Jean Marais

With his heroic physique, Jean Marais (1913-1998) was France’s answer to Errol Flynn: the epitome of the swashbuckling romantic hero of French cinema. The blonde and incredibly good-looking actor played over 100 roles in film and on television and was also known as a director, writer, painter and sculptor. His mentor was the legendary poet and director Jean Cocteau, who was also his lover.


French postcard by Editions E.C., Paris, no. 10. Photo: Discina.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 21. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions O.P., no. 15. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions E.C., no. 3. Photo: Synops.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 36. Photo: Roger Carlet.


Vintage card. Jean Marais and Madeleine Sologne in L'Éternel Retour / The Eternal Return (Jean Delannoy, 1941), written by Jean Cocteau.


West German postcard by Film und Bild, Frankfurt - Main. Photo: IFA. Jean Marais in Ruy Blas (Pierre Billon, 1948).

Gamingly flirting in drag

Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais was born in 1913 in Cherbourg, France. He endured a turbulent childhood. When he was born, on the eve of World War I, his mother refused to see him. Her only daughter had died a few days before. When Marais' father returned from the war, the five-year-old Jean didn't remember him, and his father slapped him. His mother promptly packed her three children off to their grandmother's, and Jean grew up fatherless.

He attended the Lycee Condorcet, a prestigious private school, where some of his future film partners also studied, such as Louis de Funes and Jean Cocteau, and the faculty had such figures as Jean-Paul Sartre. At the age of 13, Marais had to leave the Lycee Condorcet, after gamingly flirting in drag with a teacher. He was placed in a Catholic boarding school, but at 16, he left school and became involved in amateur acting.

As a child, he had dreamed of becoming an actor but he was twice rejected when he applied to drama schools. He took a job as a photographer's assistant and had acting classes with Charles Dullin.

In 1933 Marcel L'Herbier gave him a bit part in L’Épervier / The Casting Net (Marcel L'Herbier, 1933) starring Charles Boyer. This was followed by more small parts in films by L’Herbier, such as L'Aventurier / The Adventurer (Marcel L'Herbier, 1934), Le Bonheur / Happiness (Marcel L'Herbier, 1935), Les Hommes nouveaux / The New Men (Marcel L'Herbier, 1936), and Nuits de feu / The Living Corpse (Marcel L'Herbier, 1936).

Jean Marais also appeared in Abus de confiance / Abused Confidence (Henri Decoin, 1937), and Drôle de drame / Bizarre, Bizarre (Marcel Carné, 1937).


French postcard, no. 88. Photo: Discina.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 90. Photo: Teddy Piaz.


German postcard. Photo: IFA.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden, Westphalen. Photo: Aldo Graziati.


French postcard by A. Noyer, Paris, no. 1253. Photo: Raymond Voinquel.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 21. Photo: Raymond Voinquel / Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 91. Photo: Teddy Piaz.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 212. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 69. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 69. Photo: Studio Synops.

Cocteau

In 1937, Jean Marais, then 24, met Jean Cocteau at a stage rehearsal of 'Oedipe-Roi' (King Oedipus). They fell in love and would remain close friends until Cocteau died in 1963. Cocteau became his surrogate father, and he was Cocteau's surrogate son.

Cocteau had a major influence on Marais’ career. In 1938 he cast him as Galahad in the stage play 'Les Chevaliers de La Table Ronde' (The Knights of the Round Table), and wrote the film L'Éternel retour with him in mind. With L’Éternal retour / The Eternal Return (Jean Delannoy, 1943), Marais made his big break in the cinema.

This was the turning point in his life and the start of a film career which spanned nearly sixty years. In the following years, he appeared in almost all of Cocteau's films: La Belle et la bête / Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, Jean Delannoy, 1946), L'Aigle à deux têtes / The Eagle Has Two Heads (1947, Jean Cocteau), Les parents terribles / The Storm Within (Jean Cocteau, 1948), and Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).

After the Allies liberated Paris in August 1944, he joined France's Second Armored Division and served as a truck driver carrying fuel and ammunition to the front. Later he was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for his courage.

