The actor John Lennon became obsessed with
Even today, there are few cultural figures as memorable or iconic as John Lennon. The Beatles are still arguably the biggest band to ever grace the Earth, and their influence continues to spread through the ears of new generations listening to pop and rock music for the first time.
Lennon was responsible for writing some of the most essential songs of the 20th Century with his partner Paul McCartney, and most of them still hold up today in terms of quality and cultural significance. In other words, quite simply, both Lennon and The Beatles were -or still are – the peak of culture.
However, just because the Beatles were part of the cultural zeitgeist didn’t mean that they themselves weren’t often captivated by other figures in the entertainment industry. For John Lennon, this usually came down to famous women in the film industry, as per his book Skywriting by Word of Mouth.
In the book, Lennon claimed he had a soul mate he “had already known, but somehow lost”, and it may well have been the French actor and cabaret singer Juliette Gréco, of whom Lennon wrote: “[I’d] always had a fantasy about a woman who would be a beautiful, intelligent, dark-haired, high-cheek-boned, free-spirited artist à la Juliette Gréco).”
However, Lennon’s admiration for Gréco paled in insignificance to his love for Brigitte Bardot, who became one of the leading cultural figures in the 1950s and 1960s after starring in And God Created Woman, The Truth, Le Mepris and Viva Maria. Bardot had also been the subject of Simone de Beauvoir’s essay ‘The Lolita Syndrome’, where she called her the most liberated woman of post-war France.
Lennon’s interest in Bardot actually turned into something of an obsession eventually. He hung a poster of the actor on his ceiling and even made his wife, Cynthia Lennon, style herself in her manner. “John’s perfect image of a woman was Brigitte Bardot,” Cynthia once said.
“I found myself fast becoming moulded into her style of dress and haircut,” she added. “I had only recently gone through my change from secretary-bird to bohemian when I met John, but under his influence, another metamorphosis was taking place, and this time the emphasis was on oomph! Long blonde hair, tight black sweaters, tight short skirts, high-heeled pointed shoes, and to add the final touch, black fishnet stockings and suspenders.”
Lennon did manage to meet Bardot at a London hotel in 1968, but he pretty much blew his chance to make an impression. He once said: “The only thing I said to her all night was ‘Hello’, when we went to shake hands with her. Then she spent the whole time talking in French with her friends, and I could never think of anything to say. It was a terrible night – worse than meeting Elvis.”
So, Lennon clearly had an obsession with Bardot, who he considered his perfect woman. His actions with his first wife, Cynthia, were rather cruel, though and perhaps typical of the way The Beatles star considered women anyway.
Check out Bardot in the trailer for And God Created Woman below.
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