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At 73, Brigitte Bardot, the greying goddess
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=484323&in_page_id=1773 ^

Posted on 09/28/2007 11:07:15 AM PDT by traumer

n her heyday she was an international sex symbol who starred in a series of hit films including The Girl in the Bikini.

Nowadays, however, Brigitte Bardot has an altogether more sombre public image.

The former actress and model, who turns 73 tomorrow, was wearing a dark business suit while in her home city of Paris to visit French president Nicolas Sarkozy today.

The star was happy to relinquish her status as sex bomb in 1974 and focus on issues closer to her heart Enlarge the image

Rather than strutting provocatively as she did during a hugely successful screen career, she was on crutches because of a nagging hip complaint.

Gone was the trademark pout and cascading blonde locks, to be replaced by sagging jowls covered in heavy make-up and a wiry, unkempt patch of greying hair.

Miss Bardot still lives close to St Tropez, the beach resort in the South of France where she first shot to fame in 1956 with And God Created Woman, and has often blamed excessive exposure to the sun for her poor skin.

Her torrid private life - including numerous failed marriages and affairs - have also been blamed for her frayed appearance as a pensioner.

"She certainly doesn't look like the Brigitte we all remember from the films," said another visitor to the Elysee Palace, where animal rights campaigner Miss Bardot discussed the plight of Canadian seals with Mr Sarkozy.

"One wouldn't say she's aged well," the source added.

Miss Bardot has also repeatedly shunned plastic surgery, making it clear that her days as an international beauty ended when she made her last film in 1974.

Today she said that all she was concerned about was animals threatened with cruelty around the world. "I've had my best birthday present when I turn 73, and that's the news that France is going to definitely refuse all imports of products derived from seals, as France refuses to be compliant in the annual massacre of seals in Canada," she said.

An embargo on such products was announced by the French government in April.

After becoming a star following "And God Created Women", made by her then husband Roger Vadim, Miss Bardot became known as a French cinematic sex kitten who could rival Marilyn Monroe.

She was also an acclaimed model and recorded pop songs with the singer Serge Gainsbourg.

After divorcing Vadim, Bardot was married three more times, as well as having numerous affairs.

In 1986, she set up the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals, launching legal challenges against governments and other institutions to acknowledge the rights of animals. She later ignited controversy with her marriage to a political activist from the far-Right Front National party.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bardot; france; hollywood; seniors
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To: Mila

My personal favorite for growing old gracefully, Sophia Loren. I was in love with her when I was 12!

201 posted on 09/28/2007 5:55:28 PM PDT by mc5cents (Show me just what Mohammd brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman)
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To: indylindy
What are you? OLD? Geez. Fetish, huh?

No, actually I'm a mother who is about Bo's age, and I very much admire her for her horsemanship, political views, and capacity for holding onto her looks without descending into self-parody. She is charming. I hope I can hang onto my looks as well (on a percent basis, of course!)

202 posted on 09/28/2007 6:33:56 PM PDT by Fairview ( Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.)
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To: Fairview

Good for you. I have always admired BO. It is saying something to be good looking and also smart. She has always been a class act.

Either way, you can’t lose.


203 posted on 09/28/2007 6:38:27 PM PDT by dforest (Duncan Hunter is the best hope we have on both fronts.)
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To: rottndog

“she was blowed up”

Blowed real good!


204 posted on 09/28/2007 10:07:46 PM PDT by Bogtrotter52 (Reading DU daily so you won't hafta)
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To: mc5cents
"My personal favorite for growing old gracefully, Sophia Loren." I agree, she is still a beautiful woman. Tall with gorgeous posture and, as far as I can tell, very few wrinkles. Raquel Welch is another one that looks pretty good. She's 67 and one of my husband's favorites.
205 posted on 09/29/2007 2:18:39 AM PDT by Mila
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To: indylindy

They didn’t have cameras then.


206 posted on 09/29/2007 2:32:30 AM PDT by DGHoodini
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To: Florida native

73 year old Brigitte?

sorry but would not “hit” it

for an older babe bring on Susan Lucci, I’d hit that twice


207 posted on 09/29/2007 2:32:41 AM PDT by Lib-Lickers 2 (Thompson/ 08)
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To: Florida native

You’re correct; however, I can still see the sparkle in her eyes. That remnant of our youth still shines through those wrinkles and crevasses.

You bet it does. I have an uncle in his eighties, he is just beginning to become frail-elderly but his spirit is irrepressible.


