Nathalie Baye, the renowned French actress who appeared in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can (2002), has died. She was 77.
The 4x César Award-winning actress died on Friday evening at her home in Paris after suffering from Lewy body dementia, Baye’s family told Agence France-Presse.
Born July 6, 1948 in Mainneville, Eure, Normandy, Baye graduated from France’s Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique (National Academy of Dramatic Arts) in 1972, making her film debut that year in Robert Wise’s Two People, starring Peter Fonda and Lindsay Wagner.
Baye went on to star in such French films as Day for Night (1973), Jean-Luc Godard’s Every Man for Himself (1980), Strange Affair (1981), The Return of Martin Guerre (1982), La Balance (1982) and Venus Beauty (2000), Feelings (2003), The Young Lieutenant (2006) and It’s Only the End of the World (2017).
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In the U.S., Baye played French virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi in the 1993 Emmy-winning TV film And the Band Played On, about the discovery and spread of HIV/AIDS.
Christopher Walken and Nathalie Baye in ‘Catch Me If You Can’ (2002) (Dreamworks/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Baye also worked with Spielberg in his Oscar-nominated film Catch Me If You Can, playing Paula, the mother of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Frank Abagnale Jr., the convicted con artist turned security consultant. She starred alongside Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale Sr., and Tom Hanks as Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent who brought Frank Jr. in.
Most recently, Baye starred in Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) as Madame Montmirail, appearing alongside the late Maggie Smith in one of her final film appearances.
Baye is survived by actress daughter Laura Smet, whom she shared with musician ex Johnny Hallyday.
