Nicole, Duchess of Bedford (1920–2012)

Nicole Russell, Duchess of Bedford, was born Nicole Marie Charlotte Pierrette Jeanne Schneider, a daughter of Capt. Paul Schneider, a decorated World War I pilot and his wife Marguerite Durand, descended from an aristocratic French family. She was raised in Chantilly Creil, near Paris, and attended a convent school in the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. During World War II, she worked for the French Resistance as a courier. She became one of the first female television producers in France in the 1950s. She served as the associate producer of the popular television series Sherlock Holmes and of the 1951-1954 series Foreign Intrigue. Her autobiography, Nicole Nobody (1974) was a bestseller.