_updates.jpg)
Beloved Turkish-born French actor Tchéky Karyo peacefully died at the age of 72.
The deceased actor left his fans to mourn on Friday, October 31, after his brief battle with an undisclosed form of cancer.
Karyo's death was confirmed by a family member as they shared the official statement with the AFP news service.
According to the BBC, the late actor was largely known for his exceptional supporting roles in films, including La Femme Nikita, Addicted to Love and Bad Boys.
Karyo also portrayed Martín Alonso Pinzón, the shipbuilder who sailed with Gérard Depardieu’s Christopher Columbus, in Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and he was the French Major Jean Villeneuve opposite Mel Gibson in The Patriot (2000).
The actor made his acting debut with the crime-thriller movie La Balance (1982), and he played the handler Bob in Luc Besson's assassin film Nikita (1990).
As Tchéky Karyo's death news circulated on social media, the director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, paid a somber tribute to the late actor with a statement.
"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," Salt added.
Karyo was born on October 4, 1953, in Istanbul, the son of a Turkish lorry driver of Spanish-Jewish origin and a Greek mother, according to Le Monde newspaper.