During the war, Marais was engaged to his film partner, actress Mila Parély, and their engagement was blessed by Cocteau, who wanted Marais to be happy. Marais and Mila Parély separated after two years, and shortly after they worked together again in La Belle et la bête / Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, Jean Delannoy, 1946). His double role as the beast and the prince in this classic film made Marais an international teen idol.


French postcard by Editions Hazan, Paris, in the Collection Magie Noire, no. 1960. Photographer unknown. Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais.


French postcard by Éditions du Désastre, Paris, 1988, no RD 6. Photo: Robert Doisneau, 1949.


Photocard.


French postcard in the Collection Magie Noire by Éditions Hazan, Paris, 1988, no. 6009. Photo: Sam Lévin Jean Marais and Michèle Morgan in Aux yeux du souvenir/Nightstop in Dakar (Jean Delannoy, 1948).


Austrian postcard by Kellner-Fotokarten, Wien, no. 1038. Photo: Ringfilm. Jean Marais in Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).


Swiss / British / German postcard by News Productions, Baulmes & Stroud / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede, no. 56482. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Jean Marais in Orphée / Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).


German postcard by Wilhelm Schulze-Witteburg Graphischer Betrieb (WS-Druck), Wanne Eickel. Photo: Deutsche Commerz Film GmbH. Jean Marais and Alida Valli in Les Miracles n'ont lieu qu'une fois / Miracles Only Happen Once (Yves Allégret, 1951).


Soviet postcard. Jean Marais in Le comte de Monte-Cristo: La vengeance / The Count of Monte Cristo: Revenge (Robert Vernay, 1954).


West German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2136. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Film. Jean Marais in Le notti bianche / White Nights (Luchino Visconti, 1957).


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 50. Photo: Unifrance-Film.

Dashing sword master

During the 1950’s, Jean Marais became a dashing sword master, dazzling his audiences with impressive French swashbuckling adventures, in which he performed his own stunts.

Le Comte de Monte Cristo / The Count of Monte Cristo (Robert Vernay, 1955), Le Bossu / The Hunchback of Paris (André Hunebelle, 1959), and Le Capitaine Fracasse / Captain Fracasse (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1961) all enjoyed great box office popularity in France.

Marais would become one of the most admired and celebrated actors of his generation. He starred in international productions by famous directors like Elena et les hommes / Elena and Her Men (Jean Renoir, 1956) and Le Notti bianche / White Nights (Luchino Visconti, 1957) with Maria Schell and Marcello Mastroianni.

Jean Marais also continued to work for Jean Cocteau in Le testament d'Orphée / The Testament of Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1959).

During the 1960s and 1970s, he appeared in popular adventure comedies such as the Fantômas (André Hunebelle, 1964-1967) trilogy, co-starring with Louis de Funes and Mylène Demongeot.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1378, 1961. Retail price: 0.20 DM. Photo: Progress.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1.954, 1963. Jean Marais in Le Capitan / Captain Blood (André Hunebelle, 1960).

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 902, offered by Les Carbones Korès. Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1111. Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 1042, French licency holder for UFA, Berlin-Tempelhof. Photo: Hilde Zenker / UFA.


German postcard by Netter's Star Verlag, Berlin.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


German postcard by Progress-Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2416. Photo: Jean Marais and Geneviève Page in Der ehrenwerte Stanislas/L'honorable Stanislas, l'agent secret (Jean-Charles Dudrumet, 1963).


French postcard by Chromos, no. 37. Jean Marais and Louis de Funès in Fantomas contre Scotland Yard / Fantomas Contra Scotland Yard (André Hunebelle, 1967).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 433. Jean Marais in Le paria / Diamond Rush (Claude Carliez, 1969).

Choice character roles

Jean Marais was equally impressive in the theatre, appearing in such plays as 'Britannicus', 'Pygmalion' and 'Cher Menteur' at the Théâtre de Paris, Théâtre de l'Atelier, and the Comédie Francaise.

He spent his later years living in his house in Vallauris, in the South of France where he was involved in painting, sculpture and pottery, and was visited by Pablo Picasso and other cultural figures.

His monument 'Le passe muraille' (The Walker Through Walls), honouring French author Marcel Aymé, can be seen in the Montmartre Quarter in Paris.

