Family and guests, including many personalities from the world of cinema, attended the funeral of actress Nathalie Baye, who died at the age of 77. A crowd of anonymous people also wanted to pay their last respects to the actress in front of the Saint-Sulpice church, where the ceremony took place.
Published on: 04/24/2026 - 04:03 Modified on: 04/24/2026 - 12:14
From Catherine Deneuve to Josiane Balasko and Guillaume Canet, the world of cinema, but also hundreds of anonymous people, paid a final tribute on Friday April 24 in Paris to Nathalie Baye, who died on April 17 at the age of 77, before her burial "in strict privacy".
Her white coffin, arriving shortly after 10:30 a.m., was applauded by the crowd gathered near the Saint-Sulpice church, in the heart of the 6th arrondissement, where the actress lived.
His daughter Laura Smet, all in black, had climbed the steps of the church a few minutes before.
“I lost half of my heart, she was the best mother in the world,” wrote Laura Smet, whose father was Johnny Hallyday, the day after the announcement of her mother’s death.
Sylvie Vartan, who had also shared the life of “Johnny”, and her son David Hallyday arrived among the first.
After the family and the 400 guests, including the actors and actresses Catherine Deneuve, Roschdy Zem, Francis Huster, Josiane Balasko, André Dussollier, Clovis Cornillac and Guillaume Canet, around a hundred anonymous people were able to settle in the church.
Wreaths were laid, including one from Sylvie Vartan, crossed out with “Unforgettable”, and one from her former agent Dominique Besnehard: “To the actress of my life”.
On the cover of the mass booklet, a photo of the actress, smiling and elegant, sitting on the steps of a staircase. Inside, another image, showing her, still smiling, face to face with Laura Smet, then very young.
The actress died of Lewy body disease, a neurodegenerative condition that manifests as a combination of disorders similar to Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
Popular while being very discreet, Nathalie Baye was "an actress with whom we loved, dreamed, grew up", greeted President Emmanuel Macron.
“Women adored her” and “men respected her,” said producer Dominique Besnehard, once her agent.
For the former president of the Cannes festival Gilles Jacob, "from Truffaut to Godard, from Daniel Vigne to Spielberg, Nathalie was the typical French actress, the good friend. An actress loved by all, she played, she lived."
A “discreet” personality
Born on July 6, 1948 in Mainneville (Eure), Nathalie Baye knew how to break her classic image to give free rein to her fantasy and offer herself an impressive filmography with around a hundred feature films. From François Truffaut ("American Night") to Xavier Dolan ("Just the End of the World") via Bertrand Blier ("Our Story"), Tonie Marshall ("Venus Beauty") and Claude Chabrol ("The Flower of Evil").
She won multiple César awards (twice for a leading role, twice for a supporting role), notably winning the statuette three years in a row from 1981 to 1983, then again in 2006 for “Le Petit Lieutenant”.
The actress also made a short trip to Hollywood, playing Leonardo DiCaprio's mother in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can".
In addition to rockstar Johnny Hallyday, Nathalie Baye shared the life of actor Philippe Léotard, Pierre Lescure and politician Jean-Louis Borloo, according to whom she "was anything but a celebrity woman".
In her private life, “she did what she wanted to do,” her agent for 20 years, Elisabeth Tanner, told Paris-Match. "She never cared about knowing what people said about her, about her choices, about her tastes. Above all, she was extremely discreet. Obviously, when she met Johnny, it was difficult to be discreet, but overall, she didn't like media coverage at all costs."
Nathalie Baye was a member of the honorary committee of the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (ADMD), which campaigns for the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
With AFP
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