Parisian Icon Jane Birkin Dies At 76

British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin, a 1960s wild child who became a beloved figure in France, has died in Paris aged 76, John Irish reported for Reuters on July 17, 2023.

Photo Insert: Before venturing across the Channel aged 22, she achieved notoriety in the controversial 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film "Blow-Up," appearing naked in a threesome sex scene.

The French Culture Ministry said the country had lost a "timeless Francophone icon."

Local media reported she had been found dead at her home, citing people close to her. Birkin had a mild stroke in 2021 after suffering heart problems in previous years. Jane Mallory Birkin was born in London in December 1946, daughter of British actress Judy Campbell and Royal Navy commander David Birkin.

She first took to the stage aged 17 and went on to appear in the 1965 musical "Passion Flower Hotel" by conductor and composer John Barry, whom she married shortly after.

Before venturing across the Channel aged 22, she achieved notoriety in the controversial 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film "Blow-Up," appearing naked in a threesome sex scene.

It was in the 1990s that she inspired the famous Birkin bag by French luxury house Hermes after chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas saw her struggling with her straw bag on a flight to London, spilling the contents over the floor.

Birkin is survived by two daughters, the singer and actress Charlotte, born in 1971, and Lou Doillon, also an actress, born in 1982. She also had a daughter, Kate, who was born in 1967 and died in 2013.

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