Actor Brigitte Bardot, known for her roles in director Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt (1963) and her former husband Roger Vadim's The Night Heaven Fell, among others, passed away on Sunday. Bardot was 91 at the time of death. An actor known for his activism, the actor's foundation paid its tribute to her in a recent statement. "The Brigitte Bardot Foundation pays tribute to the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything and gave up everything for a world more respectful of animals," reads the statement. "Her legacy lives on through the actions and struggles the Foundation continues with the same passion and the same fidelity to her ideals," the statement further added. A cause of death is yet to be revealed.

Born to a family of conservative Catholics in Paris of 1934, Bardot was initially a dancer trained in ballet, a background that aided her in getting into the arts college Conservatoire de Paris. Later, she ventured into modelling, and the face of a teen Bardot even found its way into the Elle magazine cover.

Brigitte Bardot made her acting debut with Vadim's 1956 film And God Created Woman, which is among the films she said she felt attached to the most and earned her the moniker 'sex kitten'. Vadim once described the actor as a symbol of sexual independence, a free-minded and completely open individual with no aggression.

In 1973, she quit cinema and ventured into animal rights activism. She is also known for her roles in Viva Maria! (1965), Love Is My Profession (1958), and La Vérité (1960).