French journalist, screenwriter, writer, and politician
Francoise Giroud
, born
Lea France Gourdji
(21 September 1916 in
Lausanne
, Switzerland and not in Geneva as often written ? 19 January 2003 in
Neuilly-sur-Seine
), was a French
journalist
,
screenwriter
, writer, and politician.
Biography
[
edit
]
Giroud was born to immigrant
Sephardi
Turkish Jewish parents; her father was Salih Gourdji Al Baghdadi, Director of the Agence Telegraphique Ottomane in Geneva.
[1]
She was educated at the Lycee Moliere and the College de Groslay.
[2]
She did not graduate from university.
[3]
She married and had two children, a son (who died before her) and a daughter.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
Giroud's work in cinema began with director
Marc Allegret
as a script-girl on his 1932 version of
Marcel Pagnol
's
Fanny
. In 1936 she worked with
Jean Renoir
on the set of
La Grande Illusion
. She later wrote screenplays, eventually completed 30 full-length books (both fiction and non-fiction), and wrote newspaper columns.
[4]
She was the editor of
Elle
magazine from 1946 (shortly after it was founded) until 1953, when she and
Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber
founded the French newsmagazine
L'Express
. She edited
L'Express
until 1971, then was its director until 1974, when she was asked to participate in the French national government.
From 1984 to 1988 Giroud was president of Action Internationale contre la Faim. From 1989 to 1991 she was president of a commission to improve cinema-ticket sales. She was a literary critic on
Le Journal du Dimanche
, and she contributed a weekly column to
Le Nouvel Observateur
from 1983 until her death. She died at the
American Hospital of Paris
while being treated for a head wound incurred in a fall.
[3]
Political career
[
edit
]
In 1974,
French President
Valery Giscard d'Estaing
nominated Giroud to the position of
Secretaire d'Etat a la Condition feminine
, which she held from 16 July 1974 until 27 August 1976, when she was appointed to the position of
Minister of Culture
. She remained in that position until March 1977, for a total service of 32 months, serving in the cabinets of
Jacques Chirac
and
Raymond Barre
. She was a member of the
Radical Party
, and on the election documents she listed her profession as "journaliste" (or journalist in English).
[5]
Other activities
[
edit
]
Giroud received the
Legion d'honneur
. She managed
ACF
, a Nobel-winning charity, from 1984 to 1988.
[1]
[6]
Giroud often voiced her goal: to get France "out of its rut". She said that Americans had the right idea; they didn't get into a rut. On her first visit to
New York City
soon after World War II ended, she had been struck by "the degree of optimism, the exhilaration" she had found there. That view stayed with her: "There is a strength in the United States that we in Europe constantly tend to underestimate."
[7]
Well into her 80s, Giroud appeared on French television, in the program
100 Ans
(which explores the possibility of living to be a hundred). She appeared with face and hands bandaged from a fall just before the filming began. She was asked to recommend the diet that would provide for longevity; she replied "chopped steak and salads". She tried (and failed) to peel an apple with her bandaged hands; when she was unable, she burst out laughing.
Several laudatory newspaper articles about her death mentioned her sparkling sense of humor.
A special issue of
L'Express
covered Giroud's death. It stated:
- Women everywhere have lost something. Ms. Giroud defended them so intelligently and so strongly.
[8]
Ms. Giroud gave the commencement address at The University of Michigan on May 1, 1976.
Published works
[
edit
]
- Francoise Giroud vous presente le Tout-Paris
(1953)
- Nouveaux portraits
(1954)
- La Nouvelle vague: portraits de la jeunesse
(1958)
- I Give You my Word
(1973)
- La comedie du pouvoir
(1977)
- Ce que je crois
(1978)
- Le Bon Plaisir
(1983)
- Une Femme honorable
(1981) (published in English as
Marie Curie: A Life
(1986))
- Le Bon Plaisir
(screenplay) (1984)
- Dior
(1987)
- Alma Mahler, ou l'art d'etre aimee
(1988)
- Lecons particulieres
(
ISBN
978-2-213-02598-8
, 1990)
- Marie Curie, une Femme honorable
(television series) (1991)
- Jenny Marx ou le femme du diable
(1992)
- Les Hommes et les femmes
(with
Bernard-Henri Levy
, 1993).
- Journal d'une Parisienne
(1994)
- La rumeur du monde: journal, 1997 et 1998
(1999)
- On ne peut pas etre heureux tout le temps: recit
(2000)
- C'est arrive hier: journal 1999
(2000)
- Profession journaliste: conversations avec Martine de Rabaudy
(2001)
- Demain, deja: journal, 2000-2003
(2003)
Filmography
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Citations
- ^
a
b
c
Obituary
in the London
Independent
(published 21 January 2003)
- ^
Chambers Biographical Dictionary
. Chambers. 28 September 2007. p. 625.
- ^
a
b
Obituary
,
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
, published 20 January 2003
- ^
"Francoise Giroud"
Archived
2012-11-13 at the
Wayback Machine
Britannica
online], accessed 24 December 2009
- ^
Christine Bard,
Les premieres femmes au Gouvernement (France, 1936-1981)
,
Histoire@Politique
, n°1, May?June 2007
(in French)
- ^
"France In London" website
, review of FG Biography by Christine Ockrent
- ^
Obituary
The Economist
(25 January 2003)
- ^
The Honorable Lucie Pepin, Senator
Archived
2011-07-27 at the
Wayback Machine
- Bibliography
- Francoise Giroud, une ambition francaise
, an authorized biography by Christine Ockrent (2003)
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Academics
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|