Fernande Grudet (6 July 1923 – 15 December 2015), also known as Madame Claude, was a French brothel keeper. In the 1960s, she was the head of a French network of
call girls
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency. who worked especially for dignitaries and civil servants.
Biography
Born on 6 July 1923 in
Angers
Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
, France, there are conflicting accounts of Grudet's origins, ranging from an aristocratic father in politics and an education by nuns to a father who ran a small cafe and early work selling food from a pushcart.
Another unverified tale about her past includes work as an agent of the French
Resistance during the
German Occupation of France
The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
during World War II and imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp.
After the war, she worked as a prostitute but claimed she "was never pretty enough" and was better suited to management.
By 1961, she had set up what became the most exclusive prostitution network in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
for the next decade.
At this time she ran a brothel in the expensive
16th arrondissement of Paris. "There are two things that people will always pay for:
food and sex. I wasn't any good at cooking", she is reputed to have said.
Her wealthy clientele included political figures and members of the Mafia, and her status as an informant for the police ensured she was protected. Her address book, Grudet claimed, had included the names of the
shah of Iran
This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of th ...
,
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, and
Gianni Agnelli
Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce a ...
, the one-time head of
Fiat.
In 1976, judge
Jean-Louis Bruguière began dismantling Grudet's organization. She was being pursued for unpaid taxes, amounting to 11m francs (around £4.9m), and fled to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, but returned to France in 1986, serving a four-month jail sentence.
After her release, she attempted to set up a prostitution organization, but in 1992, she was sentenced to a term in
Fleury-Mérogis Prison
Fleury-Mérogis Prison (''Maison d'arrêt de Fleury-Mérogis'') is a prison in France, located in the town of Fleury-Mérogis, in the southern suburbs of Paris. With more than 4,100 prisoners, it is the largest prison in France. It is operated b ...
for
procuring.
Her life was the basis of the feature film ''
Madame Claude'' (1977), directed by
Just Jaeckin
Just Jaeckin (8 August 1940 – 6 September 2022) was a French film director, photographer, and sculptor.
Early life
Jaeckin was born in Vichy, Allier, French State during the Second World War, but left with his mother and father for Englan ...
, and starring
Françoise Fabian
Michèle Cortes (born 10 May 1933), known professionally as Françoise Fabian (), is a French film actress. She has appeared in more than 100 films since 1956. In 1971, Fabian signed the Manifesto of the 343
The Manifesto of the 343 (), was a F ...
. Grudet died in
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
on 19 December 2015.
In 2021,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
released another biographical film based on her life titled ''
Madame Claude''. She is also namechecked in the
Roxy Music
Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone ...
song "If It Takes All Night", from their 1974 album ''
Country Life''.
Bibliography
* ''Madam'', by Claude Grudet, ed. Michel Lafon (1994): history of Madame Claude by Madame Claude.
* ''Les filles de Madame Claude'', by Elizabeth Antébi and Anne Florentin, Stock-Julliard (1974).
* ''Madame Claude'', by William Stadiem (2018), St. Martin's Press.
References
External links
''Behind Claude’s Doors''- 2014 article in
Vanity Fair by William Stadiem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claude, Madame
1923 births
2015 deaths
People from Angers
French expatriates in the United States
French white-collar criminals
French autobiographers
French brothel owners and madams
French female criminals
French Resistance members