René Goscinny

Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926 to Jewish immigrants from Poland. His parents were Stanisław Simkha Gościnny, a chemical engineer from Warsaw, and Anna (Hanna) Bereśniak-Gościnna from Chodorków (modern-day Khodorkiv), a small village near Kiev in Ukraine. Goscinny's maternal grandfather, Abraham Lazare Berezniak, founded a printing company. Claude, Goscinny's older brother, was six years older, born on 10 December 1920.

Stanisław and Anna had met in Paris and married in 1919. When René was two, the Gościnnys moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his father had been hired as a chemical engineer. René had a happy childhood in Buenos Aires and studied in French-language schools there. He was often the class clown, probably to compensate for a natural shyness. He started drawing very early on, inspired by the illustrated stories which he enjoyed reading. He used to spend his summer holidays in Piriápolis, Uruguay.

In December 1943, the year after Goscinny graduated from lycée, or high school, his father died of a cerebral hemorrhage (stroke). The youth had to go to work. The next year, he landed his first job as an assistant accountant in a tyre recovery factory. After being laid off the following year, Goscinny became a junior illustrator in an advertising agency.

Goscinny, along with his mother, left Argentina and immigrated to New York, United States, in 1945 to join her brother Boris. To avoid military service in the U.S. he travelled to France to enlist in the French Army in 1946. He served at Aubagne in the 141st Alpine Infantry Battalion. Promoted to senior corporal, he became the appointed artist of the regiment and drew illustrations and posters for the army.

Goscinny married Gilberte Pollaro-Millo in 1967. In 1968, their daughter Anne Goscinny was born. She also became an author.

Anne Goscinny co-wrote the screenplay for Little Nicholas: Happy As Can Be, a 2022 animation film with Michel Fessler and Massoubre based on the children's book series Le Petit Nicolas that her father created.