PARIS (AP) 鈥� France said goodbye to one of its biggest movie stars, Brigitte Bardot, on Wednesday with a funeral in Saint-Tropez, the French Riviera resort where the icon after retiring from movie stardom at the height of her fame.
The ceremonies included a private service followed by a public homage.
The animal rights activist and far-right supporter died Dec. 28 at age 91 at her home in southern France.
She died from cancer after undergoing two operations, her husband, Bernard d鈥橭rmale, said in an interview with Paris Match magazine released Tuesday evening. 鈥淪he was conscious and concerned about the fate of animals until the very end,鈥� he said.
Residents and admirers applauded the funeral convoy as the coffin of Bardot, once one of the world鈥檚 most photographed women and of the 1960s, was being carried through the town鈥檚 narrow streets.
A service started to the sound of Maria Callas鈥� 鈥淎ve Maria鈥� at the Notre-Dame-de-l鈥橝ssomption Catholic Church in the presence of Bardot鈥檚 husband, son and grandchildren, as well as guests invited by the family and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals.
鈥淪adness is overwhelming, and pain too,鈥� Max Guazzini, a friend and secretary general of the Foundation, said in a speech.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to dream about her as if we were sleeping. In our dream, Brigitte arrives in a great, white immensity and suddenly 鈥� thousands of seals arrive,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll the animals she saved and she loved form a procession behind her 鈥� Thousands of animals say: Brigitte, we will miss you, we love you so much, thank you.鈥�
Hundreds of people gathered in the small town to follow the farewell on large screens set up at the port and on two plazas.
Bardot is to be buried 鈥渋n the strictest privacy鈥� at a cemetery overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
She had long called Saint-Tropez her refuge from the celebrity that once made her a household name.
A public homage took place Wednesday afternoon at a nearby site for admirers of the woman once symbolized France鈥檚 postwar liberation and sensuality.
鈥淏rigitte Bardot will forever be associated with Saint-Tropez, of which she was the most dazzling ambassador,鈥� the town hall said last week. 鈥淭hrough her presence, personality and aura, she marked the history of our town.鈥�
Bardot settled decades ago in her seaside villa, La Madrague, and retired from filmmaking in 1973 at age 39, during an international career that spanned more than two dozen films.
She later emerged as an animal rights activist, founding and sustaining a foundation devoted to the protection of animals.
While she withdrew from the film industry, she remained a highly visible and often controversial public figure through decades of militant animal rights activism and links with far-right politics.
She will be buried in the so-called marine cemetery, where her parents are also interred.
The cemetery, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, is also the final resting place of several cultural figures, including filmmaker Roger Vadim, Bardot鈥檚 first husband, who directed her breakout film 鈥淎nd God Created Woman,鈥� a role that made her a worldwide star.
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