farewell to the actress
In the 1960s he was credited with flirting: «He seduced you even when he talked about food. I met her when I was Ursula Andress’s partner”
Fabio texts and in the box Brigitte Bardot
Fabio texts and in the box Brigitte Bardot
«She was a beautiful woman. He exuded sensuality from every pore of his.” This is the memory that the Veronese actor Fabio Testi has of Brigitte Bardot. At the time, we are talking about the Sixties, he was credited with a flirtation with the provocative Frenchwoman, but Testi categorically denies it.
«Let’s be serious», he says, «no history with Brigitte Bardot even if I would have liked to. I met her when I was Ursula Andress’s partner, and I remained so for three years. Ursula was extremely jealous and therefore even if Brigitte had been available, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do anything.” The thought goes back to those years: «Brigitte was a free, enterprising woman. She was a forerunner of feminists. It was like this not out of ideology, he felt it. I believe that in her love and emotional life, she was not lucky precisely because of her way of being, which could have been mistaken for availability.”
Testi explains: «She seduced you even when she told you about dishes, dishes, foods. It was just his way of being, or doing. And therefore we males could misunderstand this attitude of his. I believe that there were very few who truly loved her and I think I can say that her love life was not among the happiest. We are talking about the Sixties when there were many co-productions between Italy and France and I was often in Paris where I shot three films. Ursula and I saw Brigitte Bardot mostly in the famous club At Regine’s which was one of the most iconic nightclubs in Paris.” Opened by the singer and entrepreneur Régine Zylberberg in the 1960sbecame a symbol of Parisian joie de vivre, frequented by celebrities, a chic place for dancing and socializing, located in Rue de Ponthieu, a point of reference for the nightlife of the French capital.
«At the time the venue attracted VIPs. Ursula and I hung out with him, went out to dinner and even went to the disco with Brigitte. We chatted about the films being made. There was one occasion where it looked like we could shoot together, but she wasn’t in France and then the matter faded away». Even though distant memories, BB’s death saddened Testi: «When I learned of his death I was saddened. I’m in Brazil on holiday, and I was thinking about the fact that I’m counting all the colleagues who are leaving me. And I pray because it often happens that they don’t die one at a time, but two or three in rapid succession. This is why I enjoy what I have, every day”, concludes the actor.
