François Billetdoux was born on Sept. 7, 1927, in Paris, France. He began his writing career as a journalist and as a radio dramatist. He also wrote sketches and poems and performed them in cafés and small theaters. He became established as a noted writer with his third novel, ‘Royal Garden Blues' (1957). ‘Tchin-Tchin' (1959), his first successful play, was subsequently translated into 19 languages (it was called ‘Chin-Chin' in English), played in London's West End and on Broadway, and was successfully revived in 1984.

In 1970 Billetdoux was accorded “classic” status when two of his plays entered into the repertory of the Comédie Française, the most respected theater in France. After working in television and radio, he returned to writing for the stage with ‘Reveille-toi, Philadelphie' (1988; Wake Up, Philadelphia). In this play, a young girl who loves a wolf ages a year for every day they are apart; when her father returns from searching for the wolf, he is faced with the problem of handling an 80-year-old adolescent. ‘Reveille-toi, Philadelphie' earned Billetdoux a Molière, France's top theater award, as author of the year. He died on Nov. 26, 1991, in Paris.