The deaths of famous people sometimes touch us right in the heart. This year, many celebrities bowed out, before being honored by a shower of tributes on social networks, but also on television, for some. This was particularly the case for Alain Delon, who breathed his last on August 18, 2024, in his property in Douchyin Loiret, at the age of 88. Very weakened by his two strokes, the legendary actor had not left his home for months, he who had witnessed, helplessly, the media-judicial battle waged by his three children, Anthony, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien. The only positive point of this war which the clan leader would have done well, the actor's three children did not fight over the inheritancesince everything had already been decided a long time ago.
On February 3, 2024, Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy, son of the last king of Italy Humbert II, died at the age of 86. His only son, Prince Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy, who is also the husband of actress Clotilde Courau, therefore became the new head of the family. A few days later, on February 21, Micheline Presle, doyenne of French cinema, died at the age of 101, amid a shower of tributes.
Niels Arestrup, Patrice Laffont… Cinema and television have lost many notable figures
The world of television had to say goodbye to many notable faces in 2024. Among them, Bernard Pivot, who died on May 6, 2024, at the age of 89. Shadow figure of television, Nonce Paolini died on July 17, 2024, at the age of 75, after battling cancer. Laurence Ferrari, Jean-Luc Reichmann, Jean-Pierre Foucault… many personalities traveled for the funeral of the former CEO of TF1in the Saint-Honoré d'Eylau church in Paris. Another notable death, Patrice Laffont, historical animator of Fort Boyard and Pyramide, died on August 7, 2024 in his house in Oppède, in the Luberon after a heart attack, a few days before his 85th birthday.
The Splendid troupe had to say goodbye to Michel Blanc on October 3, suddenly. The 72-year-old actor died as a result of angioedema, due to a sudden allergy after the injection of a product as part of a medical examination. A disappearance which shocked his comrades at Splendidall present at his funeral, alongside his long-time companion, Ramatoulaye Diop. “We are inconsolable for the loss of Michel. We realized to what extent we were present in the collective unconscious of the French […] The French said to themselves, with the death of Michel: 'They are not eternal… And neither are we“, confided Christian Clavier to Paris Match, a few months after the death of his friend.
Another great of cinema, Niels Arestrup, died on December 1, after a long illness. Yvan Attal, Albert Dupontel, Patrick Bruel… big names were present at the Saint-Roch church, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, to honor the memory of the actor who died at the age of 75. Across the Atlantic, June 20, Donald Sutherland, actor of the Hunger Games saga, dies at the age of 88after a long fight against illness. Two days earlier, French cinema lost one of its icons, Anouk Aimée, at the age of 92.
Françoise Hardy, Liam Payne… these voices which died out in 2024
The French also mourned a singer who left her mark on several generations. After many years of fighting against illness, Françoise Hardy took her last breath on June 11, at the age of 80. Jaques Dutronc would have bought a concession “facing the sea” in Monticello, in Corsica, to place the ashes of Françoise Hardy, the one from whom he never divorced despite their separation more than thirty years ago.
In the United States, the music world suffered from the death of Tito Jackson, big brother of Michael and Janet Jackson, at the age of 70. A true legend at the 28 Grammy Awards, the disappearance of Quincy Jones on November 3 affected more than one person. In the UK and around the world, Tributes continued for weeks after Liam Payne's brutal deathformer member of One Direction, died at just 31 years old on October 16, in macabre circumstances. The singer actually jumped from the balcony of the hotel room where he was staying, in Buenos Aires, under the influence of substances.
