Celebrated actor Tchéky Karyo, who starred in the BBC hit drama The Missing and James Bond’s GoldenEye, has died aged 72.
Born in Istanbul but raised in Paris, Karyo acted in films for almost forty years before transitioning to television in his later years.
His wife, actress Valérie Keruzoré, and their children announced he had ‘succumbed to cancer this Friday, October 31’.
Karyo starred as Dmitri Mishkin in GoldenEye (1995), but numerous Brits will remember his outstanding role as detective Julien Baptiste in The Missing.
The series, which was heralded at the time as ‘hauntingly brilliant television’, followed the search for a five-year-old British boy who disappeared during a family holiday in France.
He starred alongside James Nesbitt, Keeley Hawes, and David Morrissey in two series between 2014 and 2016, before the show’s success led to his own spin-off, Baptiste, in 2019.
At the time, the beloved actor said about his reprisal: ‘I didn’t expect it, but it’s flattering. This has made me feel young again.’
Discussing the joy of playing Baptiste, he told Hello in 2021: ‘It’s fantastic…. It’s a fantastic adventure this, The Missing and Baptiste.’
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, told the publication: ‘We are so sad to learn of the passing of Tchéky Karyo.
‘He was a truly brilliant and much-loved actor, and he will be fondly remembered by BBC viewers for his roles in The Missing, Baptiste and most recently Boat Story. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this time.’
Born in 1953, Karyo began in French cinema in the 1980s, earning some early awards and nominations.
He was the hunter in Jean Jacques Annaud’s 1988 wilderness adventure ‘The Bear’.
Then, in 1990, he got attention for his turn as the hard-nosed secret agent handling Anne Parillaud’s female assassin Nikita, in Besson’s hit film of the same name.
He was gifted in several languages, including French, English, and Spanish.
It meant he was soon appearing in international productions, such as Ridley Scott’s historical epic ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’.
He performed regularly in cinema and television in France and abroad, appearing in films as varied as Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 whimsical comedy ‘Amelie’, to Brazilian director Walter Salles’ 1995 thriller ‘Foreign Land’.
Tcheky was also an acclaimed musician and songwriter.
He released an album, Ce lien qui nous unit (English translation, The Link That Binds Us) in 2006, and another titled Credo in 2013 to mark his 60th birthday.
His death comes just seven months after another The Missing star, Emile Dequenne, died aged 43 of a rare cancer.
The celebrated actress who costarred with Karyo died at a hospital outside of Paris in March.
She announced in October 2023 that she was suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma, a cancer of the adrenal gland.
By April 2024, Dequenne shared the uplifting news of her complete remission, expressing her decision to return to her career and to life as she knew it.
‘I was close to forgetting because I was leaving the hospital today after 13 days… What a tough battle,’ she wrote on social media.
But tragically, her health took a turn for the worse when she suffered a deterioration of her condition at the end of last year.
On December 1, she told French television show TF1 she was focusing on her health, and publicly acknowledged her deteriorating condition.
Death is such a horrible thing. In addition to being a great actor and a charming man, he was exceptionally talented in Baptiste. He had a real talent and was extremely charismatic on screen.
He was a great actor – so good that you felt he wasn’t acting at all – that you were watching a real-life situation evolving before your very eyes.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 