French icon and pinup Brigitte Bardot turns 83 years old

PHOTOS: A French film icon that dazzled the world French actress Brigitte Bardot at home in May 1967 in Rome, Italy. See pictures of French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot through the years... PHOTOS: A French film icon that dazzled the world French actress Brigitte Bardot at home in May 1967 in Rome, Italy. See pictures of French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot through the years... Photo: Jean-Pierre BONNOTTE/Gamma-Rapho Via Getty Images Photo: Jean-Pierre BONNOTTE/Gamma-Rapho Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 74 Caption Close French icon and pinup Brigitte Bardot turns 83 years old 1 / 74 Back to Gallery

French actress and sex symbol Brigitte Bardot turns 83 years old this week.

Bardot - born Camille Javal - is most famous for appearing in films like "And God Created Woman", "A Very Private Affair", "Contempt", and "Le Mépris" before retiring in the early '70s.

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She had made her mark and, in 1973, walked away from the industry just as she had hit it like a bomb. According to The Guardian in 2014, Bardot grew up in luxury in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, seemingly predestined to became an icon.

Pundits at French magazine Paris-Match proclaimed her "immoral, from head to toe" in 1958 and also "the most beautiful woman in the world."

As The Guardian reminded, there was even a European movement among the moral outposts to "Ban Bardot" for her lustful personality and freedom that seemed to scare the more demure set.

Bardot remains a fashion icon, too, still inspiring hair, makeup, and clothing.

The French sculpture Marianne was modeled after her physique, no small feat, in 1970.

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She's since become an animal rights activist and outspoken critic of French politics.

These days she is known less for her looks and more for her controversial and outspoken stances. She's been staunchly anti-Muslim in recent years, which has gotten her in hot water in her native France.

Between the late '90s and and late 2000s she faced French judges a total of five times for allegedly inciting racial hatred and even paid thousands in fines to the government.