208 posted on 09/29/2007 2:59:09 AM PDT by Chickensoup (If it is not permitted, it is prohibited. Only the government can permit....)
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To: DGHoodini

Maybe a crude sketching of Helen was carved into a rock or something.

A Helenosaurus.


209 posted on 09/29/2007 5:22:05 AM PDT by dforest (Duncan Hunter is the best hope we have on both fronts.)
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To: traumer


I've seen that face before...
210 posted on 09/29/2007 5:26:13 AM PDT by LIConFem (Thompson 2008. Lifetime ACU Rating: 86 -- Hunter 2008 (VP) Lifetime ACU Rating: 92)
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To: GQuagmire; Mr. Lucky; Sgt_Schultze; Army Air Corps; meowmeow; HereInTheHeartland; doodad; ...

The comments on this thread show why it is more important for a woman to be pretty than to be smart. It’s because most men can see better than they can think.


211 posted on 09/29/2007 6:23:06 AM PDT by generally (Ask me about FReepers Folding@Home)
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To: LIConFem

Looks like me in the morning!


212 posted on 09/29/2007 6:47:31 AM PDT by angcat ("IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM")
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To: generally

Actually I don’t think that is true. My comment was one of fear of time because it really sneaks up on us and gives us a good kick. Also most of us have only seen Bridget as a young beauty and then years pass and we get a picture of her in her 70’s. It is a natural reaction.


213 posted on 09/29/2007 6:49:55 AM PDT by angcat ("IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM")
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To: angcat

LOL!! Me too, ‘cept that my eyes are usually a bit puffier, probably ‘cause I only get 3 1/2 - 4 hours sleep a night. My hair usually isn’t quite that bad, though. ;o)


214 posted on 09/29/2007 6:51:10 AM PDT by LIConFem (Thompson 2008. Lifetime ACU Rating: 86 -- Hunter 2008 (VP) Lifetime ACU Rating: 92)
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To: traumer
AIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Time for a burlap bag!

215 posted on 09/29/2007 6:52:38 AM PDT by LibKill (Remember the Government MURDERED CHILDREN at Waco.)
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To: traumer
Okay, I was feeling bad enough about aging...and now...

Thanks for a great start to my weekend...NOT. /sarc

216 posted on 09/29/2007 6:52:50 AM PDT by NordP (No running or relenting. The problem will be dealt with. Decisively. Systematically. Permanently.)
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To: Chickensoup
My mother-in-law, widowed twice, remarried at 78 to the only viable widower in Florida. She lost him, too, and was very attractive well into her nineties. OK, I don't mean she was a hot babe, but she had always stayed out of the sun so she had beautiful skin, she was slender and fit, and she still has a joyful, mischievous sparkle despite suffering and loss. I admire her immensely. So does every man who meets her. Now, that's beautiful.
217 posted on 09/29/2007 6:55:38 AM PDT by Fairview ( Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.)
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To: traumer

...The Addams Fam-mil-ly...snap snap


218 posted on 09/29/2007 6:56:44 AM PDT by NordP (No running or relenting. The problem will be dealt with. Decisively. Systematically. Permanently.)
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To: generally
The comments on this thread show why it is more important for a woman to be pretty than to be smart. It’s because most men can see better than they can think.

Is she famous for the publication of her discoveries in Quantum Mechanics? She's famous because she was beautiful.

Do you really believe that I think she should convert to Islam just so she could wear a burkha? That wouldn't even make sense if taken seriously since wearing one isn't a requirement of Islam.

The article puts no small emphasis on the shocking difference between the beauty for which she's known, and her current appearance. Joking about it doesn't mean that men don't care about intelligent women, or appreciate anything else the aged model has done.

Lighten up, Francis.

219 posted on 09/29/2007 10:11:30 AM PDT by Squeako ("Well, let me tell you how he got that job: Affirmative Action strikes again. The time is 8:50.")
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To: generally
In her heyday she was an international sex symbol who starred in a series of hit films including The Girl in the Bikini.

Bardot made her living by her looks. She didn't require intelligence to glow or to captivate. What is the important tidbit that you suppose I have missed in any of Bardot's pronouncements after her acting retirement? People who earn a living based on how they look have to understand their chosen ammunition (physical appearance) will run out , and people will notice.

220 posted on 09/29/2007 11:13:59 AM PDT by Sgt_Schultze
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