Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and with her English grace, natural style and social activism, has died at age 76.
The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy 鈥淛e t鈥檃ime moi non plus鈥� (鈥淚 Love You, Me Neither鈥�). Birkin鈥檚 ethereal, British-accented singing voice interlaced with his gruff baritone in the 1969 duet that helped make her famous and was forbidden in Italy after being denounced in the Vatican newspaper.
The style Birkin displayed in the 1960s and early 1970s 鈥� long hair with bangs, jeans paired with white tops, knit mini dresses and basket bags 鈥� still epitomizes the height of French chic for many women around the world.
Birkin was also synonymous with a Hermes bag that bore her name. Created by the Paris fashion house in 1984 in her honor, the Birkin bag became one of the world鈥檚 , with a stratospheric price tag and years-long waiting list to buy it.
In her adopted France, Birkin was also celebrated for her political activism and campaigning for Amnesty International, Myanmar鈥檚 pro-democracy movement, the fight against AIDS and other causes.
鈥淵ou can always do something,鈥� Birkin said in 2001, drumming up support for an Amnesty campaign against torture. 鈥淵ou can say, 鈥業 am not OK with that.鈥欌��
She joined five monks on a march through the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 to demand that Myanmar let foreign aid workers into the country to help cyclone victims.
In 2022, she joined other screen and music stars in France in chopping off in support of protesters in Iran. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Birkin鈥檚 daughter with Gainsbourg and also an actor in her own right, cut off a snippet of her mother鈥檚 hair for the 鈥淗airForFreedom鈥� campaign as Iran was .
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Birkin as a 鈥渃omplete artist,鈥� noting that her soft voice went hand-in-hand with her 鈥渁rdent鈥� activism.
鈥淛ane Birkin was a French icon because she was the incarnation of freedom, sang the most beautiful words of our language,鈥� he tweeted.
French media reported that Birkin was found dead at her Paris home. The French Culture Ministry tweeted that Birkin died Sunday. It hailed her as a 鈥渢imeless Francophone icon.鈥�
Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak called Birkin 鈥渢he most French British person鈥� and 鈥渢he emblem for a whole epoch who never went out of fashion.鈥�
Outside Birkin鈥檚 home on Paris鈥� Left Bank, fans mourned her death.
鈥淪he was a poet, a singer, an artist,鈥� said Marie-Jo Bonnet. 鈥淪he gave the best of herself and that鈥檚 marvelous.鈥�
Birkin鈥檚 early movie credits included 鈥淏low-Up鈥� in 1966, credited with helping introduce French audiences to her 鈥淪winging Sixties鈥� style and beauty.
Birkin and Gainsbourg met two years later. She remained his muse even after the couple separated in 1980.
She also had a daughter, Kate, with James Bond composer John Barry. Kate Barry died in 2013 at age 46. Birkin had her third daughter, singer and model Lou Doillon, with French director Jacques Doillon.
Birkin suffered from health issues in recent years that kept her from performing and her public appearances became sparse.
French broadcaster BFMTV said Birkin suffered a mild stroke in 2021, forcing her to cancel shows that year. She canceled her shows again in March due to a broken shoulder blade.
A return to performing was put off in May, with the singer saying she needed a bit more time and promising her fans she would see them again come the fall.
Despite her decades-long screen and music career, Birkin suspected that, for some people, the bag named after her might be her most famous legacy.
The fashion accessory was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then-head of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin recounted in subsequent interviews that they got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor. She asked Dumas why Hermes didn鈥檛 make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit sack the sort of bag that she鈥檇 like.
Dumas then had an example made for her and, flattered, she said yes when Hermes asked whether it could commercialize the bag in her name.
In a CBS Sunday Morning , Birkin joked that it might be what she鈥檚 best known for.
鈥淚 thought, 鈥極h gosh, on my obituary, it will say, 鈥楲ike the bag鈥� or something,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淲ell, it could be worse.鈥�
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