| Jane Birkin |
|
| Born |
December 14, 1946 (1946-12-14) (age 60)
 London, England |
| Spouse(s) |
John Barry (1965-68)
Serge Gainsbourg (1968-80) |
| Official site |
Official site |
Jane Mallory Birkin OBE (born 14
December 1946)
is an actress
and singer.
Birkin was born in London, England to David Birkin, a Royal Navy
commander
and World
War II espionage
hero, and Judy Campbell, an actress in Noel
Coward musicals. Her great aunt was Freda
Dudley Ward, a mistress of Edward VIII while
he was Prince of Wales.
|
Contents
- 1 Career
- 2 Trivia
- 3 Discography
- 4 Filmography
- 5 Personal
life
- 6 Footnotes
- 7 External
links
|
Career
Birkin emerged in the swinging '60s in London, starring as
one of the models in the controversial film Blowup
in 1966.
In 1968, Birkin went to France to audition for the lead female
role in Slogan. Though
she did not speak French, she got the role.
In 1969, she and Serge Gainsbourg released the song "Je t'aime... moi non plus"
("I love you... me neither"), written by Gainsbourg
and featuring both of them singing, which caused a scandal for its
sexual explicitness. Arguably due in part to the publicity it got from
being banned by radio stations in Italy, Sweden, Spain, and the UK, it
was a commercial success all over Europe. The song's fame is a result
of its salacious lyrics (sung in French) against a background of
female moaning and groaning, culminating in an orgasm at the
song's conclusion (which some claim to be the result of Jane and Serge
actually engaging in sex during the recording of the song).
Birkin took a short break from her acting career in 1971-72,
but returned as Brigitte Bardot's lover in Don
Juan (or if Don Juan were a woman) in 1973.
In 1975, she appeared in Gainsbourg's first film, also titled Je t'aime... moi
non plus, which created quite a stir for its
frank examination of sexual ambiguity. For this performance she was
nominated for a Best Actress César Award.
Birkin has starred in the Agatha
Christie films Death on the Nile
and Evil Under the Sun,
and recorded several albums, including Baby Alone in Babylone,
Amours des Feintes, Lolita Go Home
and Rendez-vous. She has obtained in the category
Female Artist of the year in France the Victoires de la Musique
award in 1992 .
She starred in two films by Jacques
Doillon — as Anne in La fille prodigue
(1981) and as Alma in La pirate (1984,
nominated for a César Award). This work led to an invitation from Patrice
Chéreau to star on stage in La Fausse suivante
by Marivaux
at Nanterre.
After this, she also began to appear frequently on stage in plays and
concerts (in France, Japan, the UK and then the US).
Jacques Rivette collaborated with
her for Love on the Ground
(1983) and La belle noiseuse
(1991, Nominated Césars best supporting actress).
Additionally, she appeared in Merchant Ivory's A Soldier's
Daughter Never Cries (1998, also used her song
"Di Doo Dah") and Merci Docteur Rey
(2002), while Le Divorce's end
title song featured her singing "L'Anamour", composed by Serge
Gainsbourg.
In 2006, she played Elektra,
directed by Philippe Calvario in France.
Jane Birkin's humanitarian interests led her to work with
Amnesty International, on immigrant welfare and AIDS issues. Birkin has
also visited Bosnia, Rwanda. and Palestinian Territories, often working
with children. She has been awarded an OBE for her services to
acting, as well as the Ordre National du Mérite in
France.
She has made musical collaborations and duets with artists
such as Feist,
Beth
Gibbons from Portishead, Bryan
Ferry, Brian Molko from Placebo,
Franz Ferdinand, Manu Chao, Brett
Anderson from Suede, Mickey (3d), Françoise
Hardy, Cali, The Divine Comedy, The
Magic Numbers, Paolo Conte, Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Yann
Tiersen, Alain Souchon, Les
Negresses Vertes, Johnny Marr from The
Smiths, Zazie,
MC
Solaar, Yosui
Inoue, Étienne
Daho, Alain Chamfort, Jimmy
Rowles, Goran Bregović, Sonny Landreth, The Soundtrack of Our
Lives and many others.
Trivia
- Birkin recorded the song "Beauty" on French
producer Hector Zazou's 2003 album Strong
Currents.
- She is noted as being the inspiration for
fashion house Hermès'
popular Birkin
Bag after the actress was seen struggling with several bags while
boarding an aeroplane.
- Her image features on the cover art of Have You Fed the Fish?
by singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy (which
features her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg on backing
vocals).
- Despite decades of residence in France and the
ability to speak French fluently, Birkin still retains a strong English
accent and makes grammatical mistakes when speaking French.
Discography
The Best of Jane Birkin album cover.
- 1969 - Jane Birkin/Serge
Gainsbourg
- 1973 - Di doo dah
- 1975 - Lolita
go home
- 1978 - Ex
fan des sixties
- 1983 - Baby alone in Babylone
- 1987 - Lost song
- 1987 - Jane Birkin au Bataclan
- 1990 - Amours
des feintes
- 1992 - Integral
au Casino de Paris
- 1996 - Versions Jane
- 1996 - Integral
a l'Olympia
- 1998 - Best Of
- 1999 - A la legere
- 2002 - Arabesque
- 2004 - Rendez-Vous
- 2006 - Fictions
Filmography
- La tête de maman
(2007)
- L'ex-femme de ma vie
(2004) - singer (theme song "Parlez-moi d'amour")
- Le Divorce (2003)
- singer (end title "L'Anamour")
- The Very Merry Widows
(2003) - Renée
- Merci
Docteur Rey (2002) - Pénélope
- A Hell of a Day
(2001) - Jane
- This Is My Body
(2001) - Louise Vernet
- The
Last September (1999) - Francie
Montmorency
- A Soldier's
Daughter Never Cries (1998) - Mrs.
Fortescue
- On
connaît la chanson (1997) - Jane
(she sang her song "Quoi")
- Between the
Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1995) - The
Woman (voice)
- Black for Remembrance
(1995) - Caroline
- Les cent et une nuits
(1995) - Celle qui dit radin
- 3000 scénarios contre
un virus (1994) - as Director (segment "Je
t'aime, moi non plus")
- Oh pardon ! Tu dormais...
(1992, TV) - as Director and writer
- La Belle noiseuse. Divertimento
(1991) - Liz
- La
Belle noiseuse (1991) - Liz
- Contre l'oubli
(1991, segment "Pour Maria Nonna Santa Clara, Philippine") - Director
and narrator
- Daddy Nostalgie
(1990) - Caroline / also singer (end title "These
Foolish Things")
- Comédie ! (1987,
by Jacques Doillon) - Elle
/ also singer (theme song)
- Soigne
ta droite (1987) - La cigale
- Jane B. par Agnès V.
(1988, by Agnès
Varda) - Calamity Jane
/ Claude Jade / Jeanne
d'Arc
- Kung-Fu master
(1987, by Agnès
Varda) - Mary-Jane
- La Femme de ma vie
(1986) - Laura
- Beethoven's Nephew
(1985) - Johanna
- Dust (1985) - Magda
- Leave All Fair
(1985) - Katherine Mansfield
- Love on the Ground
(1984, by Jacques Rivette) - Emily
- La Pirate (1984,
by Jacques Doillon) - Alma
- Le Garde du corps
(1984) - Barbara Penning
- L'Ami de Vincent
(1983) - Marie-Pierre
- Circulez, y'a rien à
voir ! (1983, by Patrice
Leconte) - Hélène Duvernet
- Nestor Burma,
Détective de choc (1982) - Hélène
Chatelain
- Evil
Under the Sun (1982) - Christine
Redfern
- Rends-moi la clé !
(1981) - Catherine
- The Prodigal Daughter
(1981, by Jacques Doillon) - Anne
- Egon Schiele - Exzesse
(1981) - Vally
- La
miel (1979) - Inés
- Melancholy Baby
(1979) - Olga
- Au bout du bout du banc
(1979) - Peggy
- Death
on the Nile (1978) - Louise Bourget
- Good-bye, Emmanuelle
(1977) - as Singer (theme song)
- L'Animal
(1977) - La vedette féminine
- Madame Claude
(1977) - singer (theme song "Yesterday Yes a Day")
- The Devil in the Heart
(1976) - Linda
- Je t'aime moi non
plus (1976) - Johnny Jane
- Burnt by a Scalding
Passion (1976) - Virginia Vismara
- Bestial Quartet
(1975) - Jane Berg
- Catherine & Co.
(1975) - Catherine
- La Course à l'échalote
(1975) - Janet
- Serious as Pleasure
(1975) - Ariane Berg
- Lucky Pierre
(1974) - Jackie Logan
- How
to Make Good When One Is a Jerk and a Crybaby
(1974) - Jane
- Le Mouton enragé
(1974) - Marie-Paule
- Projection privée
(1973) - Kate/Hélène
- Seven Dead in the Cat's
Eye (1973) - Corringa
- Don
Juan, ou Si Don Juan était une femme... (1973)
- Clara
- Dark Places
(1973) - Alta
- Trop jolies pour être
honnêtes (1972) - Christine
- Romance of a Horsethief
(1971) - Naomi
- 19 djevojaka i Mornar
(1971) - Milja
- The Mafia Wants Your Blood
(1970) - Jane Swenson
- Alba pagana
(1970) - Flora
- Sex Power (1970) -
Jane
- Trop petit mon ami
(1970) - Christine Mars / Christine Devone
- The Swimming Pool
(1969) - Penelope
- The Pleasure Pit
(1969) - Jane
- Slogan (1969) - Évelyne
- Wonderwall
(1968) - Penny Lane
- Kaleidoscope
(1966) - Exquisite Thing
- Blow Up (1966) - The
Blonde
- The Knack...and How to
Get It (1965) - Girl on Motorbike
(uncredited)
Personal life
She was married from 1965 until 1968 to John Barry, an
English composer who wrote the musical score to the James Bond
movies. Their daughter, the photographer Kate Barry, was born in 1968.
She had a very passionate and creative
relationship with her mentor Serge Gainsbourg — they met on the
set of Slogan and married in 1968. They separated
in 1980. Their daughter is actress Charlotte
Gainsbourg.
In 1982 she gave birth to her third daughter, Lou
Doillon, from her relationship with the director Jacques
Doillon.
Footnotes
-
In "Blowup" Birkin had the distinction of being the first actress to
show pubic
hair in a mainstream British movie
External links