After a long retirement, Jean Marais returned to filmmaking in the mid-1980s with choice character roles in such films as Parking (Jacques Demy, 1985). In 1993 he was awarded an honourable César. Marais made his final film appearance in Bernardo Bertolucci's Io ballo da sola/Stealing Beauty (1996) starring Liv Tyler. That year he received France's highest tribute, the Legion of Honour for his contribution to the French cinema.

Jean Marais died of heart failure in 1998, in Cannes. He had an adopted son, Serge Marais.


French card by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., Paris, no. 178. Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1007. Photo: Sam Lévin.


German postcard by Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (Ufa), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-27. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Gérard Décaux / Ufa.


German postcard by Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (Ufa), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-161. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Unifrance-Film.


German postcard by Ufa (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-202. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Sam Lévin / UFA.


French postcard by La roue tourne, L'Association du Spectacle, Paris.


French postcard by Editions d'art Yvon, Paris, no. 40-110-02. Photo: Parc Film / KIM. Jean Marais and Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Caption: Peau d'âne (Donkey Skin), a tale by Charles Perrault, a film by Jacques Demy. The Princess asks the King, her father, for a moon-coloured dress.


West German collector card in the Unsere Bambi-Lieblinge series by Penny Bildband, no. 45. Jean Marais in the TV series Joseph Balsamo (André Hunebelle, 1973), based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas. Caption: Jean Marais, the celebrated film and theatre actor, was the first BAMBI winner in 1948. As the adventurer ‘Cagliostro’, he confirmed his great skills on German television.


French postcard by Galerie Jean Marais. Photo: Gérard Dufraigne.


Original photo with autograph and dedication. Collection: Didier Hanson.


French postcard by Carterie Occitane, Toulouse in the series 'Les acteurs Français vus par Solo', no. 8. Illustration: Solo.

Sources: Steve Shelokhonov (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Wikipedia, James Travers (Films de France), Lenin Imports, and IMDb.

Directed by Jean Cocteau

French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was one of the most multi-talented artists of the 20th century. He is best known for his novels 'Le Grand Écart' (1923), 'Le Livre blanc' (1928), and 'Les Enfants Terribles' (1929); the stage plays 'La Voix Humaine' (1930), 'La Machine Infernale' (1934), 'Les Parents terribles' (1938), and 'L'Aigle à deux têtes' (1946); and the films Le sang d'un poète/The Blood of a Poet (1930), La belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast (1946), Les Parents Terribles (1948), Orphée/Orpheus (1950), and Le testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus (1960). He collaborated with the Russian Ballet company of Sergei Diaghilev and was one of the creatives of the Surrealist and Dadaist movements, but he always remained a poet at heart.


Belgian postcard by Maison d'Art, Bruxelles. Photo: Manuel.


French postcard by Éditions du Désastre, Paris, 1988, no RD 6. Photo: Robert Doisneau, 1949. Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 368. Photo: Intran Studio.


French postcard. Photo montage: Philippe Halsman / Magnum Photos. Caption: The French writer Jean Cocteau in a photographic montage by Philippe Halsman.


French postcard by Editions Hazan, Paris, in the Collection Magie Noire, no. 1960. Photo: unknown. Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais.

Openly homosexual

Jean Maurice Eugène Cocteau was born in 1889 in Maisons-Laffitte, Seine-et-Oise (now Yvelines), France. Cocteau was born into a middle-class family. Cocteau's father committed suicide when he was about 10 years old. In 1900, he entered a private school and was expelled in 1904. After his expulsion from school, Cocteau ran away to Marseilles where he lived in the red-light district under a false name. Police discovered him in Marseilles and returned him to his uncle's care. Jean began writing at 10 and was a published poet by age 16. From 1908, he was a frequent guest in artistic circles.

Cocteau associated himself with Edouard de Max, a reigning tragedian of the Paris stage at this time. De Max encouraged Cocteau to write and on 4 April 1908, he rented the Theatre Femina for the premiere of the young writer's poetry. In 1909, Cocteau met the Russian impresario Sergei Daighilev who ran the Ballets Russes. In 1911, he wrote the libretto for 'Le dieu bleu, a ballet by the Ballets Russes. In 1917 came 'Parade', an avant-garde ballet by Cocteau, for which Pablo Picasso, among others, designed the sets and costumes and Erik Satie composed the music. In Guillaume Apollinaire's programme booklet, to describe the ballet, the word surréaliste was used for the first time. The ballet was not a great success, but it did establish Cocteau's name in the avant-garde of Paris.

