Agnès Varda , the French New Wave film director, has died, aged 90.
“The director and artist Agnès Varda died at her home on the night of Thursday 29 March, of complications from cancer,” A statement from her family reads. “She was surrounded by her family and friends.”
Varda’s experimental and feminist approach to filmmaking won plaudits from critics around the world, with her best-known works including La Pointe Courte, Cléo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond .
In 2017, she became the oldest person ever to be nominated for a competitive Oscar, for her feature documentary Faces Places . That same year she became the first female director to ever receive an honorary Oscar.
Last month, Varda presented her latest film, Varda by Agnès , at the Berlin Film Festival. The director had been scheduled to give a masterclass at an event in Doha, Qatar, earlier this month, but cancelled after her health deteriorated.
Ford, whose real name was Thomas McAleese, was the frontman of guitar-pop group Marmalade. The band the first Scottish group to top the UK singles chart, with their cover of the Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da in December 1968. Ford died in Los Angeles on 31 December 2018, at the age of 72 from complications relating to Parkinson's disease.
Getty
A singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist, she was also married to Neil Young for 36 years. She died of cancer on 1 January, aged 66, in Mountain View, California.
Getty
The singer and pianist achieved fame as half of the musical duo Captain & Tennille, best known for their 1975 hit "Love Will Keep Us Together". Dragon died on 2 January, from kidney failure in Prescott, Arizona, aged 76.
Getty Images
The actor was best known for playing the original Scott Robinson on Neighbours when the show launched in 1985 on Australia's Channel Seven. Perkins died from cancer on 2 January, aged 54
Ten
The Emmy-winning writer appeared in US comedy shows Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development, becoming known for his deadpan delivery. He died on 2 January, shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia, aged 76.
HBO/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
The raspy-voiced, saucer-eyed, wide-smiling actor played lead roles in the original Broadway musical productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Hello, Dolly!, while delivering an Oscar-nominated performance in the 1967 film version of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Channing died on 15 January of natural causes at her home in Rancho Mirage, California at the age of 97.
Getty
Oliver, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, wrote rapturous odes to nature and animal life that brought her critical acclaim and popular affection, writing more than 15 poetry and essay collections. She died on 17 January, aged 83, in Hobe Sound, Florida.
Getty
The actor was best known for his role as Battery Sergeant-Major Williams in the TV series It Ain't Half Hot, Mum, which ran from 1974 to 1981. He died on 17 January, aged 88, four months after the death of his wife, Eluned.
Getty
The Lithuanian-born filmmaker, who escaped a Nazi labour camp and became a refugee, rose to acclaim in New York and went on to work with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Janis Joplin and Andy Warhol. He died on 23 January, aged 96, in New York City.
Chuck Close
Andre Previn, the four-time Oscar-winning composer, conductor and pianist, died at his Manhattan home aged 89. The German-born virtuoso, who enjoyed a career spanning eight decades, worked on more than 500 albums and films including Gigi, My Fair Lady, and Porgy and Bess. Alongside success in Hollywood, the pianist also memorably performed a beloved classic music sketch with the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise.
Getty
The writer, novelist and editor worked with authors including Margaret Atwood, Philip Roth, Jean Rhys and VS Naipaul. She died at a hospice in London on 23 January, aged 101, following a short illness.
Getty
During a career spanning more than 50 years, the French musician wrote the scores for over 200 films and TV series, as well as original songs. In 1968, he won his first Oscar for the song “The Windmills of Your Mind” from The Thomas Crown Affair film. He died in Paris on 26 January at the age of 86.
Getty
The singer and songwriter, who was nominated for 14 Grammys in his lifetime, was well known for his hits including “Baby, Come to Me,” his duet sung with Patti Austin and “Yah Mo B There,” a duet sung with Michael McDonald, which won him a Grammy. Ingram died on 29 January, aged 66, from brain cancer, at his home in Los Angeles.
Getty
The actor enjoyed a career spanning more than 60 years, featuring hundreds of screen appearances, including Gremlins (1984) and The Terminator (1984). The actor died 30 January, aged 90, in Toluca Lake, California.
