About this item
The life of Madame Claude, the brilliant and complicated and utterly amoral woman behind the most glamorous and successful escort service in the world.In post-WWII Paris, Madame Claude ran the most exclusive finishing school in the world. Her alumnae married more fortunes, titles and famous names than any of the Seven Sisters. The names on her client list were epic -- Kennedy, Rothschild, Agnelli, Onassis, Niarchos, Brando, Sinatra, McQueen, Picasso, Chagall, Qaddafi, the Shah, and that's just for starters. By the 1950s, she was the richest and most celebrated self-made woman in Europe, as much of a legend as Coco Chanel. Born Fernande Grudet, a poor Jewish girl in the aristocratic chateau city of Angers, the future Madame led a life of high adventure -- resistance fighter, concentration camp survivor, gun moll of the Corsican Mafia and erstwhile streetwalker -- before becoming the ultimate broker between beauty and power.
About the Author
WILLIAM STADIEM is the author of twelve books, including the bestselling Marilyn Monroe Confidential; Dear Senator; and Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra. In 2014 he has two major books coming out: Daughter of the King and Jet Set. A feature length documentary of Mr. S, which Stadiem is scripting for producers Graydon Carter, Brian Grazer and Brett Ratner, is also planned for production this year. A Harvard JD-MBA, Stadiem abandoned Wall Street for Sunset Boulevard, where he has written such films as Franco Zeffirelli's Young Toscanini, Elizabeth Taylor's last major starring role. As a screenwriter, a columnist for Andy Warhol's Interview, and the restaurant critic for Los Angeles, Stadiem has enjoyed a ringside seat for the decadence and outrageousness he recounts in his 2013 Moneywood. He lives in Santa Monica, California.