In 1920, Cocteau met the aspiring writer Raymond Radiguet, then aged 17. They collaborated extensively, socialised, and undertook many journeys and vacations together. Cocteau also got Radiguet exempted from military service. After Radiguet released 'Le Diable au corps', a largely autobiographical story of an adulterous relationship between a married woman and a younger man, a period of productivity followed for Cocteau. This stopped in 1923 when Radiguet died of typhoid fever. Cocteau became addicted to opium in the period that followed. During Cocteau's recovery from his opium addiction, the artist created some of his most important works including the stage play 'Orphee' and many long poems.

Cocteau was openly homosexual. He was the author of the mildly homoerotic and semi-autobiographical 'Le Livre blanc' (The White Book), published anonymously in 1928. He never repudiated its authorship and a later edition of the novel features his foreword and drawings. Frequently his work, either literary (Les enfants terribles), graphic (erotic drawings, book illustration, paintings) or cinematographic, is pervaded with homosexual undertones, homoerotic imagery/symbolism or camp.

In 1926, he published 'Le rappel à l'ordre', a book of essays describing the renewed interest in traditions in the post-World War I period. In 1929, Cocteau wrote his best-known work, 'Les Enfants terribles'. In the early 1930s, Cocteau wrote what some believe to be his greatest play, 'La Machine Infernal'. The play was a treatment of the Oedipus theme. Cocteau also wrote 'La voix humaine' (1930, The Human Voice), 'Les chevaliers de la table rounde' (1937, The Knights of the Round Table), 'Les parents terribles' (1938, Intimate Relations), and 'La machine a ecrire' (1941, The Typewriter).


French postcard by Editions du Centre Pompidou, no. CP 2217. Photo: Sacha Masour. Jean Cocteau paints the eyes of Enrique Rivero at the set of Le Sang d'un poète/The Blood of a Poet (Jean Cocteau, 1930).


French card, no. C142. Photo: Aldo. Jean Marais and Josette Day in La belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, René Clément, 1946).


Swiss postcard by CVB Publishers. Image: Collection Cinémathèque Lausanne. French poster for La Belle et la Bête (Jean Cocteau, René Clément, 1946). The poster was designed by Cocteau's friend Jean-Denis Malcles.


French postcard by Carterie artistique et cinématographique, Pont du Casse, no. EDC 2827. Affiche for Les enfants terribles/The Terrible Children (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950), based on the play by Jean Cocteau.


Swiss / British / German postcard by News Productions, Baulmes & Stroud / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede, no. 56482. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Jean Marais in Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).

The Beauty and the Beast

Jean Cocteau's film debut Le sang d'un poète/The Blood of a Poet (1930) starring Enrique Rivero, was a grand experiment in an effort to capture a young poet's obsession with the struggle between the forces of life and death. He is condemned to walk the halls of the Hotel of Dramatic Follies for his crime of having brought a statue to life. Because of the October 1930 scandal around Luis Buñuel's L'âge d'or (1930) - another film financed by Le Vicomte de Noailles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, the Paris premiere of this film was delayed until January 1932. The film is the first part of Jean Cocteau's Orpheus Trilogy (1932-1960); a loosely connected telling and re-telling of the well-known Greek legend. During the next years, the artist's work lapsed. One reason for this is his recurring addiction to opium.

Wikipedia: "Although in 1938 Cocteau had compared Adolf Hitler to an evil demiurge who wished to perpetrate a Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre against Jews, his friend Arno Breker convinced him that Hitler was a pacifist and patron of the arts with France's best interests in mind. During the Nazi occupation of France, he was in a "round-table" of French and German intellectuals who met at the Georges V Hotel in Paris, including Cocteau, the writers Ernst Jünger, Paul Morand and Henry Millon de Montherlant, the publisher Gaston Gallimard and the Nazi legal scholar Carl Schmitt. In his diary, Cocteau accused France of disrespect towards Hitler and speculated on the Führer's sexuality. Cocteau effusively praised Breker's sculptures in an article entitled 'Salut à Breker' published in 1942. This piece caused him to be arraigned on charges of collaboration after the war, though he was cleared of any wrongdoing and had used his contacts in his failed attempt to save friends such as Max Jacob.

