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Downton Abbey star Nathalie Baye has died aged 77 following a dementia diagnosis, it was announced on Saturday.
The actress’ family told AFP she had passed away at her home in Paris on Friday evening after suffering from Lewy body dementia.
She was known for her role as Madame de Montmirail in the 2022 film, Downton Abbey: A New Era.
Nathalie’s character is an old friend of Maggie Smith’s, Violet Crawley, who comes to visit her and her family.
The film was Nathalie’s last on screen appearance.
The award-winning actress, who has scooped four César Awards over the years, has starred in a number of high profile features since beginning her acting career in 1970.
She featured alongside Leonardo DiCaprio’s in Catch Me if You Can as his character’s mother as well as Every Man for Himself – which landed the star her first César.
Nathalie was born in Normandy in 1948 and left school at the age of 14 to pursue dancing after struggling with dyslexia.
She broke through in Francois Truffaut’s Day For Night in 1973 and hasn’t stopped working since, appearing in French classics such as The Return Of Martin Guerre, La Balance and Le Petit Lieutenant.
During lockdown many viewers found their way to her films after seeing her in Netflix’s ace TV series Call My Agent.
Nathalie appeared in more than 80 films, winning every acting award possible from across the Channel.
She was in a relationship with rock and roll singer Johnny Hallyday, best known as the ‘French Elvis’, from 1982 until 1986.
They share one daughter, Laura Smet, 42, who like her mother, is also an actress.
It is believed Nathalie’s dementia progressed over the summer of 2025, according to reports.
LBD is the second most common form of degenerative dementia after Alzheimer’s.
Unlike Alzheimer’s, LBD affects the brain regions responsible for vision – as opposed to memory.
That means sufferers may start with memory loss, but over time the more debilitating symptoms will be powerful hallucinations, nightmares and spatial-awareness problems.
LBD is closely connected to Parkinson’s disease, meaning that many sufferers will develop Parkinson’s as well – as happened to Robin Williams.
