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World18 April 20262 min read

French film star Nathalie Baye dead at 77

Paris: One of France's most celebrated film stars, Nathalie Baye, has died aged 77, French media report. President Emmanuel Macron said the much-loved stalwart of French cinema had been "an actress with whom we loved, dreamed and grew up". A four-time acting winner at the C&eacut

Editorial Team Legacy

Published 18 April 2026, 8:00 · Updated 18:23

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French film star Nathalie Baye dead at 77

Paris: One of France's most celebrated film stars, Nathalie Baye, has died aged 77, French media report.

President Emmanuel Macron said the much-loved stalwart of French cinema had been "an actress with whom we loved, dreamed and grew up".

A four-time acting winner at the Césars - France's equivalent of the Oscars - Baye starred in some 80 films in her lifetime after breakout roles in the early 1970s.

Her family said she had died at her home in Paris on Friday evening from a form of dementia.

Born into a bohemian family of artists in Normandy in 1948, she began her career as a dancer before turning to acting.

She became one of France's most decorated actresses and worked alongside pioneers of the French New Wave such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

Later in her career she appeared in high-profile international projects, such as Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me if You Can, in which she played Leonardo DiCaprio's mother.

More recently, she played a parody of herself in the acclaimed series Call My Agent! alongside her daughter, actress Laura Smet, and a French aristocrat in the second Downton Abbey film.

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