The Divine B.B.

Here is my new rendition of Brigitte Bardot as my entry for this week's Caricaturama Showdown. I'd caricatured her once before several years ago, but I think I like this new version better than the first one. I sketched this Brigitte while watching her in the 1962 French film, Love on a Pillow.

I like Bardot the film star, but I like her even better as one of the icons of early 1960's French pop music. I've got several of her CD song compilations from that era and there's such a fun, cute sound to her songs. Here's a performance of Invitango from a TV special she did in 1963:

And God Created Bardot

Yes, today is Brigitte Bardot's birthday, so I've been working on this caricature to celebrate the occasion. It depicts her as she posed rather saucily for the opening sequence of her 1968 TV special. This special as well as two earlier ones from 1961 and 1963 can be found on this DVD. In fact, here is the sequence that I used to sketch from that somebody has also posted on YouTube:



These TV specials were a collection of fun musical vignettes that showcased Brigitte Bardot's talents as a French pop singer. I probably know her better in this capacity than I know her as a film star, admittedly having only seen a handful of her films. The early 60's was a great time for French pop music, as there were also cute singers like Francoise Hardy and France Gall on the music scene back then, both of whose CDs I listen to in addition to Brigitte's. In fact, I highly recommend checking out Katie Rice's blog to see her sketches of those singers. Katie is such a talented young cartoonist and I love to see the way she approaches caricature. I'm hoping she'll also try her hand at drawing Brigitte!

Like I said, I haven't seen many of Brigitte Bardot's films. I have seen her big breakout role in "And God Created Woman", where she plays a gorgeous, saucy young ne'er-do-well who seems cursed to inspire mad desire in every man she encounters in St. Tropez. I also enjoyed her in "Viva Maria", which has an almost cartoonish flair for slapstick visual humour. However, I think my favourite Bardot film is one that I caught at Toronto's Cinematheque several years ago, called "The Truth", in which she plays a young woman on trial for the murder of her lover. It's quite compelling and Brigitte gives a magnificent performance. Alas, I must admit I've never seen "Contempt". Anyway, I really think I need to see more of her work so that I can fully appreciate her as an actress in addition to my fondness for her as a pop singer.

So in closing, may I say, Bon Anniversaire Brigitte!