Veteran French actress Nathalie Baye has died at the age of 77, according to French media reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the actress, describing her as “an actress with whom we loved, dreamed and grew up”.
A four-time winner at the César Awards — France’s equivalent of the Oscars — Baye featured in around 80 films over a career spanning more than five decades, following her breakthrough in the early 1970s.
Her family told AFP that she died at her home in Paris on Friday evening after suffering from Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease.
Born in Normandy in 1948 into a bohemian family of artists, Baye began her career as a dancer before moving into acting. She rose to prominence with François Truffaut’s 1973 comedy Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine), shortly after graduating from drama school.
She went on to become one of France’s most decorated performers. Baye won her first César in 1981 for her supporting role in Jean-Luc Godard’s Every Man for Himself (Sauve qui peut (la vie)). She secured further honours with back-to-back wins — best supporting actress in 1982 and best actress in 1983 — for Une Étrange Affaire and La Balance.
In 1999, she won best actress at the Venice Film Festival for An Affair of Love (Une Liaison Pornographique).
Baye also appeared in international productions, including Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Catch Me if You Can, where she played the mother of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character.
In later years, she featured in the hit French series Call My Agent! alongside her daughter, Laura Smet, and appeared in the second Downton Abbey film. Her final screen role came in the 2023 Franco-Lebanese drama La nuit du verre d'eau (Mother Valley).
Baye had a daughter with rock musician Johnny Hallyday, known as the “French Elvis”, whose death in 2017 triggered widespread national mourning.
Beyond cinema, she was known to have supported initiatives on climate change and advocated reforms to France’s assisted dying laws.
Tributes poured in from across the film fraternity. Actor Isabelle Adjani, who worked with Baye in La Gifle (1974), described her as an "actress of dazzling spontaneity". Co-star Richard Berry wrote on Instagram: "Nathalie, you take with you our laughter and the fond memories of our early days."
Macron, in a post on X, said: “We loved Nathalie Baye so much. With her voice, her smile and her grace, she has been a constant presence in French cinema over the past few decades, from François Truffaut to Tonie Marshall. She was an actress with whom we loved, dreamed and grew up. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones”.
Culture Minister Catherine Pégard told AFP that Baye had “lit up a long chapter in the history of French cinema with her talent and radiant personality”.