The actress-turned-animal activist is the subject of a new book, "Being Bardot," which features unseen photos from Douglas Kirkland and Terry O'Neill.
Sixties 'sex kitten', animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot dead at 91
by Ashley Carnahan · Fox NewsNEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Legendary French actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at 91, her foundation announced Sunday.
"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 in a statement to the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Bardot had been hospitalized briefly in late October at Saint-Jean Hospital in Toulon, where she underwent a minor surgical procedure, according to a statement from her office to AFP.
The iconic actress became known in the 1950s and 1960s for her "sex kitten" image, a label that came to define her on-screen persona.
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Bardot rose to international fame following the 1956 film "And God Created Woman," a box office success that transformed her into a global sex symbol.
She worked with leading directors of her generation, including Jean-Luc Godard, Henri-Georges Clouzot and Louis Malle. Bardot is best known for films such as "La Vérité," "Contempt (Le Mépris)" and "Viva Maria!".
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Bardot as a symbol of freedom, saying France had lost a "legend of the century."
"Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom. French existence, universal brilliance. She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century," he wrote on X.
Bardot famously stepped away from the spotlight in 1973 at the height of her career, later saying simply that she had "had enough."
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"There was some exhaustion there, not just from the pace of work, but just [being] the endless subject of a camera lens, whether it’s a still camera lens or a movie lens," James Clarke, a U.K.-based author and author of the photo book "Being Bardot," told Fox News Digital earlier this year. "That is one of the things that come[s] out a little bit [in this book]. . . . She got to that point where it’s just like, ‘I’ve kind of done it and 20 years has been sufficient.'"
Bardot said in a new 90-minute eponymous documentary "Bardot," which began screening in France earlier this month, that she did not care if people remembered her and hoped instead they would remember the "respect we owe to animals," according to The Sunday Times.
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"The more I advance in my life, the more I fear humans. I’m more animal than human," she said.
Bardot was married four times and is survived by her son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.
Fox News’ Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.
Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.