Françoise Giroud (born Lea France Gourdji; 21 September 1916 – 19 January 2003), 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.

[1] Giroud's work in cinema began with director Marc Allégret as a script-girl on his 1932 version of Marcel Pagnol's Fanny.

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.

On her first visit to New York City soon after World War 2 ended, she had been struck by "the degree of optimism, the exhilaration" she had found there.

"[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).