The actress appeared in additional than 80 movies.
Nathalie Baye has died on the age of 77 (Picture: Getty)
Legendary actress Nathalie Baye has died on the age of 77. Her well being deteriorated final summer season as she battled Lewy physique dementia. Baye handed away at her house in Paris on Friday (April 17), her household advised French information company AFP. A stalwart of French cinema, Baye appeared in additional than 80 movies throughout her distinguished profession.
She obtained 10 nominations for the César Award for Finest Actress – France’s equal of the Oscars – and gained 4 of them, together with three consecutive victories from 1981 to 1983. Her first victory was for Finest Supporting Actress in Each Man for Himself in 1981. She was additionally awarded the gong for her roles in Unusual Affair (1982), La Stability (1983), and The Younger Lieutenant (2005).
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Her most notable roles embrace taking part in Leonardo DiCaprio’s mom within the 2002 movie Catch Me if You Can and French aristocrat Madame de Montmirail in Downton Abbey: A New Period in 2022.
Her breakthrough position got here in François Truffaut’s 1973 movie Day for Evening. She stated this was the position that made her fall in love with cinema after she initially strived for a profession in theatre.
In 2010, Baye advised France 24: “I’ve been fortunate to make plenty of movies, to work with very proficient administrators. But it surely was the primary film I made, ‘Day for Evening’ by François Truffaut, that allowed me to find cinema and made me love cinema. I used to be working towards a profession in theatre quite than in movie. However with Truffaut, engaged on a narrative a couple of movie shoot, it was magical.
“It was an important second in my profession. That stated, a profession is one thing that’s constructed little by little. It’s like a puzzle, with new items added to older ones. There may be not one position that can without end be crucial position of my life. It’s an ensemble of labor.”
After that, she went on to work with legendary administrators together with Steven Spielberg, Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Sautet.
In 1982, she starred in The Return of Martin Guerre, directed by Daniel Vigne, portraying a Sixteenth-century peasant drawn right into a well-known case of identification theft. The story later impressed the Hollywood adaptation Sommersby, starring Jodie Foster.
Past her movie profession, Baye maintained a robust presence on stage, showing in productions equivalent to La Parisienne and Hiver.
Her closing on-screen position got here within the 2023 Franco-Lebanese drama The Evening of the Glass of Water. That very same 12 months, she joined greater than 100 folks in signing a petition calling on Emmanuel Macron to reform France’s end-of-life laws.
Baye was married to French actor Philippe Léotard from 1972 to 1982. She tied the knot with rock and roll singer Johnny Hallyday the identical 12 months her divorce was finalised, however the couple break up 4 years later.
They share a daughter, Laura Smet, 42, who can also be an actress.
She gained 4 César Awards for Finest Actress (Picture: Getty)
Heartbroken followers rushed to pay tribute to Baye on-line, with one writing: ” What unhappiness, this morning the attractive Nathalie Baye leaves us. On tiptoe, discreetly, I continually in contrast her to my mother. For her gentleness and her magnificence.”
One other stated: “This morning, our hearts ache slightly extra tightly. Nathalie Baye left us yesterday, April 17, 2026, on the age of 77, taken by Lewy physique illness. What an immense actress. What a luminous, elegant, genuine lady. Behind the expertise, there was a discreet lady, a loving mom, an artist who crossed the eras with out ever betraying her soul.
“In the present day, it’s all of French cinema that mourns certainly one of its most stunning voices, certainly one of its most radiant lights. Thanks, Nathalie. Thanks for all these feelings, these laughs, these tears, these silences that stated all the pieces. You’ll stay without end in our reminiscences and in our hearts.”
A 3rd shared: “France loses an excellent determine. Nathalie Baye has handed away, embodying a sure concept of French cinema—demanding, elegant. 4 César awards, unforgettable roles: it is part of our heritage that vanishes.”
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