Biography

Leading French actress and dancer, born Annette Marie Mathilde Gautsch in Constantine, Algeria. Francoise was the daughter of French Artillery General Charles-Lionel-Honoré Arnould (1882-1969), who was stationed in Morocco when she was born. Her family moved to Paris in 1945, where she studied drama under Andrée Bauer-Thérond, and four years later made her motion picture debut. The story goes that the director Willy Rozier saw a photograph of her, was captivated by her face and petite figure and promptly cast her as the female lead in his drama Sin and Desire (1949), often considered his best work. For much of the succeeding decade Francoise enjoyed a pre-Bardot sex symbol status, usually cast as temperamental, brooding or promiscuous heroines or femmes fatale opposite leading popular actors like Jean Gabin, Alain Delon and Charles Boyer. She was directed on five occasions by Henri Verneuil, who, along with Roger Vadim, had a lot to do with establishing her preeminent screen personae. Her best known starring roles were in Forbidden Fruit (1952), Lovers' Net (1955), Jean Renoir's evocative French Cancan (1955) (as Nini, the bakery girl turned dancer), Des gens sans importance (1956), Le chemin des écoliers (1959) and Julien Duvivier's The Devil and the Ten Commandments (1962). Francoise's first exposure to American audiences was Vadim's Companions of the Night (1953), but some of her other films were banned in the U.S. and in Britain she was tagged as the 'X Girl'. Her career went into decline as Brigitte Bardot rose to prominence. Francoise continued to work as a character actress, primarily in television, well into her eighties.
- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis

Her mother, born Janine Gradwhol, was an actress before her marriage under the pseudonym of Janine Henry. She made sure Françoise had all the artistic education needed to become an actress.

Born in Constantine in Algeria, she is the daughter of an actress, Jeannine Hneryamé, and of a general, Général Arnoul, also a playwright under the name of Jacques Mirouse.

Studied classical dance in Morocco.

After studying drama in Paris, she was noticed by director Willy Rozier, who offered her a major role in the film L'Épave (1949).

She published her autobiography entitled Animal doué de bonheur in 1995.