Warner Bros
The comedian gained recognition on the comedy circuit in the 1980s and was a regular on BBC Radio 4 panel shows, including The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. He died of cancer on 1 February, aged 57.
Rex
Known to many as the long-suffering Richard Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances, the actor's first professional acting job was at Nottingham Playhouse, in the UK premiere of JB Priestley’s take the Fool Away, in 1959. He died on Friday, 1 February after a short illness, aged 82.
Rex
The actor starred in the 1954 horror classic Creature From the Black Lagoon, playing Kay Lawrence, the girlfriend of hero ichthyologist Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson) and the target of the Creature’s obsessions. She died 3 February in Los Angeles, aged 92.
Rex
The actor was one of Britain’s premiere Shakespearean actors and was nominated for five Oscars across almost four decades – for Tom Jones (1963), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), Under the Volcano (1984) and Erin Brockovich (2000). He died aged 82, following a short illness.
Getty
Born in 1942 in Washington DC, Tork became part of The Monkees with Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones in the mid-sixties, when the group was formed as America’s Beatles counterpart. All four were selected from more than 400 applicants to play in the associated TV series The Monkees, which aired between 1966 and 1968.
GETTY IMAGES
As the frontman of the band Talk Talk, Hollis was largely responsible for the band's shift towards a more experimental approach in the mid-1980s, pioneering what became known as post-rock, with hit singles including “Life’s What You Make It” (1985) and “Living in Another World” (1986).
Musician Andy Anderson, former drummer for The Cure and Iggy Pop, died aged 68 from terminal cancer, after a long and successful career as a session musician
Alex Pym/Facebook
Having attended the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh, Sheridan went on to star in a string of film and TV credits of the next two decades, including Invasion and Halt and Catch Fire. She died aged 44, at her home in New Orleans.
Getty Images
Freeman appeared on season 13 of the TV singing competition The Voice, making a strong impression early on with her cover of 'Radioactive' by Imagine Dragons, performed during the blind auditions. She had an extreme case of pneumonia and had a blood clot that travelled to her heart. She died in hospital on 2 March.
Getty Images for COTA
Flint quickly became one of the figureheads of British electronic music during the Nineties as a singer in the band The Prodigy. He died, aged 49, on 4 March.
EPA
Perry rose to fame as teen heartthrob Dylan McKay in 'Beverly Hills, 90210', and most recently played Fred Andrews in The CW's 'Riverdale'. He died on 4 March after suffering a 'massive stroke', his representative said in a statement.
AFP/Getty Images
Allan was best known for his role as Rush Sanders, the father of Ian Ziering’s Steve Sanders, on Beverly Hills, 90210; Don Craig on Days of Our Lives; and CC Capwell on Santa Barbara. He died on Saturday, 9 March, aged 84.
Rex Features
As part of the Wrecking Crew, an elite group of session players, Blaine played drums on some of the most iconic songs of the 1960s and 1970s, including The Beach Boys's “Good Vibrations”, the Ronettes’s ”Be My Baby”, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs Robinson”. He died on 11 March, aged 90.
Getty
The Irish-born actor had roles in almost 40 films and 30 television shows, including in BBC’s Eastenders, Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, and RTE’s The Clinic. He died on Friday, 15 March, aged 79
PA
Mike Thalassitis was a semi-professional footballer before finding fame on the third season of Love Island. He died aged 26.
Rex Features
Dale is credited with pioneering the surf music style, by drawing on his Middle-Eastern heritage and experimenting with reverberation. He is best known for his hit "Misirlou", used in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. He died on Saturday, 16 March, aged 81.
Getty
Guitarist Bernie Tormé rose to fame in the seventies before joining Ozzy Osbourne on tour in 1982, following the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads in a plane crash that same year. The Dublin-born musician died on 17 March, 2019 at the age of 66.
YouTube
R&B singer and songwriter Andre Williams co-wrote "Shake a Tail Feather" among many other hits, signing first with Fortune Records then with Motown. The Alabama native, who relocated to Detroit as a young man, died on 17 March, aged 82.
