When Brigitte Bardot visited East Lothian: in pictures

Daniele Thompson's new film about Bardot

SCOTTISH newspapers reported on Friday, September 2, 1966 that excitement was growing in East Lothian over the impending arrival of Brigitte Bardot as part of the shoot for a French film, À Coeur Joie (Two Weeks in September), directed by Serge Bourguignon.

"The French film star has provisionally booked a room in a Dirleton hotel and is believed to be arriving in the small village (which claims to be the prettiest in Scotland) tomorrow or Sunday", said the Glasgow Herald. "The plot of the film is the elopement to Scotland of a French model and her boyfriend. East Lothian was chosen because of its 'open-air' appeal".

Dressed in a tartan 'nearly-mini skirt' and carrying a matching jacket, Bardot arrives at London Airport to film the Anglo-French 'Two Weeks in September' in which she plays a French model (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Bardot duly arrived at 5am on Sunday – but only after a row with the assistant manager of a hotel in Carlisle.

Reports said she had signed at the Crown and Mitre Hotel just after midnight. Assistant manager Brian Mortalli had personally supervised the making of a special meal for Bardot and her party. But an argument began after she said she did not enjoy it, and was leaving.

“When I asked her to settle the account she said, ‘With all this publicity about my arrival your hotel has got enough reward”, Mr Mortalli said.

“After a lot of wrangling she paid up and stormed out of the hotel without speaking to anyone. It was most distressing. The rest of her party were charming”.

Bardot in the hotel garden at Dirleton (Image: Newsquest)

Bardot’s mood had changed for the better by the time she arrived at Dirleton's Open Arms Hotel, which had been in business for less than 20 years.

“All was sweetness and light”, the Herald reported. “The French film star was delighted at the chintz-and-velvet charm of her room in the old-world hostelry.

“Early in the afternoon, having slept, she appeared briefly in the hotel lounge in a billowing cotton negligee.

“At 2pm, she reappeared dressed for sightseeing. A tight-fitting Shetland sweater in pale fawn, a tartan scarf and gold corduroy slacks fastened by a thick leather belt. She was pulling on a lead a mournful Basset Hound called ‘Beetroot’, which is to appear in the film.

Bardot was in East Lothian to shoot scenes for a film, Two Weeks in September (Image: Newsquest)

“She climbed quickly into her chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce and, accompanied by members of the French film company, set off to tour the countryside”. A large crowd of bystanders was waiting for a glimpse of her outside the hotel.

On the Monday, Bardot posed for photographs in the hotel garden, where a breakfast of porridge, rolls and tea had been laid out for her. She picked up the plate of porridge and sniffed at it with a puzzled expression.

Informed that it was the national breakfast dish of Scotland, she still looked bemused – and then pretended to throw it at the photographers.

Bardot and the crew, and her co-star, Laurent Terzieff, made their way to the windswept private beach at nearby Tantallon Castle.

August 1966: French actor Laurent Terzieff bites Brigitte Bardot's leg while giving her a piggy-back ride on the beach at North Berwick in a scene from the film 'Two Weeks in September', directed by Serge Bourguignon (Image: Jim Gray/Keystone Features/Getty Images)

“Sunshine was intermittent and a strong wind whipped up a miniature sandstorm and a choppy sea”, the Glasgow Herald reported.

“Brigitte, shivering in spite of a warm, blue Shetland sweater, plus a cable-stitch cardigan, corduroy slacks, and a tartan scarf, acted the scene [walking along the beach with Terzieff] many times before the director ordered a break.

“While waiting for the shots to be lined up, Laurent Terzieff acted as a windbreak while Brigitte, crouching behind him, rearranged her wind-tousled hair”.

A poster advertising the film (Image: PR)

“Sunshine was intermittent and a strong wind whipped up a miniature sandstorm and a choppy sea”, the Glasgow Herald reported.

“Brigitte, shivering in spite of a warm, blue Shetland sweater, plus a cable-stitch cardigan, corduroy slacks, and a tartan scarf, acted the scene [walking along the beach with Terzieff] many times before the director ordered a break.

“While waiting for the shots to be lined up, Laurent Terzieff acted as a windbreak while Brigitte, crouching behind him, rearranged her wind-tousled hair”.

The film (which also starred the British actors Michael Sarne, Georgina Ward and James Robertson Justice) was released to mixed reviews.

It did however have an interesting link to David Gilmour, who at that time was a young musician living and working in France.

Speaking in a BBC interview in 2016, Gilmour, who was one-quarter of the globally famous group, Pink Floyd, said: “I went in and sang a couple of songs for a film soundtrack, which was called Two Weeks in September … I’ve never heard them since. I hope you haven’t found them”, he added with a wry smile.

“I just turned up in a studio in Paris and sang the words they put in front of me and went home”.

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