List of Famous people who died at 79

Svetlana Nikolayevna Kharitonova was a Russian actress. She performed in more than fifty films between 1955 and 1991.

William Wyler was a Swiss-German American film director and producer. Notable works include Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959), all of which won him the Academy Awards for Best Director, and Best Picture, making him the only director of three Best Picture winners. Wyler received his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, "sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness."

Wolbert Klaus Smidt was a high-ranking German secret service official, diplomat and publicist. He was First Director at the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst) and Embassy Counselor in Paris.

Bruno Barbey was a Moroccan-born French photographer. Throughout his four-decade career he traveled across five continents, photographing many wars.

Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was the leader of the French Resistance network "Alliance", under the code name "Hérisson" ("Hedgehog") after the arrest of its former leader, Georges Loustaunau-Lacau (“Navarre”), during the occupation of France in the Second World War.

Jan Němec was a Czech filmmaker whose most important work dates from the 1960s. Film historian Peter Hames has described him as the "enfant terrible of the Czech New Wave."

José Rafael Albrecht was an Argentine professional footballer who played as a defender. He represented Argentina at the 1962 and 1966 World Cups.

Dominique Zardi was a French actor. He acted in more than 200 feature films, including Fantômas with Louis De Funès and Jean Marais. He died of cancer at the age of 79. He was the uncle of the actress and film director Agnès Jaoui.

Yves Rocher was a French businessman and founder of the cosmetics company that bears his name. He was a pioneer of the modern use of natural ingredients in cosmetics.

Georges Brossard, was a Canadian entomologist and founder of the Montreal Insectarium. He died on June 26, 2019 at the age of 79.