Jean Cocteau's return to work in the 1940s was primarily due to the influence of his protégé and lover Jean Marais, who starred in La belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946), based on the eponymous tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1756). Marais played three roles, the Beast, Beauty's suitor, and the Prince, and Josette Day played Belle. The film marked a triumphant return of Cocteau to the screen.

Cocteau and Marais also made L'aigle à deux têtes/The Eagle with Two Heads (Jean Cocteau, 1948) and Les parents terribles/The Storm Within (Jean Cocteau, 1948). In Cocteau's most important film, Orphee/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950), Jean Marais is a poet who becomes obsessed with a Princess, Death (Maria Casares). They fall in love. Orphee's wife, Eurydice (Marie Déa), is killed by the Princess' henchmen and Orphee goes after her into the Underworld. Although they have become dangerously entangled, the Princess sends Orphee back out of the Underworld, to carry on his life with Eurydice.

In 1955, Cocteau became a member of the Académie française and he was also awarded the French Legion of Honour. In his final film, Le testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1959), Cocteau himself played the poet Orpheus who looks back over his life and work, recalling his inspirations and obsessions. Cocteau made about twelve films in his career, all rich with symbolism and surreal imagery.

Jean Cocteau passed away in 1963 at his chateau in Milly-la-Foret, France at the age of 74. He died of a heart after hearing the news of the death of another friend, the singer Edith Piaf. Cocteau's chateau was bought by the government on the initiative of a committee that wants to keep his memory alive. It was inaugurated as a Cocteau museum in 2010. Cocteau's longest-lasting relationships were with French actors Jean Marais and Édouard Dermit, whom Cocteau formally adopted. According to his wishes, Cocteau is buried beneath the floor of the Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples in Milly-la-Forêt. The epitaph on his gravestone set on the floor of the chapel reads: "Je reste avec vous" (I stay with you).


American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. MR 37. Photo: Man Ray, 1924.


Vintage French postcard. Collection d'Art et d'Histoire, Paris.


French postcard by Marion-Valentine, Paris, no. N 118. Photo: Germaine Krull / Collection Bibliothèque Nationale. Caption: Jean Cocteau, 1929.


French postcard in the Collection Magie Noire by Editions Hazan, Paris, no. 6037, 1988. Photo: Serge Lido. Caption: Édith Piaf and Jean Cocteau, 1939.


French postcard by Musée Carnavalet, Paris, no IC 40 2125. Photo: Pierre Jahan. Caption: Jean Cocteau in his window, 86, rue de Montparnasse, Palais Royal, Paris (1er arr.), 1941.


French postcard by Fotofolio, N.Y., N.Y, no. PH8. Photo: Philippe Halsman, 1949. Caption: The Act of Creation. Cocteau with actress Ricki Soma (wife of John Huston and mother of Anjelica) and dancer Leo Coleman.


Swiss / British / German postcard by News Productions, Baulmes & Stroud / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede, no. 56514. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Maria Casarès in Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / Stroud / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede, no. 56513. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse. Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso on the set of Le Testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1960).


French postcard TTG / ADAGP, Paris, 2013, no. 0183000053. Photo: Lucien Clergue. Matador Luis Miguel Dominguin, Jacqueline and Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Lucia Bosé and Serge Lifar. Cocteau's final film, Le Testament d'Orphée/The Testament of Orpheus (1960), featured appearances by Picasso and Dominguín,


French postcard by Fernand Hazan, Paris, no. 1603 C. Poster design: Jean Cocteau. French poster for Le testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1960).


American postcard by Pomegranate, Corte Madera, Calif, no. 35-5135. Photo: Sanford Roth. Caption: Jean Cocteau, French dramatist, novelist, critic and poet. St. Jean, Cap Ferrat, France.


French postcard in the series Personnalités du XXe siècle by Opsis, Paris, no. C 4. Photo: J. Mounicq.

Sources: Alan Katz (IMDb), MFA - Masterworks Fine Art Gallery, Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.