Biography for
Jane Birkin More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

14 December 1946, London, England, UK

Birth Name

Jane Mallory Birkin

Height

5' 8½" (1.74 m)

Spouse

John Barry

(1965 - 1968) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Mother of photographer Kate Barry (with John Barry), Charlotte Gainsbourg (with Serge Gainsbourg) and Lou Doillon (with Jacques Doillon).

Sister of Andrew Birkin

Daughter of actress Judy Campbell and Lieutenant-Commander David Birkin.

Living together with Jacques Doillon

She was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to acting and British French cultural relations in the 2001 Queen's Honours List.

Measurements: 32A-24-37 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Aunt of David Birkin and Ned Birkin.

French design house Hermès named and designed a handbag for her in 1984. The now famous "Birkin" bag is one of their most popular (and expensive at at least $6000 a piece) handbags to date.

The 1969 album "Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg" included the highly controversial track "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus" which, though sung entirely in French, was banned by several radio stations due to the simulated "aural" sex that consisted of various explicit "gasps," "sighs" and "moans" interspersed throughout the French lyrics. Despite its notoriety, the single went on to top the British charts in October 1969, eventually scoring in France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Holland and Sweden. By early 1970 it had sneaked onto the American charts where it enjoyed modest success

Her mother was a second half-cousin of philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Is a descendant of King Charles II Stuart of England and Scotland.

Grandmother of Roman de Kermadec, born in 1987, (Kate Barry's son), Ben Attal, born in 1997, Alice Attal, born in 2002 (Charlotte Gainsbourg's children), and Marlowe-Tigger Mitchell, born in 2002 (Lou Doillon's son).

Personal Quotes

David Attenborough... has that wonderful, breathy voice and he's always so fascinated by what he's seeing. There's nothing about him that I can't find attractive.

As there is no one to be pleased or unpleased with me, I'm actually rather merrier with my cat.

Big Ben . . . hearing the chimes makes me feel at home.

By meeting people in Sarajevo I realized I had nothing to complain about--they'd lost children crossing the road trying to find water. I stopped thinking about my problems and would sit with women in underground places, singing songs.

Any film I see at two o'clock in afternoon with my mother seems to cast a strange spell that means we both come out sobbing.

I don't know why people keep banging on about the '60s. I was very conventional because I came from a conventional family and I didn't go off with different people - I rather wish I had now, seeing all the fun everyone else was having. I just remember being married to [composer] John Barry and trying to be the best wife in the world. Newsweek magazine came over to London and did an interview with him and they wrote about "John Barry and his E-type Jaguar and his E-type wife." I remember thinking, "I'm not sure this is entirely a compliment" - on the contrary. But that's exactly what I was. And when John went off to America with another girl, what should have been a disaster for me was, in fact, the thing that actually made me have to go and do something for the first time in my life, because I had my baby, Kate, to support. So I went to France.

Where Are They Now

(2004) Invited by Steven Patrick Morrissey to perform at the Meltdown Festival in June 2004.

(January 2007) She visited Argentina for 3 days.

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