Madame Claude

Fernande Grudet (6 July 1923 – 19 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 who worked especially for dignitaries and civil servants.

Madame Claude
Born
Fernande Grudet

(1923-07-06)July 6, 1923
Angers, France
DiedDecember 19, 2015(2015-12-19) (aged 92)
Nice, France
NationalityFrench
Known forBrothel keeper

Biography

Born on 6 July 1923 in Angers, 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.[1] Another unverified tale about her past includes work as an agent of the French Resistance during the German Occupation of France[2] during World War II and imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp.[1] After the war, she worked as a prostitute but claimed she "was never pretty enough" and was better suited to management.[1] By 1961, she had set up what became the most exclusive prostitution network in Paris for the next decade.[1]

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.[3]

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, John F. Kennedy, and Gianni Agnelli, the one-time head of Fiat.[4]

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, but returned to France in 1986, serving a four-month jail sentence.[4][2] After her release, she attempted to set up a prostitution organization, but in 1992, she was sentenced to a term in Fleury-Mérogis Prison for procuring.[5]

Her life was the basis of the feature film Madame Claude (1977), directed by Just Jaeckin, and starring Françoise Fabian. Grudet died in Nice on 19 December 2015.[6]

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.
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References
  1. Schudel, Matt (25 December 2015). "Fernande Grudet, who presided over exclusive Paris brothel, dies at 92". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  2. Willsher, Kim (22 December 2015). "Madame Claude, keeper of Paris brothel for the rich and famous, dies aged 92". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  3. Mulholland, Rory (22 December 2015). "Madame Claude, France's most famous brothel owner, dies". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. "The Infamous Madame Claude and Her High-Profile Client List". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  5. "French luxury brothel owner 'Madame Claude' dies at 92". France 24. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  6. Grimes, William (23 December 2015). "Fernande Grudet, 92, Dies; Ran High-Society Call-Girl Ring as 'Madame Claude'". New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
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