Cliff Notes – The Missing star Tchéky Karyo acclaimed French actor dies aged 72
- Tchéky Karyo, renowned for his role as detective Julien Baptiste in the BBC drama The Missing, passed away at the age of 72 after a battle with cancer.
- The French actor, who had a prolific 40-year career, was celebrated for his performances in films such as La Balance, Nikita, and GoldenEye, amassing a total of 140 roles.
- Karyo’s legacy includes a potential return to the Baptiste franchise, with creators expressing interest in collaborating with him again earlier this year.
The Missing star Tchéky Karyo, acclaimed French actor, dies aged 72
The 72-year-old actor died of cancer, his agent has confirmed on social media.
Tchéky Karyo, star of hit BBC drama The Missing within a wide-spanning 40-year career, has died aged 72.
The renowned French actor – born in Istanbul and raised in Paris – died of cancer on Friday, his agent confirmed. He is survived by his wife, actress Valérie Keruzoré, and their children
Kayro was best known by UK audiences as TV detective Julien Baptiste in BBC anthology drama The Missing from 2014 to 2016 and was widely-watched and praised at the time as ‘hauntingly brilliant television’.
This led to a two-series spin-off, Baptiste
In a career spanning four decades, he rose to prominence in the 80s in the crime thriller La Balance (1982), for which he landed a César Award for Best Male Revelation.
Later, he played the handler Bob in Luc Besson’s assassin film Nikita (1990).
Other major movies included Ridley Scott’s historical epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise in 1992 and the James Bond film GoldenEye. Elsewhere, in 1994’s Nostradamus, he played the titular medieval prophet.
He starred in BBC drama The Missing alongside the spin-off series (Picture: BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky)
Other famed roles include Luc Besson-directed movie Nikita (Picture: Getty/ Sygma)
In 2000, he starred in Jean Villeneuve’s The Patriot, as well as 2004’s A Very Long Engagement and 2013’s Belle and Sebastian.
As recently as 2023, he starred in the BBC comedy thriller, Boat Story, as The Tailor and his last listed project is the short movie Le Papillon d’acier, with a total of 140 roles in his decorated career.
Discussing his joy playing Baptiste over the course of several years, he told Hello in 2021 it was ‘no pressure at all’ after becoming a fan-favourite character.
He continued: ‘On the contrary, I was growing wings. I mean, we know that through love and through empathy, you get the best out of people and hate is the worst, the worst.
He reprised his role for the two-season spin-off series (Picture: BBC/New Pictures/Sophie Mutevelian)
The renowned actor starred in 140 movies internationally during his career (Picture: Getty)
‘So it takes time maybe for some to understand it. But yes, it’s fantastic…. it’s a fantastic adventure this, The Missing and Baptiste.’
Harry and Jack Williams, the brothers behind The Missing as well as thrillers such as The Assassin, had even spoken about a potential return to the popular franchise earlier this year.
Harry told Radio Times: ‘Yeah, we still talk to Tchéky a lot, while Jack added to ‘never say never’.
Jack continued at the time: ‘We’ve come close, we’ve talked about it. We’ve never quite cracked the thing. Then the longer it goes, the more you go… you don’t want to… we feel like the second one could have gone horribly wrong, and the fact that people liked it and it went well was such a relief.’
