French film star Nathalie Baye dies aged 77, media report

One of France's most celebrated film stars, Nathalie Baye, has died aged 77, French media report.

President Emmanuel Macron said the much-loved stalwart of French cinema had been "an actress with whom we loved, dreamed and grew up".

A four-time acting winner at the Césars - France's equivalent of the Oscars - Baye starred in some 80 films in her lifetime after breakout roles in the early 1970s.

Her family told the French news agency AFP she had died at her home in Paris on Friday evening from a form of dementia.

Born into a bohemian family of artists in Normandy in 1948, she began her career as a dancer before turning to acting.

She became one of France's most decorated actresses and worked alongside pioneers of the French New Wave such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

Later in her career she appeared in high-profile international projects, such as Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me if You Can, in which she played Leonardo DiCaprio's mother.

More recently, she played a parody of herself in the acclaimed series Call My Agent! alongside her daughter, actress Laura Smet, and a French aristocrat in the second Downton Abbey film.

Paying tribute, Macron wrote on X: "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."

Her family said she had died following a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease, AFP reported.