Brigitte Bardot, the Muse of Saint-Tropez

Brigitte Bardot and Saint-Tropez share a deep cultural connection. Bardot, the iconic French actress and sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s, helped transform the small fishing village of Saint-Tropez into a glamorous destination for the international jet set.

Her parents owned “La Saravia,” a holiday home drowned in vegetation and flowers on rue de la Miséricorde, and Brigitte, as a child, came there to spend carefree moments with the family.

It was at barely 16 years old and after being noticed by posing in the ELLE magazine, that she made the decisive meeting for the rest of her career during her vacation in Saint-Tropez: that of Roger Vadim, for whom she had love at first sight and married in 1952.

And it is still in Saint-Tropez that Roger Vadim will make Brigitte play in a movie, in 1955, by offering her the mythical role that would change her destiny in the film And God Created Woman, released in 1956. Brigitte Bardot’s career was launched!

The film’s outdoor scenes are shot in the district of La Ponche, on its small beach and on a beach in Pampelonne in Ramatuelle where a small hut, transformed into an improvised canteen for the film crew, will become the famous Club 55, a real institution and one of the most popular private beaches on the French Riviera.

In 1958, while visiting “La Madrague,” a house for sale on the waterfront near the Canebiers beach, Brigitte fell in love with it and bought it immediately. From then on, the Madrague will be the scene of grandiose parties which made the headlines of the Parisian newspapers. Sacha Distel, Main Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo and many others stayed there. From a helicopter, Gunter Sachs poured a shower of rose petals over the garden as a declaration of love. That times are magical, romantic and extravagant.

But on the eve of her fortieth birthday, The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot will be his last film. She announces the final end of her career and the beginning of another life, wise, discreet bordering on the invisible, entirely dedicated to the protection of animals.

In 1962, she was the first personality, in France, to publicly denounce cruel methods of slaughtering animals. In 1977, she went to the Canadian sea ice to raise awareness of the massacre of baby seals. Shocking images will mark a whole generation. She will obtain a ban on the trade in their fur.

In 1986, Brigitte Bardot created her foundation to which she donated “La Madrague” to ensure its sustainability. Still today, Brigitte Bardot is actively and relentlessly campaigning from “La Madrague” against animal abuse and abandonment and her interventions with national and European authorities are not in vain.

The change in mentalities is underway and testifies to her ardor and her commitment to this cause of which she remains a figurehead.

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Audrey Hepburn With a Dove Perched on Her Shoulder in St. Tropez, 1966

Audrey Hepburn looks contemplative while a dove perches on her shoulder staring cheekily into the camera. Audrey is wearing a bucket hat and a soft collared sweater.

Photographer Terry O’Neill taking these pictures of Audrey Hepburn during the filming of Two for the Road in St. Tropez, France in August 1966.

“Out of nowhere this dove landed on her shoulder. I was lucky to capture a couple of frames before it flew off.” – Terry O’Neill.

British photographer, Terry O’Neill, has photographed presidents, prime ministers, rock stars, Oscar winners and the British Royal Family. He chronicled the lives of emerging rock stars and icons of the 1960s, including David Bowie, Elton John, The Who, Eric Clapton and Chuck Berry. He photographed The Beatles and The Rolling Stones when they were struggling young bands, and worked closely with Frank Sinatra for over 30 years.

His photograph of Faye Dunaway, in Beverly Hills, the morning after she won her Best Actress Oscar for Network, has been nominated as the most iconic Hollywood shot of all time. O’Neill has produced covers for Time, Newsweek, Stern, Paris Match, The Sunday Times Magazine and Vanity Fair, and his work is featured in national galleries and private collections worldwide.