In 1965, aged 90 years and with no heirs, Calment signed a deal to sell her former apartment to lawyer André-François Raffray on a contingency contract. Raffray, then aged 47 years, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs until she died, at which time he would receive ownership of the apartment. He assumed Calment’s passing would be soon considering her age. Raffray ended up paying Calment the equivalent of more than $180,000, which was more than double the apartment's value. After Raffray's death from cancer at the age of 77, in 1995, his widow continued the payments until Calment's death.
Calment's remarkable health presaged her later record. At age 85, she took up fencing, and at 100, she was still riding a bicycle. She was reportedly neither athletic, nor fanatical about her health. Calment lived on her own until shortly before her 110th birthday, when it was decided that she needed to be moved to a nursing home after a cooking accident (she was having complications with sight) started a small fire in her flat. However, Calment was still in good shape, and was able to walk until she fractured her femur during a fall at age 114 years and 11 months, which required surgery. After her operation, Calment needed to use a wheelchair. She weighed 45 kilograms (99 lb) in 1994. She smoked until the age of 117, only five years before her death. She ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and ate nearly one kilo of chocolate every week.
A documentary film about her life, entitled Beyond 120 Years with Jeanne Calment, was released on 17 November 1995. On 19 February 1996, just two days before her 121st birthday,
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment
