Retrospective: the people who left us in 2024

A year ago, a private photo revealed to us the family’s ChristmasAlain Delon in Douchy. We saw the star, visibly ill and weakened, surrounded by her two sons and the two daughters of her eldest. No trace of his younger sister. Twelve months have passed and Delon is no more. He left us on a Sunday in August, in the middle of a summer like so many others. The man now rests in the garden of his property, surrounded by his beloved dogs. Inheritance problems, heartbreaks, controversies and bickering. We will have talked more about family quarrels than films, which the TV channels nevertheless spit out in high doses, it is true by hiding certain titles.

In a few months, the world of cinema and culture will have had to learn to exist without the star. Because there were few of his caliber. Very little. But let’s retrace our steps and go through the year again to say a final goodbye to those in the field of arts and culture who are no longer in this world.

In January, the hero of “Starsky & Hutch”, David Soul, bowed out, dying of lung cancer. The fanciful actress Laurence Badie leaves the memory of giggles on television, the buxom Sandra Milo of larger-than-life Felliniesque images, and the director Norman Jewison that of great, often muscular films. Folk singer Melanie puts down her guitar as actress Glynis Johns walks into the Centenarians’ Club taking her last breath.

Another famous centenarian leaves us in February, it is Micheline Presle, an immense actress who spanned the decades, from the 1930s to 2012, with the same futile grace, the same lightness and a unique phrasing that identified her so well. The same month, Italian director Paolo Taviani joined his brother Vittorio, who died in 2018, and Don Murray was going to give a nod to Marilyn Monroe, his partner in “Bus Stop”. And then the elite mourned Ira von Fürstenberg, who had almost remarried Prince Rainier after having played in around twenty films.

The elite is a universe that Frédéric Mitterrandeternal jack of all trades and nephew of François, loved to observe. He passed away in March from lung cancer. The tributes will especially remember a television man and his support for Polanski. Also made famous by the small screen, in particular for “The Treasure Map”, Sylvain Augier leaves a few days earlier. On the French-speaking part of Switzerland, La Castou leaves us at 75, while cinema loses two filmmakers, Laurent Achard and Percy Adlon.

A former Palme d’Or, a pioneer of French-speaking TV

With greater sadness, we also learned of the death of Laurent Cantet in April. He was the author of several major films, including “Entre les Murs”, the undeniable Palme d’Or which thrilled us in 2008. But that month, we must also mourn the death of the writer Paul Auster, author of ‘a protean work, by the Vaud designer Etienne Delessert and Eleanor Coppola, who left a few weeks before her husband presented his latest film, “Megalopolis,” in Cannes.

It is precisely in May that the greatest book lover, Bernard Pivotbows out. Just like the pioneer of French-speaking television that was Claude Torracinta, to whom a documentary by Jacob Berger has since paid tribute. The opera director Hugues Gall, who had notably directed the Grand Théâtre de Genève, also left that same month. Just like the master of horror Roger Corman, filmmaker and producer, who again came to Locarno to collect a Golden Leopard in 2016, at the age of 90.

In June, the intense gaze of the immense Anouk Aimée closed forever. It was this same month that we had to resolve to say goodbye to the one who sang “Comment te dire adieu”! Françoise Hardyidol of young people and then of the trendy, icon of several generations, had been suffering for several years. His departure therefore seemed like a relief, at least for her. Donald Sutherland, Philippe Leroy and Janis Paige also slipped away on the eve of summer. As well as Benthe Franco-Swiss artist, who chose to leave the day after the death (of a stroke) of his wife.

Delon, controversies and genius

In July, fans of Shannen Doherty, star and often villain in several series, had to mourn the loss of their idol, who was suffering from generalized cancer. The videographer Bill Violabluesman John Mayall, writer Ismaïl Kadaré and actress Shelley Duvall are also among the missing. It was upon returning from the Locarno Festival, on August 18, that we learned of the disappearance of Alain Delon. Despite the mourning, controversies resurface, particularly around his links with the former president of the National Front. It is by rewatching his films that we come to agree. He’s great there most of the time. This month is also marked by the death of Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes’ companion and a great actress in her own right, of the former host Patrice Laffont, of the immense producer Margaret Menegoz and of the pasionaria of song Catherine Ribeiro.

In September, the immense Maggie Smith, who not only starred in “Harry Potter” and “Downtown Abbey”, bowed out. Just like Caterina Valente, international singing star, who died in Lugano. The media were also a little too discreet in their tributes. But let’s move on… The singer-actor Kris Kristofferson, the actor James Earl Jones, the Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes and the chef-op Pierre-William Glenn are also on the trip.

October is mourned by the sudden disappearance of Michel Blanc. After Anémone, who died in 2019, the world of the 1970s café-theatre, a breeding ground for talent, began to shrink. Big shock also for One Direction fans, who learned of the death of Liam Payne in circumstances that appear to be quite murky. The star indeed fell from the balcony of his hotel in Argentina, and an autopsy will reveal the presence of drugs and alcohol. But it is cinema that is being hit at the start of autumn. Actresses Christine Boisson, Teri Garr and Mitzi Gaynor, filmmaker Paul Morrissey and actor Pierre Vernier complete the list.

This November, music legend Quincy Jones leaves this world. Just like the Genevan designer Daniel Ceppi, the filmmaker Jim Abrahams, the great Mexican actress Silvia Pinal and the singer Charles Dumont. And this month, we had to say goodbye to our former colleague Pierre Orto the discreet director Wolfgang Becker, to the actor Niels Arestrup, to the luminous Marisa Parédès, muse in particular to Almodovar, to the jazzman Martial Solal and to the star of culinary shows that was Maïté.

There you go, we could have cited dozens of other names. More or less forgotten actors or actresses, like Margaret Lee, Karin Baal, Gérard Barray, Tony Lo Bianco, Mark Damon, James Darren, Geneviève Grad, Perrette Souplex or Earl Holliman. Singers with almost unique hits, such as Pascal Danel and his “Beach to the Romantics”, Eric Carmen and this “All by Myself” from which Céline Dion took advantage, Pino d’Angio, pioneer of Italo disco. Shadow producers, like Paul Lederman (Claude François), Frank Farian (Boney M). TV heroes include Jean-Pierre Descombes. A syrupy crooner, Frank Ifield. More or less ephemeral singers, like Jack Lantier, Rosalie Dubois, Henri Gougaud, Guy Bonnet or Daniel Beretta. Canadian stars in their country, think of Jean-Pierre Ferland and Guylaine Guzy. And some filmmakers who have gone unnoticed, like Jean-Charles Tacchella, Didier Kaminka, Suzanne Osten, Laurent Tirard, Jean-Claude Missiaen. But we must put an end to this ephemeris and look towards 2025. Sorry to those who were not mentioned.

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