Françoise 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. Giroud was born to immigrant Sephardi Turkish Jewish parents; her father was Salih Gourdji Al Baghdadi, Director of the Agence Télégraphique Ottomane in Geneva. She was educated at the Lycée Molière and the Collège de Groslay. She did