Jean-Claude Baker

Jean-Claude Julien Léon Tronville, more commonly known as Jean-Claude Baker (April 18, 1943 – January 15, 2015)[1] was a French-American restaurateur.

Biography

He was born Jean-Claude Julien Leon Tronville in 1943 in Dijon to Lucien Rouzaud and Constance Luce Tronville, who were not married when he was born, though they married later. At age 14, he struck out on his own, first to Paris where, as a bellhop in the Hôtel Scribe, he met Josephine Baker, an entertainer, activist, and wartime French Resistance agent.

Baker became the legal guardian of Jean-Claude, and he was then an unofficial addition to the 12 adopted children of her orphan "rainbow tribe",[2] which included Jean-Claude Bouillon-Baker. He, in turn, took her surname, and as a budding showman of his own, fostered her career.

Baker ran a popular nightclub, Pimm's Cafe, in West Berlin during the 1960s,[3] and in 1986 opened the cafe Chez Josephine in New York.[4]

In 1993, he co-authored, with Chris Chase, a biography of Josephine Baker, Josephine: The Hungry Heart, described as a "shocking look into the star's seriously whitewashed past".[5]

Death

Baker died by suicide at his home in East Hampton, New York, on January 15, 2015, at age 71.[6]

Books
  • Baker, Jean-Claude & Chris Chase. Josephine: The Hungry Heart (2001), Cooper Square Pub; ISBN 0815411723

References
  1. McBride, Walter. "Photo Flashback: Remembering Jean-Claude Baker". Archived from the original on 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  2. Blumenthal, Ralph (8 February 2018). "Jean-Claude Baker, 'Son' of Josephine Baker, Is Remembered". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  3. Blumenthal, Ralph (8 February 2018). "Jean-Claude Baker, 'Son' of Josephine Baker, Is Remembered". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  4. Blumenthal, Ralph (8 February 2018). "Jean-Claude Baker, 'Son' of Josephine Baker, Is Remembered". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  5. "Jean Claude Baker". The Times. 2015. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  6. Weber, Bruce (15 January 2015). "Jean-Claude Baker Dies at 71; Restaurateur Honored a Chanteuse". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2021.


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