Famed French tightrope walker dead at 82 By AP December 28, 2013, 10: 09 AM FILE - French tightrope walker Henri Rechatin walks over the Saint-Remy sur Durolle countryside in central France, in this July 16, 1967 file photo, as he breaks the specialty's world record of the time. The celebrated French tightrope walker known as Henry's, who balanced above high the Alps, the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, has died Friday Dec. 27 2013, aged 82, the mayor of his home town of St Etienne announced Saturday. (AP Photo, File) AP PARIS (AP) - The celebrated French tightrope walker known as Henry's, who balanced above high the Alps, the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, has died. Maurice Vincent, a senator and the mayor of the acrobat's hometown, said Henry's died Friday. Henry's, whose real name was Henri Rechatin, once walked along the cable that carries cable cars to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi in the Alps. But he is perhaps most famous in France for spending six months atop a cable over a supermarket in his hometown of Saint-Etienne. He was 82, according to French press reports.