Jacques Villeret: “Alone and helpless”, the heartbreaking confidences of Nathalie Baye about her friend

Jacques Villeret died on January 28, 2005 at the age of 53. Twenty years after his death, Nathalie Baye paid tribute to her friend in a documentary broadcast on France 3.

© RINDOFF-GARCIA/BESTIMAGE Jacques Villeret kissed by Nathalie Baye at the César Awards ceremony in 1999.

IN BRIEF

• Jacques Villeret, an iconic actor in French cinema, died on January 28, 2005 at the age of 53 from internal hemorrhage due to a liver disease.
• France 3 paid tribute to Jacques Villeret by broadcasting 'La Soupe aux choux' and an unpublished documentary on January 28, twenty years after his death.
• Discover Nathalie Baye's moving confidences on Jacques Villeret's hidden sadness and their unwavering friendship.

He is an actor who has left his mark on French cinema. Throughout his career, Jacques Villeret has stood out thanks to his talent. He thus found success in La Soupe aux choux in 1981, Papy fait de la résistance in 1983 and Le Dîner de cons in 1998. Unfortunately, he died at only 53 years old, on January 28, 2005. He succumbed to an internal hemorrhage related to a liver disease. 

Twenty years after the actor's death, France 3 wanted to pay tribute to him during an evening. On Tuesday, January 28, the television channel broadcast La Soupe aux chouxthen the unpublished documentary Jacques Villeret, funny tragic. The opportunity for his friends to return to his personality.

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Nathalie Baye confides in her friend's sadness

In the cinema, Jacques Villeret was particularly known for playing kind and endearing characters. Behind his great sensitivity however, there was hidden suffering. “The further we went in time, the more he found himself alone and helpless, and unhappy, fatally”, Nathalie Baye revealed.

The actress was not the only one to have detected this great sadness. Indeed, the director Jean-Michel Ribes confided: “It was like a man torn apart. It was a fierce struggle between misfortune and happiness”. A distress that had pushed him to consume alcohol more than is reasonable. 

The actress recalls her meeting with Jacques Villeret

The friendship between Nathalie Baye and Jacques Villeret began at the very beginning of their respective careers. Indeed, they met on the conservatory stage, in the early 1970s. “We were accomplices, Jacques made me laugh a lot. “That was a happy period of our life”, explained Laura Smet's mother.

As soon as they met, the actress had detected the potential of her friend. She thus indicated: “Jacques's talent, I perceived it in four days. He had a humor, a funnyness, a difference, a particularity that was very strong and very attractive”. A beautiful friendship that had then lasted over time. Nathalie Baye had also given him the César for best actor for his role as François Pignon in 1999.