René de Obaldia (22 October 1918 – 27 January 2022) was a French playwright and poet.

He began his career in 1960, thanks to Jacques Vilar, who presented his first major play, "Génousie," at the Théâtre national populaire.

He was, for more than fifty years, one of the most-produced French playwrights on the planet, as well as the most internationally renowned (having been translated into 28 languages).

His plays always take place within a framework of contemporary times and concern modern subjects, treating these in a comical manner.

In La Génousie, for example, Obaldia replaces normal speech (in French) with Genousian, a language of fantasy, dreams, and love.