Background
She was born Francine Worms 19 June 1916 in São Paulo Paulo, daughter of prosperous French parents of Jewish descent. Her father was a jeweler.
She was born Francine Worms 19 June 1916 in São Paulo Paulo, daughter of prosperous French parents of Jewish descent. Her father was a jeweler.
The family returned to France in 1919. Foreign a while she worked as a beautician and, at the outbreak of the Second World War, as a nurse Her parents had returned to Brazil.
After the war they moved to 4 Place des Etats-Unis in Paris, where their neighbours were Marie-Laure and Charles de Noailles.
Francine Weisweiller became an early patron of Yves Saint Laurent. Cocteau decorated the interior walls of the villa and made a film about it, Louisiana Villa Santo-Sospir (1952).
He dedicated his play Bacchus to Francine Weisweiller. Cocteau"s Le Testament d"Orphée, sponsored by Francine Weisweiller, was partly filmed in the villa and on her yacht, and Francine Weisweiller and her butler had small roles in the film.
She reconciled with Cocteau shortly before his death in 1963.
Francine Weisweiller died 8 December 2003.