The Offer is a 2022 mini-TV series that will show you how The Godfather film was made. One of the characters in The Offer is Francoise Glazer and it is based on a real life person named Francoise Glazer. She was the ex-wife of Albert Ruddy, the producer of The Godfather.
Ruddy and Francoise were still united in the institution of marriage as at the time that The Godfather was being produced and as a result of this, Francoise made contributions to the film. These contributions have not really gotten the attention they should get as time passed but The Offer which premiered on Paramount+ in August 2023 went a long way in trying to get Francoise the respect that she should have gotten a long time ago.
Francoise Glazer Survived the Holocaust and Came to the US as a Teenager
Francoise Glazer in real life was born on the 4th of April 1937 in Paris, France as Françoise Wizenberg. Her parents were Polish Jews. Francoise survived the holocaust by living with an adopted family. By the age of 8, she was able to make it back to her mom. However, she did not get to ever meet her dad, Icek Wizenberg, again as he had already died during the World War II.
When Francoise Glazer reached the age of eleven years old, her mother took her and they went to Israel where they now lived for the next eight years. They may well have gone on to continue living there but Israel often requires young people to spend some time serving in their Army. Francoise and her mother did not want this. So, they gathered their all things together and once more moved. This move was to North America and Françoise was 19 years old. The young adult and her mother at first lived in Canada. They did not stay there for long and now moved to the U.S. where they settled down.
She Was Married to Guilford Glazer for Nine Years
When Francoise Glazer and her mom went America, they weren’t all over the place like rolling stones. The specific place that they lived in was in New York. There, the two ladies tried as much as possible to move on with a normal life. The younger lady was able to become friends with a number of people. This was made possible by the fact that she was beautiful and also well-mannered.
Francoise did not only have casual friends. She also dated as well. One of those that she dated was a Guilford Glazer, a businessman that had lots of money in the bank. He was also Jewish like her and their relationship proved to be a strong one just within a short time and they got married.
That marriage took place in 1956. Francoise Glazer was just 19 years old while her groom was 16 years her senior. Such numbers may have raised eyebrows but the couple focused on their marriage. That marriage lasted from 1956 to 1965. This is just nine years. In that nine years, the Jewish wife and husband had a son and named him Emerson. They also had a daughter whose nomenclature was Erika.
It was in 1965 that Francoise and her first husband divorced. Some say she was depressed and unhappy. To her was given a generous divorce settlement from the wealthy Guilford including property worth more than a million dollars.
She and Albert Ruddy Became Husband and Wife in 1967
At the time that Francoise Glazer and her husband divorced, the family was already living in Los Angeles and so she continued living in the city. She put her hands into the money she was given for the divorce and she used it to provide good things of life for herself. She didn’t just lie around living it up. Francoise also continued to see that Chateau Marmont, a well-known Hollywood hotel that her ex-husband had given her while they were still married, continued to run normally.
Francoise Glazer, while she was running the Chateau Marmont, got the chance to meet lots of people who were doing big things in Hollywood. She not only met them but also got to talk with them and become friends with them. One of them that she met was Albert Ruddy, a young man trying to make a career in Hollywood. They went from talking to becoming friends. From friendship, the two started a relationship that was romantic in nature. Just like before, Francoise decided to get married. She and Ruddy got married in 1967.
It was in 1967 that the marriage of Francoise Glazer to Albert Ruddy began and it continued running into the next decade. As the marriage was running, the man and woman in the union were taking steps to achieve some things in life. For instance, Ruddy finally made some moves in his Hollywood career and he landed the script of The Godfather. He now started pulling together resources to produce the film. It was not easy any way you look at it.
Making The Godfather came with several challenges and troubles that greatly annoyed Ruddy. However, he had the support of people to keep going. Of course, his wife Francoise Glazer was one of them. She followed him to go to the studio on multiple occasions.
Assisting with seeking solutions to the challenges that came up along the way was also another thing that Francoise did. The lady did not stop there. She also told her husband about some movie people that she thought would take on some roles in the film and do a good job at playing out these roles. All their efforts eventually paid off as The Godfather became successful when it was released in 1972. Multiple Oscars came the way of the movie including the best film award for Francoise’s husband.
It was in the 70s that The Couple said They Were No Longer Marrying and Francoise Did Some Things That Were Controversial after That
People in marriage often have good times as well as bad times. This happened in Francoise Glazer and Albert Ruddy marriage. They had good times such as when they worked together on The Godfather but they were also some bad issues. Ruddy often liked hiding things and Francoise did not like this. She did not also like that her husband wasn’t really into the idea of co-producing a film with her. They had quarrels because of this and they divorced in the 70s.
During that same period, Francoise Glazer went to India and spent some time there. She listened to the controversial Indian guru named Rajneesh. She found what he was teaching interesting. So when she returned to the U.S., she continued studying the teachings. Later down the line, Rajneesh moved to Oregon, U.S. and Francoise joined him and became a full-fledged member of his ashram.
Francoise Glazer took on the name Hasya (meaning laughter) and supported Rajneesh with donations. She also became his personal secretary and married his physician named Dr. John Andrews.
Francoise Glazer Passed Away in 2014 at the Age of 77
For the remaining years of her life, Francoise Glazer did not forsake Rajneesh’s ashram. The ashram had one controversy after another but she helped them overcome them. She remained close to Rajneesh until he died in January 1990.
After Rajneesh passed away, Francoise continued living a normal life. However, things became tough as she suffered from Parkinson’s disease in her later years. She eventually died in August 2014. 77 years was the age of Francoise when she died. It was at a Jewish cemetery that she was buried and the name used was Francoise Hasya Ruddy.
Francoise Glazer is one of the Recurring Characters in the Offer, a 2022 Mini TV Series
It was in August 2022 that a mini TV series that was called The Offer started running. The series tells the story of how the man Francoise Glazer was once married to, i.e. Albert Ruddy went about producing The Godfather. The series show all the tensions, disagreements, and even mafia threats that were happenings behind the camera as the film was being made.
The actor that took the lead role in The Offer was Miles Teller. He plays Albert Ruddy. Then, you have Nora Arnezeder who interpreted Francoise. The Offer does not look at how Francoise Glazer’s life started, how she came to America or her first marriage. The story for Francoise begins from when she met Ruddy. It then goes on to look at their marriage, their going their separate ways and her efforts in producing The Godfather. The series is mostly an accurate version of the real-life events that transpired between Ruddy and Francoise Glazer.
She was portrayed by French Actress Nora Arnezeder
Arnezeder is a French actress and singer and she played Francoise in The Offer. Before she played that role, she had done other works especially in her national motherland. Some of them are Safe House, The Words, Maniac, Angelique, Zoo, and Mozart in the Jungle, etc.
There have been interviews in which Nora Ardenezer has talked about the work that she did in The Offer. One of the things she has done is to praise the real life Francoise Glazer. For her Glazer is confident, strong, and empowering woman. She also described the character as a deep one.
While Nora Ardenezer has praised the woman she played, she herself has also had praises come her way for doing a good work in playing an influential but overlooked personality. I mean, Nora’s acting was so good that some people are now making noise for there to be a TV series that will focus on Francoise Glazer alone.