Lucie Aubrac, a hero of the French Resistance who helped free her husband from the Gestapo and whose dramatic life story became a hit film, has died. She was 94.

In 1943, Aubrac helped orchestrate her husband's escape from a Lyon prison after his arrest. She persuaded the local Gestapo leader, Klaus Barbie, to let her meet with him. During the visit, they planned his escape.

Aubrac led the armed commando that rescued her husband and Resistance leader Jean Moulin during their transfer to another prison, Denis Peschanski, a historian at the National Center for Scientific Research, told France-Info radio Thursday.

The couple and the first of their three children fled to London in February 1944. Aubrac gave birth to their second child just days after their arrival, Le Monde newspaper said.

She received the Legion of Honor, France's highest award, for her work in the Resistance.