The London-born actress – who inspired the Hermes Birkin designer handbag – has passed away at her home in Paris.
Emmanuel Macron, the French President, has already taken to social media to pay tribute to the late star, explaining that Birkin “embodied freedom and sang the most beautiful words in our language”.
He wrote on Twitter: “Jane Birkin was a French icon. A complete artist, her voice was as gentle as her commitments were ardent. She bequeaths us a legacy of songs and images that will never leave us.”
Birkin moved to France in the 1960s and she had a high-profile romance with the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
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Her acting credits included appearances in the crime comedy ‘Kaleidoscope’, and the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ‘Death on the Nile’.
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, has also heaped praise on the late star, describing Birkin as the “most Parisian of the English”.
She wrote on Twitter: “We will never forget her songs, her laughter or her incomparable accent that have always accompanied us.”
Birkin was married to James Bond composer John Barry between 1965 and 1968, and the couple had daughter Kate Barry – who died in 2013 after falling from her fourth-floor flat in Paris – together.
However, she rose to international stardom through her romance with Gainsbourg.
The celebrity duo met while co-starring in the 1969 satirical romantic comedy, ‘Slogan’.
Birkin subsequently released an album of the same name, which featured the sexually explicit song ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’.
The controversial single topped the charts in the UK, but it was also banned on a number of radio station due to its X-rated lyrics.
Birkin and Gainsbourg had a daughter – actress Charlotte Gainsbourg – together, before they split in 1980.
The singer was also well-known for her philanthropy and humanitarian work with the likes of Amnesty International and Unicef.
