Firearms Friday with Brigitte Bardot

Born in 1934, Brigitte Bardot was in her teens and training to be a ballet dancer when she, over her parents objections, turned to fashion- and photo-modeling. Around that same time, also over her parents objections, she began dating a much older man. She soon turned to acting, and by the early 1950s, she was well on her way to being one of Europe's most celebrated movie stars... and known for her roles as sexually liberated women. And, yes, you guessed it... it was over her parents' objections.

By the dawn of the 1960s, Bardot was a world-renowned actress. Over the next decade or so, she appeared in a range of genres opposite a galaxy of top American, British, and French male film stars, while also launching a successful musical career. In 1973, just shy of her 40th birthday, she retired from acting and performing, still at the height of fame.

Since retiring from show business, Bardot has devoted the past several decades to animal rights activism, and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals remains one of the world's leading forces in the animal rights movement.