The singer had recently canceled concerts for health reasons. Jane Birkin remains the favorite Englishwoman of the French, in she was the muse and ambassador of the language and country of Molière.
We learned from multiple sources, this Sunday, July 16, the death of the Franco-British artist Jane Birkin, at the age of 76. According to Le Parisien, who revealed the information first, the emblematic actress of the 1970s was found dead at her Parisian home at 11 a.m. by her life wife.
Born in London in 1946, she moved to France in the late 1960s. Naturalized French, she has always kept her British accent and her instantly recognizable tone of voice. After a first marriage with the composer John Barry, with whom she will have a daughter Kate, who died in 2013, she meets Serge Gainsbourg. Together they will form an iconic couple, which will propel her to the top of the charts in 1969 with the unforgettable duet « Je t’aime… moi non plus ».
Mother of actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, and the late photographer Kate Barry, Jane Birkin had recently canceled several concerts for health reasons. “I have always been a great optimist, and realize that I still need a little time to be able to be on stage again and with you. I miss you “, could we read in a press release released in May and in which she formalized her absence during the summer festivals.
On the big screen, Jane Birkin has played for some of the greatest directors: she has appeared in La Piscine by Jacques Deray, If Don Juan was a woman by Roger Vadim, Le Mouton enrage by Michel Deville, Mustard rises to my nose by Claude Zidi, How to succeed when one is stupid and crybaby by Michel Audiard, or even The Prodigal Daughter by Jacques Doillon, who will later become his companion. And for Michelangelo Antonioni, in Blow-up, she was one of the leading faces of the Palme d’Or at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.
Unanimously recognized on both sides of the Channel and very committed to political issues, Jane Birkin was an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and, in France, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. But she refused the Legion of Honor in 1989, believing that « only heroes » should receive it. It was a way of greeting his father, David, a Royal Navy officer who had transported resistance fighters from Britain to France during World War II. He died in 1991, the day of Serge Gainsbourg’s funeral.
Singer and actress Jane Birkin died at the age of 76 on Sunday July 16. « Because she embodied freedom, she sang the most beautiful words of our language, Jane Birkin was a French icon », wrote Emmanuel Macron on Twitter, adding that « her voice was as sweet as her commitments were ardent » .
« Her collaborations with the greatest (Serge Gainsbourg, Etienne Daho or Agnès Varda) have made her a timeless French-speaking icon, » wrote the Ministry of Culture on Twitter.
“She exuded immense kindness,” recalls Line Renaud. « She was very, very simple, very discreet. If she could go behind the wall, she would have done it, » the singer told franceinfo.
Former Culture Minister Jack Lang said: « She was authentic, simple, no fuss ». He spoke of a « treasure of kindness », highlighting Jane Birkin’s « delicacy » and « humanity ».
Brigitte Bardot wrote on Twitter, « I am very sad, Jane is gone! …
All French hearts mourn the sudden and unexpected disappearance of Jane.
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