The Anglo-French singer and actor Jane Birkin has died at the age of 76, the French culture ministry has announced.
The singer had been forced to postpone several concerts in Paris scheduled for May after breaking her shoulder in March 2022. This followed another string of cancelled shows after Birkin had a stroke in September 2021.
“I’ve always been a big optimist, and I realise that it still takes me a little while to be able to be on stage again and with you. I love being with you so much,” she said in a statement at the time.
She was found dead at her home in Paris, French media reported.
Birkin was born in London on 14 December 1946 to an actor mother and naval officer father. At 17, she married the James Bond composer John Barry but the marriage lasted only three years.
She catapulted to fame after starring in the 1966 film Blow-Up – which featured a scene in which Birkin appeared nude before crossing the channel in 1968 at the age of 22 to star in a satirical romantic comedy Slogan alongside the pop-poet Serge Gainsbourg, who was 18 years her senior.
It was the start of a 13-year on- and off-screen relationship that made them France’s most famous couple, in the spotlight as much for their bohemian and hedonistic lifestyle as for their work.
Despite being banned on radio in several countries and condemned by the Vatican because of its overtly sexual lyrics, their 1968 song Je t’aime … moi non plus (“I love you … me neither”) achieved worldwide success and reached No 1 in the UK singles chart.
Their relationship has been frequently described as “tumultuous”, and Birkin reportedly wrote in her 2020 diaries that there had been violence between the couple. During one of their rows, Birkin launched herself into the River Seine after throwing a custard pie in Gainsbourg’s face.
But she frequently defended the man with whom she became so closely associated, including against charges by one singer that he was a “harasser”, in an interview in the Times in 2020.
“He and I became the most famous of couples in that strange way because of Je t’aime and … he went on being my friend until the day he died. Who could ask for more?” Birkin told CNN in 2006.
“So Paris became my home. I’ve been adopted here. They like my accent,” she said.
The couple were together for 12 years but never married, and in 1971 had a daughter, Charlotte, who is an award-winning actor and singer.
They split in 1980 and Birkin branched out from more ditsy film roles to arthouse productions, gaining three nominations at the Césars – France’s Oscars – starting with La Pirate in 1985.
In her about 70 films she has been directed by France’s leading directors, including Bertrand Tavernier, Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais and James Ivory.
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Some of her most famous acting credits include the 1966 crime comedy Kaleidoscope, a 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile and the mystery film Evil Under the Sun in 1982.
Despite their split, she remained forever associated with Gainsbourg, who continued to write songs for her, including Les dessous chic about lingerie being used to try to cover up a relationship on the rocks.
“It’s the most beautiful song about separation you could ever have,” Birkin said in a 2018 interview.
Her first child, Kate Barry, a fashion photographer who worked for Vogue, died in 2013 at the age of 46. Birkin had another daughter, the singer Lou Doillon, from her 13-year relationship with the French director Jacques Doillon.
Beyond cinema, her legacy includes being the name behind the Hermès Birkin handbag, which was launched in 1984. It was reportedly born following a conversation between Birkin and the Hermès chief executive, Jean-Louis Dumas, on a flight from Paris to London, on which they discussed how difficult it was to find a bag that could fulfil Birkin’s needs as a mother-of-two.
She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for her services to acting and British-French cultural relations.
The French culture minister, Roselyne Bachelot, told the French TV station BFM: “This departure is so sad. She was a beautiful person.”
