Jane Birkin

Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE (14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She also had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema.
A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, appearing in minor roles in Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966), and Kaleidoscope (1966). In 1968, she met Serge Gainsbourg while co-starring with him in Slogan, which marked the beginning of a years-long working and personal relationship. The duo released their debut album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg (1969), and Birkin also appeared in the controversial film Je t'aime moi non plus (1976) under Gainsbourg's direction. Birkin would attain further acting credits in the Agatha Christie adaptations Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil Under the Sun (1982).
After separating from Gainsbourg in 1980, Birkin continued to work as both an actress and a singer, appearing in various independent films and recording numerous solo albums. In 1991, she appeared in the miniseries Red Fox and in the American drama film A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, in 1998. In 2016, she starred in the Academy Award-nominated short film La femme et le TGV, which she said would be her final film role.
Birkin lived mainly in France from the 1970s on. She was the mother of photographer Kate Barry, with her first husband John Barry; actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, with Serge Gainsbourg; and musician Lou Doillon, with Jacques Doillon. In addition to her acting and musical credits, she lent her name to the Hermès Birkin handbag.
==Links to Peel==
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Peel was a fan of, Blow Up, which starred Jane Birkin, describing the movie as "a rather good film" on his 04 February 1968 show. However, he was not very keen on her music, when reviewing her single with Serge Gainsbourg called 'La Decadanse', which he described it as the "son of "Je T'Aime" and is about as sexually arousing as the treaty of Dover of 1760", when reviewing it for Singles in the Disc & Music Echo paper on 8th April 1972. 
Peel's friend and producer, John Walters, presented a radio documentary in 2000 called The Hammond: A Vital Organ about the Hammond organ, which featured music from Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg's big hit, 'Je T'Aime, Moi Non Plus', a song that was once controversially banned by the BBC, due to its overtly sexual content.
== External Links ==
* Wikipedia 
* Discogs
* Official Website
Category:Actors
Category:Artists