Jane Birkin’s daughter falls to her death in Paris
Celebrated photographer had troubled past and struggled with alcohol and drugs
The daughter of Jane Birkin, the British actor and singer, and the James Bond theme composer John Barry has died in Paris after falling from her fourth-floor apartment.
Kate Barry, a celebrated fashion photographer, was found dead late Wednesday outside her home in the wealthy 16th arrondissement of the French capital.
The 46-year-old mother of one had battled with alcohol and drug problems.
Police called to her apartment said there was no sign of a breakin. They found antidepressant pills inside.
Barry had a troubled childhood, with her parents separating soon after her birth.
Her mother’s affair with Serge Gainsbourg, the French singer, came to epitomize the glamour and sexual liberation of the 1960s.
Her father, who wrote some of the most memorable film scores of the 20th century, died in 2011, at age 77. His scores included Out of Africa, Midnight Cowboy and Dances with Wolves.
He is perhaps best known for his 11-year association with Bond films. He scored the first film, Dr. No, composing the famous theme tune and went on to supply the music for Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever.
Barry was raised by her mother and Gainsbourg in one of the most celebrated liaisons of the era.
It was never disclosed whether the pair married, but they cared for Barry, while raising a daughter of their own, the Anglo-French actor and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg.
The couple separated when Barry was 13 and her mother began a relationship with the French film director Jacques Doillon.
They had a daughter, Lou, who went on to become a successful model, singer and actor.
But they split in the 1990s amid claims that Birkin could not cope with her grief after the death of Gainsbourg in 1991. Barry was close to her mother, who lived near- by on Paris’s left bank.
This year, Birkin said: “I’ve never had a week without having all three of my daughters on the telephone.
“My eldest daughter, Kate, looks most like me. She’s a photographer. She had a Polaroid camera in her hand from a young age.”
It is understood that Birkin was being comforted last night by her grandson, Barry’s 26-year-old son, Roman de Kermadec.
Kate Barry began her career as a photographer at a young age, but struggled with drink and drugs as a teenager.
At the age of 17 she was treated at a London addiction clinic. She later opened a centre to help addicts at Soissons near Paris.
She went on to forge a career as a fashion photographer, staging her first major exhibition in Tokyo in 2000.
Her work has been featured in the weekend Telegraph magazine, as well as in Paris Match and Elle. She also had a recent exhibition in a Paris gallery.
France’s culture minister, Aurelie Filippetti, paid tribute to Barry last night, describing her as an “outstanding photographer” and saying the French people had a deep love for the whole of her family.