YouTube
The American British singer-songwriter and producer who rose to fame with The Walker Brothers during the Sixties and was once referred to as "pop's own Salinger", died on 22 March, aged 76. He was one of the most prolific artists of his generation, despite shunning the spotlight following his brief years as a teen idol, and released a string of critically acclaimed albums as well as writing a number of film scores, and producing albums for other artists including Pulp.
Rex
French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda died on 29 March, aged 90. She was best known for the films "Cléo from 5 to 7" and "Vagabond" and was widely regarded to be one of the most influential experimental and feminist filmmakers of all time.
AFP/Getty
Model and Bond girl Tania Mallet died on 30 March, aged 77. She earned her only credited acting role opposite Sean Connery in 1964 film Goldfinger, playing Tilly Masterson.
United Artists
One of the founding members of Level 42, Boon Gould, died on 1 March, aged 64. He was a guitarist and saxophone player.
Rex Features
Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle was shot outside his clothing store in Los Angeles on 1 April. He was 33. Hussle, who was once signed to Sony’s Epic Records, had a breakthrough with Victory Lap, his critically acclaimed major-label debut album on Atlantic Records. The album appeared on several "best of" lists including Complex and Billboard.
(Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Warner Music)
John Singleton, the famed director best known for his film Boyz N the Hood, died aged 51. Singleton had been on life support following a stroke on 17 April, at which point he was taken to an intensive care unit in Los Angeles. His family decided to take him off of life support on 29 April. The acclaimed filmmaker was the first African American nominated for a best director Oscar for Boyz N the Hood, and was the youngest ever to be nominated for that same award at the time in 1991. He directed that film while he was in his 20s, and fresh out of film school.
Getty
Comedian Starr was the star of several eponymous TV shows during the 1990s such as Freddie Starr, The Freddie Starr Show and An Audience with Freddie Starr. Starr was the subject of one of the most famous tabloid headlines in the history of the British press, splashed on the front page of The Sun in 1986: "Freddie Starr ate my hamster." Starr was found dead in his home in Costa Del Sol on 9 May 2019.
Rex
Twin Peaks star Peggy Lipton died of cancer, aged 72 on 11 May.
Doris Day became Hollywood’s biggest female star by the early 1960s starring in Calamity Jane, Pillow Talk and Caprice to name a few. Day died on 15 May after a serious bout of pneumonia.
Rex
Andrew Hall died on 20 May, 2019 after a short illness, according to his management group. The actor was best known for playing Russell Parkinson in the BBC show Butterflies and Marc Selby in Coronation Street. He had also recently appeared as The Gentleman in Syfy's Blood Drive.
Photo by ITV/REX
Carmine Cardini, who was most famous for playing two different roles in the Godfather franchise, died on 28 May, 2019 at Cedars Sinai Hospital, aged 85. He played Carmine Rosato in The Godfather Part II (1974) before returning to the franchise in 1990 as Albert Volpe in The Godfather Part III.
Paramount Pictures
Judith Kerr, the author and illustrator best known for The Tiger Who Came to Tea, died at the age of 95 on 23 May. Born in Berlin in 1923, the daughter of a German-Jewish theatre critic, Kerr was forced to flee Germany with her family after the rise of the Nazi Party because her father had been openly critical of the Nazis. His books were burnt shortly after they left the country. The Kerrs travelled first to Switzerland, then to France and finally to Britain, where Kerr remained for the rest of her life. Although she had always wanted to be an author, she only began to write and draw when her own children were learning to read. Alongside The Tiger Who Came to Tea – which concerns a young girl and her mother, whose afternoon tea is interrupted by the arrival of said feline – Kerr is also known for her 17-book Mog series, which details the adventures of an ordinary house cat.
AFP/Getty Images
The celebrated pianist and musician who for decades delighted audiences and fans around the world using the stage name Dr John, died aged 77 on 6 June. The man who combined blues, honky-tonk and elements of ragtime to create a style as memorable and captivating as his home city of New Orleans, died early on Thursday from a heart attack.
Rex
Peter Mayhew, best known for his role as Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series, died at the age of 74. The film star stood over seven feet tall and played the fictional character who serves as a loyal friend to the franchise’s protagonist, Han Solo.
REUTERS
Leon Redbone died on 30 May, 2019, aged 69. The singer-songwriter, who was noticed by Bob Dylan in the Seventies and was an early guest on Saturday Night Live, released more than 15 albums over the course of four decades.
Photo by Chris Capstick/REX
Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who star Paul Darrow died in June aged 78 following a short illness. The Surrey-born actor was best known for playing Kerr Avon in BBC sci-fi series Blake’s 7 during the 70s and 80s, but also appeared in more than 200 other shows including The Saint, Z Cars, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Little Britain.
PA
Disney Channel star Cameron Boyce died in his sleep on 6 July, aged 20. His family later confirmed the actor, who appeared in Jessie and descendants, had epilepsy.
Getty
Rip Torn, the film, TV and theatre actor, died on 9 July, 2019, aged 88. His career spanned seven decades.
AFP/GETTY
Michael Sleggs, who appeared as Slugs in hit BBC Three sitcom This Country, died from heart failure on 9 July, 2019, aged 33.
BBC
Emmerdale actor Freddie Jones died aged 91 in July. The British star was most recently known for playing Sandy Thomas in the soap from 2005 until 2018. He also starred in Hollywood films Dune, The Elephant Man and Firefox.
ITV
Dutch actor Rutger Hauer famously played replicant Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. As Batty, he delivered the iconic "tears in the rain" monologue. Hauer died on 19 July, 2019 aged 75.
TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images
Actor Paula Williamson, who starred in Coronation Street and married criminal Charles Bronson, was found dead on 29 July, 2019.
Getty
Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison died at the age of 88 on 6 August. Her death was confirmed “with profound sadness” by the Morrison family, who said she had passed away in the Bronx, New York, “following a short illness”. The celebrated writer of 11 novels was known for her searing works about slavery and the experiences of black women, including 1987’s Beloved, the story of a runaway female slave – for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year. She became the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Bettmann Archive
David Berman, frontman of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, died by suicide on 7 August, 2019, aged 52.
MediaPunch/REX
Peter Fonda died of respiratory failure due to lung cancer on 16 August, 2019. aged 79, his family said. He was the co-writer and star of counterculture classic Easy Rider (1969).
AP
Home and Away star Ben Unwin was found dead aged 41 on 14 August, according to New South Wales Police. He starred as 'bad boy' Jesse McGregor on the popular Australian soap between 1996-2000, and then 2002-2005 before switching to a career in law
Getty
Italian bodybuilder, who appeared in The Terminator, The Running Man and Conan the Barbarian, died on 30 August, 2019, aged 78. The former Mr Olympia enjoyed a successful career as a boxer and was best friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Getty Images
The country singer died in a car crash on 4 September, 2019, at the age of 30. Harris, of Wylie, Texas, she was scheduled to perform at a music festival in New Mexico the next day.
YouTube / Kylie Rae Harris
Songwriter and producer LaShawn Daniels died 4 September aged 41. He was best known for his collaborations with producer Darkchild, and had songwriting credits on a number of pop and R&B classics by artists including Beyonce, Destiny's Child, Janet and Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Brandy and Whitney Houston.
Rex
The actor, best known for her role as Nonnie the cruise liner singer in The Poseidon Adventure, died on 3 September at the age of 77.
Dove/Daily Express/Getty Images
Jimmy Johnson, revered session guitarist and co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, died 5 September 2019, aged 76.
AP
John Wesley, the actor who played Dr Hoover on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, died in September 2019 aged 72 of complications stemming from multiple myeloma, according to his family. His other acting credits included Baywatch as well as the the 1992 buddy cop comedy film 'Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot'.
YouTube / Warner Bros Domestic Television Distribution
Influential lo-fi musician Daniel Johnston died in September 2019 following a heart attack, according to The Austin Chronicle. His body of work includes the celebrated 1983 album 'Hi, How Are You'.
ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images
Ric Ocasek, frontman of new wave rock band The Cars, died 15 September at the age of 75. Ocasek was pronounced dead after police were alerted to an unresponsive male at a Manhattan townhouse. A cause of death has yet to be confirmed, though The Daily Beast reports that an NYPD official said Ocasek appeared to have died from “natural causes”. Ocasek found fame as the lead singer of The Cars, who were integral in the birth of the new wave movement and had hits including “Drive”, “Good Times Roll” and “My Best Friend’s Girl”.
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Netflix
The former host turned narrator of HGTV's House Hunters died on 17 September. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 and initially recovered, until the disease returned in October 2018.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
The lyricist, who's behind some of the Grateful Dead's finest songs, died on 23 September at the age of 78. His best known Grateful Dead songs include 'Cumberland Blues,' 'It Must Have Been the Roses,' and 'Terrapin Station'.
Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Linda Porter, best known for her role as elderly supermarket employee Myrtle on the US sitcom Superstore, died 25 September after a long battle with cancer. She also appeared in series including Twin Peaks, The Mindy Project, ER and The X-Files
Tyler Golden/NBC
Ginger Baker, the legendary drummer and co-founder of rock band Cream, died at the age of 80 on Sunday 6 October after being critically ill in hospital. The musician co-founded Cream in 1966 with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce.
Alamy
Legendary ballet dancer Alicia Alonso died aged 98 on 18 October. Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel said: “Alicia Alonso has gone and left an enormous void but unbeatable legacy. “She positioned Cuba at the altar of the best of dance worldwide. Thank you Alicia for your immortal work.” Alonso was born Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad Martinez del Hoyo on 21 December 1921. She first appeared on stage at the age of 10, and fell in love with ballet. “When you look out and you see the theatre full of people, you feel that you are alive, that you have been born,” she told the BBC in 2015. “It's wonderful, it's unique.”
Getty
Producer Robert Evans died on 26 October aged 89. He backed seminal films such as 'Chinatown', 'The Godfather', 'Harold and Maude' and 'Love Story'.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Ariel Burdett died on 12 November, aged 35. She appeared on The X Factor in 2008 and is considered to have had one of the most memorable auditions in the ITV show's history.
ITV
Jill Galloway Heitz died at the age of 78 from congestive heart failure on 13 November. Her TV appearances included Glee and Prison Break, and she also starred in David Lynch film The Straight Story.
Fox
Terry O’Neill, who died aged 81 on 17 November, photographed some of the world’s most legendary stars and public figures, from Audrey Hepburn to David Bowie, Elton John, Winston Churchill and Frank Sinatra. He also shot members of the Royal Family, including the Queen. Among his most recent works was an image of Amy Winehouse at the height of her fame in 2008.
Rex
South Korean singer and actor Goo Ha-ra died in November 2019 at the age of 28.
AFP
Gary Rhodes died on 27 November, aged 59. The English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of British cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style, fronted shows such as MasterChef, MasterChef USA, Hell's Kitchen, and his own series, Rhodes Around Britain.
AFP
Godfrey Gao died on 27 November, aged 35. He suffered a cardiac arrest after collapsing on set of a game show in China. Gao was considered the first Asian supermodel, and appeared in 2013 Hollywood film The Mortal Instruments.
Getty Images
Ron Leibman, who played Rachel’s father in Friends, died 7 December at the age of 82. The actor died from pneumonia, a representative for his family confirmed. Leibman won a Tony Award in 1993 for originating the role of the closeted gay lawyer Roy Cohn in the first Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. He also appeared in films including Norma Rae and Slaughterhouse-Five.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Chicago-born rapper Juice Wrld, real name Jarad Anthony Higgins, died 8 December at the age of 21. The Associated Press confirmed that the “Lucid Dreams” rapper suffered a "medical emergency" at Chicago's Midway International Airport, and was later pronounced dead in hospital.
Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Power 105.1
Puppeteer Caroll Spinney, who portrayed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on the children’s programme Sesame Street, has died at the age of 84. Spinney died 8 December at his home in Connecticut after suffering from Dystonia for some time, the Sesame Workshop confirmed.
