Brigitte Bardot has died, at the age of 91. The sad news was announced by the foundation that bears her name, "Fondation Brigitte Bardot".
"Brigitte Bardot, the French actress and singer who became a global sex symbol before turning her back on the film industry to become an animal rights activist, has died at the age of 91," the Guardian and Times write.
Who was the legendary Brigitte Bardot?
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born in Paris on September 28, 1934, into a middle-class family. Her father was an engineer and businessman, while her mother had studied dance and encouraged her to pursue the arts from an early age. Bardot began classical ballet as a child, but already in her teens she attracted attention with her beauty. At the age of 15, she began a modeling career, posing on the covers of magazines such as ELLE. This beginning brought her into contact with the world of cinema: through a photo shoot of hers, director Marc Allegre invited her to an audition and eventually met his assistant, Roger Vadim, who was to play a decisive role in her life.
Bardot's first appearance on the big screen took place in 1952. She landed a small role in Jean Boyer's comedy "Crazy for Love" (Le trou normand), without suspecting that she was thus entering a world that she would later abhor. That same year, at just 18 years old, she married director Roger Vadim, despite the objections of her family. In the following years, she appeared in several smaller films, but her career soon took off: at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, the young actress attracted the attention of photographers, heralding her launch into the entertainment world.
Brigitte Bardot's vacation in Famagusta
As archaeologist and art historian Anna Maragou has stated to LIFO, "Varoshi brought tourism. Commercial transactions flourished, there was an extroversion. It was the cream of the arts, where you met all the intellectual elite."
Seferis, Elytis, Gatsos, loved and were inspired by this place. Nikos Kazantzakis, who visited Cyprus in 1926, speaking about his travels in an interview with "Nea" in 1954, said: "How I missed Famagusta. There is nothing in the world that gives me the feeling of Womanhood as much as Famagusta. It is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I would not want to die before going to Famagusta again."
Between 1970 and 1974, Hollywood stars as well as European actors and famous singers enjoyed their holidays in Varosha. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stayed at the Argo Hotel on Kennedy Avenue, as did Brigitte Bardot. Raquel Welles visited the area at least once a year, while ABBA first sang as a completely amateur group in Famagusta, during their holidays in 1970.
Varosha was the filming location for the 1960 Hollywood film "Exodus," which is about the flight of Jews from Cyprus to Palestine after the Holocaust. The film starred Paul Newman and filming lasted at least four months, with the protagonists enjoying the summer scenery from the Constancia Hotel in Famagusta.
Source: lifo.gr
