 – Shalako
1969 – Les Femmes
1970 – The Novices, AKA Les novices
1970 – Photoshoot based on The Novices
1971 – Les Petroleuses, AKA The Legend of Frankie King
1971 – The Bear and the Doll, AKA L’ours et la poupée
1973 – Colinot, aka L’histoire très bonne et très joyeuse de Colinot Trousse-Chemise
1973 – Don Juan (Or If Don Juan Were a Woman)
In addition to her film career, she has posed for topless and nude photoshoots, and has been captured several times by paparazzi. That is outside of my area of expertise, but you can find many, many pages of her non-film nudity here.