Bardot muse of the left? A position difficult to believe when we see the star’s extreme comments at the end of her life and her closeness of thought often displayed with the National Rally… And yet, the fiery actress, who never had her tongue in her pocket , became for several months the champion of the French left in the early 1960s, in the middle of the Algerian war. She was then 27 years old.
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At the time, France was torn by conflict, tension was at its height: de Gaulle returned to power and was in favor of self-determination, a referendum approved his approach, independence was inevitable and supporters of Algeria French authorities are unleashed, relying in particular on the OAS, the Organization of the Secret Army. This is a terrorist and clandestine network close to the extreme right, which refuses by all means, including crimes and attacks, any negotiation with the FLN. And to financially support their actions, its members do not hesitate to resort to racketeering against traders, bosses, senior officials or personalities…
Physical threat
This is how Brigitte Bardot received a letter from the OAS in November 1961 asking her for 50,000 francs to help her in her fight. “We need the support of all French people,” the organization wrote to him in a letter signed by its head of financial services. Consequently, the OAS has decided, given your situation: actress, daughter of Louis Bardot, company director, to tax you for the sum of 50,000 francs. Instructions will be given to you later as to how to pay this amount. » With a real physical threat in conclusion: “The non-execution of this order leads to the entry into action of the special sections of the OAS. »
It was a misunderstanding of the star’s entire character: she decides to reveal everything to L’Express – which denounced torture in Algeria at the time – by requesting two pages in the weekly with the publication of the threatening letter and its response. “I am convinced that the authors and inspirations of this type of letter will quickly be put out of harm’s way if they encounter a clear and public refusal everywhere from the people they seek to terrorize,” writes the actress in an open letter. In any case, I don’t walk because I don’t want to live in a Nazi country. » And to file a complaint for blackmail against the OAS via its lawyers, Robert Badinter and Jean-Pierre Le Mée.
BB’s courage immediately made the headlines in the French press, particularly on the left. For several days, his portrait featured prominently in the newspaper Humanitywho returns to the affair by recalling that she did not give in, that she is “anti-Nazi”, while emphasizing that her name is now whistled in the cinemas of Algiers. “BBB: Bravo Brigitte Bardot! », also headlines the newspaper Release – the one from the Resistance, which closed in 1964. We praise its “dignity”, we salute its “pure gesture”, this is the sex symbol suddenly elevated to a political symbol, an example of civic-mindedness.
“Miss is not afraid”
L’Express nicknamed her “Miss is not afraid”, two thousand dockers from Dunkirk cheered her during a union meeting and Chained duck celebrates “our national BB, the most undressed girl on the screen but also the cheekiest”. And added ironically: “Bravo Brigitte, we prefer your plastic to theirs! » Even the Times from London goes with his verse: “That Brigitte Bardot resisted the OAS, this is an event that historians will compare to the appeal of June 18. »
Because the danger is very serious. Several celebrities have been the target of attempted attacks by the OAS, such as journalist Françoise Giroud. The Bardot parents are panicked, the police are contacted, but they say they are overwhelmed and send them away. Bardot therefore calls on a private police force to protect his home at 71, avenue Paul Doumer, now under threat of being arrested. “A certain private police force was under the orders of a former Paris MatchVadim’s friend, Joël Le Tac, remembers Bardot in his memoirs. It was he who sent me two plainclothes cops, one for the main staircase, the other for the back staircase. Three times a day, the change was made… Every eight hours, on each side, cost me a fortune. But my life was worth it. »
The first weeks are tense, Bardot is on alert just like his henchmen, who draw their pistols as soon as a visitor arrives on his landing… One day, a suspicious package alerts the concierge, who hears a strange ticking on the door. interior. We immediately think of a bomb… Before discovering a pretty Swiss clock, sent by an admirer from Lausanne. Bardot suddenly took on a political dimension, she changed her status, received hundreds of congratulatory letters calling her “Madame”, France discovered that her ravishing doll, the most beautiful woman in the world, had a brain and knew how to ‘use it…
A new notoriety that the young actress intends to use for her purposes and for the causes that are close to her heart: two months later, she begins her fight in favor of animals in the showFive columns on the front pageby denouncing the slaughter conditions in France – she obtained compulsory stunning a few years later. The first steps of a long struggle…
To read for Brigitte Bardot’s 90th birthday:
Bardot the legendby Henry-Jean Servat, Hors collection editions.
Unforgettable BBby Alain Wodrascka and François Bagnaud, with photos commented by the star, éditions l’Archipel.
