Brigitte Bardot celebrates her 81st birthday

The first actress who appeared on the movie screen in a bikini in the fifties of the 20th century and caused a scandal, a woman who after retiring from public life devoted herself to caring for animals, the famous Brigitte Bardot celebrates her 81st birthday today.

At the end of the fifties and sixties, the famous BB was the embodiment of sexiness, female sensuality, charm and irresistible attraction. In her childhood, she was known by the nickname Bebe, and under the name Brigitte Bardot, she made her film debut in 1952 in the film "Crazy with Love".

Although her films were far from the best achievements of the French cinematography of the time in terms of their quality, they are in some way responsible for the penetration of European cinema.

She played her first leading role in the film "La Lumiere d'en Face" in 1956, and her role in the film "En Effeuillant la Marguerite" the following year ensured her sex symbol status.

The young Brigitte Bardot's career started on an upward trajectory, while her involvement in the film "And God Made Woman" brought her world fame and millions of dollars in earnings. The film was shot by her husband at the time, Rože Vadim, and that achievement brought about changes in the understanding of sex on film, because in one scene she dances barefoot on a table.

She divorced Vadim in 1957, and two years later she got back on the rock by marrying the actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she had a son, Nicolas Jacques Charrier, in 1960.

Her husbands were German millionaire and playboy Günter Sachs as well as Bernard Dormel. After making over 50 films, she retired from the world of film in 1974, after which she devoted herself to the fight for the protection of animal rights and is still the wife of the French extreme right-wing politician Bernard D'Ormale.

BB is still an inspiration to many artists today, but he still avoids the world of fashion and film and proudly refuses to resort to plastic surgery.

"Myth? It's a word I'm stuck with, but it doesn't mean anything," Bardot told Marie-Claire magazine in 2010.

Two years later, when asked which actress could portray her in a biopic, she replied:

"Nobody can do that. What are they missing? My personality." She took the pseudonym Brigitte Bardot when she started acting, while her real name is Camille Zava.