Robin Marchant/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Prolific character actor Rene Auberjonois died 8 December at the age of 79. His credits included the Robert Altman film MASH and TV shows Benson and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Getty Images
Marie Fredriksson, one-half of the pop duo Roxette, died 9 December after suffering a long illness. Roxette's most famous hits include "It Must Have Been Love" and 'Listen to Your Heart".
Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images
The US comedian Chris Cotton, best known for the Comedy Central web series Every Damn Day, died on 13 December at the age of 32. A cause of death has yet to be announced. Cotton is survived by his wife Ericalynn, who is due to give birth to their first child in February.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Comedy Central
Actor Danny Aiello, best known for his role as Sal in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, died on Thursday, 12 December at the age of 86.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Comedian and entertainer Chuy Bravo, who found fame as the sidekick to comic Chelsea Handler, died 15 December at the age of 63. Bravo was taken ill during a trip to his native Mexico, and died in hospital.
David Livingston/Getty Images
Entertainer Kenny Lynch, known for roles in Carry On Loving and TV show The Sweeney along with a successful pop career, died aged 81. Lynch was born in east London in 1938, to a Barbadian father and a mother of British and Jamaican heritage. He was one of the UK’s first black pop stars, who toured with The Beatles and achieved two top 10 hits including “Up on the Roof”, which was originally recorded by The Drifters. He was also the first artist to cover a Beatles song, when he released a version of Lennon and McCartney composition “Misery” in 1963.
Rex
The Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, who wrote the music and lyrics for shows including Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles, died 26 December at the age of 88. Herman’s death was confirmed by his goddaughter, who told the Associated Press that he died of pulmonary complications in Miami, Florida. Herman created 10 Broadway shows, and won two Tony Awards for Best Musical for Hello, Dolly! (1964) and La Cage aux Folles (1983). He also won two Grammys and, in 2010, became a Kennedy Center honouree.
Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images
The extra, who worked as a body double for Theon Greyjoy actor Alfie Allen, reportedly died at his home in Belfast on 23 December. He was in his thirties. Pamela Smyth, head of Crowd Makeup on the hit HBO show, told Belfast Live: “Even among the thousands of extras that came through the crowd room on Thrones – Andrew always stood out.” Dunbar’s co-star and friend Andy McClay said: “Everyone always wanted Andrew. There was just something about him that was special."
The Extras Dept
Kelly Fraser, the Canadian pop artist who gained worldwide attention for her Inuit-language colour of “Diamonds” by Rihanna, died in December aged 26. Fraser was known for her advocacy efforts for her indigenous culture, and wrote or translated songs into the Inuit language of Inukitut with the aim of using pop music to raise awareness of it.
Rex
Comedian and musician Neil Innes, who collaborated with Monty Python and played with The Rutles, died on 30 December aged 75. Essex-born Innes wrote music for Monty Python’s albums including Monty Python’s Previous Record and The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief, after becoming involved with the comedy group in the 1970s.
Getty Images
Varda’s first film was La Pointe Courte . Released in 1955, the debut effort has been cited as a forerunner to French New Wave and helped establish Varda as the “godmother” of the cinematic movement.
She went on to write and direct a handful of documentary shorts before making Cléo from 5 to 7. The film, which centres on a young woman awaiting the results of a cancer test, debuted at Cannes Film Festival in 1962 and is often now viewed as a classic
That same year, Varda married famed French director Jacques Demy, and they had a son, Mathieu. Demy’s film career mirrored Varda’s for 40 years, until he died in 1990 from Aids complications.
Her next feature, Le Bonheur (1965), caused controversy upon release thanks to depicting a male utopia where woman are interchangeable and affairs are meaningless.
Vagabond remains one of Varda’s better-known works from her mid-career, as does the feminist musical One Sings, the Other Doesn’t . In 2001, Varda embraced new technologies to create The Gleaners and I , a documentary shot on a digital handheld camera which sees the filmmaker head out onto the road people who live off other people’s scraps.
Join our new commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies