Neauphle-le-Château gained international fame in 1978 when, on October 8, Iranian Islamic leader AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini rented and moved into a house there following his exile by the regime of ShahMohammad Reza Pahlavi in the midst of the Iranian Revolution, and after being deported from Iraq where he was taking refuge amongst the Shi'a community. The Ayatollah continued to reside there until the following year when he returned to Iran following the collapse of the Shah's regime and later became Iran's Supreme Leader. Due to the Ayatollah's time residing in Neauphle-le-Château, the street in Tehran on which the French Embassy in Iran is located and was previously known as Faranseh (France) street, is now renamed after the village.[3] The small town/big village of Kahak south of the city of Qom was also renamed "Nufeloshato" in the memory of the French village. The property where he lived, at the corner of the Chevreuse Road and Jardins Path has long been fenced off and locked and the former dwelling is now destroyed.
It was also the home of Deanna Durbin, a Hollywood actress, until her death on April 17, 2013. The writer Marguerite Duras lived here in a house which she described as the one in which she had lived the longest.
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