Brigitte Bardot, one of the most recognisable figures in 20th-century cinema, has died at age 91, prompting reflection on a life that reshaped film, fashion and French public life.

Speaking on The Anton Savage Show, Paris-based journalist Elaine Cobbe described Bardot as “the goddess of cinema here during the 50s and 60s, the first and many believe to be the last Hollywood film star.”

Cobbe said Bardot “wowed people with her sex kitten look, her attitude."

Her global fame was sealed with the film And God Created Woman.

Later in life, Bardot stepped away from acting.

“In her forties she took up the cause of animal welfare,” Cobbe said, a shift that would come to define her public identity.

However, that period was also marked by controversy.

“She became far right, and she became a bit of a piriah in the French social scene,” Cobbe noted.

Bardot’s comments on halal meat and Islam “brought her up against the rules in the secular country,” while “the far right loved having her as part of her support face.”

Despite the divisions she caused, tributes have poured in.

French President Emmanuel Macron described Bardot as “a legend of the century.”