Nathalie Baye: the actress's funeral will take place on Friday in Paris

Nathalie Baye's family announced on Monday that the actress's funeral will take place on Friday, April 24, at 10:00 a.m. at the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris. The burial will follow. "In strict privacy."

A leading figure in French cinema, Nathalie Baye died at the age of 77 last Friday at her home in Paris. According to a statement from her family, the actress suffered from Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease. The statement also indicated that her health had been declining since last summer.

A disappearance that has sparked strong emotions in France

The announcement of Nathalie Baye's death immediately provoked a series of reactions in the political and cultural world. The Minister of Culture, Catherine Pégard, paid tribute to her memory. "One of our greatest actresses" In an official tribute published on April 18, 2026, Catherine Pégard highlighted Nathalie Baye's ability to play any role. "Fragility as well as strength, irony as well as pain"and insists on an artistic presence that "resisted all forms of artifice".

In another official tribute, Emmanuel Macron He also paid tribute to Nathalie Baye on the Élysée Palace website. The President of the Republic referred to her as an actress who had "His choices and talent have forged a unique path in French cinema."recalling both the richness of her filmography and the special place she occupied in French cultural history.

This national emotion can be explained by the mark left by Nathalie Baye on French cinema. She rose to fame in 1973 in La Nuit américaine After working with François Truffaut, she went on to work with several major directors, including Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Bertrand Tavernier, Nicole Garcia, Xavier Beauvois, Tonie Marshall, Xavier Dolan, and Steven Spielberg. Her career, marked by four César Awards, spanned more than fifty years.

Laura Smet at the heart of the family statement

The passing of Nathalie Baye also deeply affected her loved ones, especially her daughter Laura Smet. The family statement quoted in the press explicitly mentions Laura Smet among those who announced the actress's death. In the hours that followed, Laura Smet also paid a personal tribute to her mother.

The holding of the funeral at the Church of Saint-Sulpice, one of the capital's most famous religious sites, confirms the symbolic importance given to this final public tribute. Before a burial requested by the family to be discreet, the ceremony is expected to bring together relatives, film personalities, and members of the public who have come to pay their respects to an actress who remained, for decades, one of the most respected faces of French cinema.

Among the most notable tributes was that of Gilles Jacob, former president of the Cannes Film Festival, who described Nathalie Baye as "The typical French actress, the good friend", The "An actress loved by all".