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Jean Marais
Jean Marais
	Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1947
Born	Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais; 11 December 1913; Cherbourg, France
Died	8 November 1998 (aged 84); Cannes, France
Occupations	Actor; film director; theatre director; painter; sculptor; visual artist; writer; photographer;
Years active	1933–1996
Partners	Jean Cocteau (1937–1947); Georges Reich (1948–1959);
Children	Serge Villain-Marais (adoptive)

Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (French: [ʒɑ̃ maʁɛ]), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 films and was the lover, muse and friend of acclaimed director Jean Cocteau. ^[1] In 1996, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French cinema.^[2]^[3]

Early life

A native of Cherbourg, France, Marais was a son of Alfred Emmanuel Victor Paul Villain-Marais, a veterinarian, and his wife, the former Aline Marie Louise Vassord.^[4] Having recently lost a two-year-old daughter Madeleine, Aline was very disappointed when she gave birth to a boy. She came to accept him but until Jean was six or seven years old his mother raised him as if he were a girl, dressing him like one and giving him dolls to play with. Sometimes Aline was mysteriously absent from home. When he was eighteen, Marais became aware that his mother was a kleptomaniac and that she had been imprisoned for several months or even years in her lifetime.^[5]

Career

Early films

Marais' first role was an uncredited bit in Song of the Streets (1933) and he was in Etienne (1933). Filmmaker Marcel L'Herbier put him in The Sparrowhawk (1933) with Charles Boyer; The Scandal (1934), with Gaby Morlay; Happiness (1934) again with Boyer, The Venturer (1934) with Victor Francen; The New Men (1934) with Harry Baur; and Nights of Fire (1937) with Morlay and Francen.

Marcel Carné gave Marais a small role in Bizarre, Bizarre (1937) and the actor was in Abused Confidence (1937) by Henri Decoin; The Patriot (1938), a biopic of Paul I of Russia with Baur, directed by Maurice Tourneur; and Remontons les Champs-Élysées (1938) directed by Sacha Guitry.

Jean Cocteau

These were small roles. Marais also appeared on stage. He was in a 1937 stage production of Oedipe directed by Charles Dullin, where he was seen by Jean Cocteau. Marais impressed Cocteau, who cast the actor in his play Les Chevaliers de la table ronde.^[6]

Marais appeared in Cocteau's play Les Parents terribles (1938), supposedly based on Marais' home life, which was a great success.^[6]

Marais had bigger film parts in The Pavilion Burns (1941) directed by Jacques de Baroncelli, and The Four Poster (1942) directed by Roland Tual.

On stage he appeared in La Machine à ecrire (1941) by Cocteau and he directed and designed Racine's Britannicus (1941). He performed briefly with the Comédie-Française, then left acting for a time for fight in Alsace with the Free French Forces, winning the Croix de Guerre.^[6]

Stardom

Marais' first film as leading man was L'Éternel retour (1943), a re-telling of Tristan and Isolde set in 1940s France, written by Jean Cocteau. It was directed by Jean Delannoy and co-starred Madeleine Sologne. It was popular and made him a star.^[6]

Marais was the male lead in Voyage Without Hope (1943) with Simone Renant directed by Christian-Jaque.

Christian-Jaque also directed Marais in Carmen (1944) with Viviane Romance. This was one of the most popular films in France when it was released.^[7]^[8]

Beauty and the Beast and Jean Cocteau

Marais became a star in Beauty and the Beast (1946), written and directed by Cocteau.^[9]

He performed in a popular revival of Cocteau's 1938 play Les Parents terribles on stage.

Marais' next films were The Royalists (1947), a historical adventure film directed by Henri Calef from a novel by Balzac; and Ruy Blas (1948) with Danielle Darrieux, from a play by Victor Hugo and script by Cocteau, directed by Pierre Billon.

Marais' second film with Cocteau as director was The Eagle with Two Heads (1948) with Edwige Feuillère. He did To the Eyes of Memory (1948) with Michele Morgan for director Jean Delannoy, a big commercial success, then Les Parents Terribles (1949) for Cocteau again.^[8]^[10]

Marais was reunited with Delannoy for The Secret of Mayerling (1949), about the Mayerling incident. He did Orpheus (1950) with Cocteau, which was soon regarded as a classic.

Post-Cocteau stardom

Marais and Morgan were in The Glass Castle (1950) directed by René Clément. Marais did two films for Yves Allegret: Miracles Only Happen Once (1951) with Alida Valli and Leathernose (1952).

Marais was in L'appel du destin (1953) for Georges Lacombe; The Lovers of Midnight (1953) for Roger Richebé; Voice of Silence (1953), an Italian film from G. W. Pabst; Inside a Girls' Dormitory (1953); Julietta (1953) for Marc Allegret with Dany Robin and Jeanne Moreau; the all-star Boum sur Paris (1953); and The Faith Healer (1954).

Marais starred in a version of The Count of Monte Cristo (1954) that was hugely popular.^[8] He then made some all-star Guitry films, Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954), Napoleon (1955) (playing Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon) and If Paris Were Told to Us (1956); School for Love (1955) for Allegret, with a young Brigitte Bardot, a box office flop; Kiss of Fire (1956) for Robert Darène; and The Whole Town Accuses (1956).

Marais did Elena and Her Men (1956) with Ingrid Bergman and Mel Ferrer for Jean Renoir. He followed it with Typhoon Over Nagasaki (1957) with Darrieux; S.O.S. Noronha (1957); White Nights (1957) for Luchino Visconti, with Maria Schell and Marcello Mastroianni; Girl in His Pocket (1958); King on Horseback (1958); Every Day Has Its Secret (1958); and the all-star Life Together (1958).

Swashbuckler star

Marais starred in the swashbuckler Le Bossu (1959), appearing alongside Bourvil and directed by André Hunebelle which was a mammoth hit launched a new stage of his career. He was reunited with Cocteau for Testament of Orpheus (1960). He played Lazare Carnot in the all-star The Battle of Austerlitz (1960), then was reunited with Bourvil and Hunebelle in another swashbuckler, Captain Blood (1960).^[11]

He did Princess of Cleves (1961) for Delannoy with Marina Vlady based on a script by Cocteau. It was back to swashbuckling with Captain Fracasse (1961) for director Pierre Gaspard-Huit, and Blood on His Sword (1961) for Hunebelle.

Marais had a supporting role in Napoléon II, l'aiglon (1962) then did some films in Italy: Romulus and the Sabines (1962) with Roger Moore, and Pontius Pilate (1962), where Marais played the title role alongside Jeanne Crain and Basil Rathbone.

He was reunited with Hunebelle for The Mysteries of Paris (1962), then did The Iron Mask (1962) for Decoin.

Spy films and Fantomas

The success of the James Bond films saw Marais cast in an espionage movie, The Reluctant Spy (1963) for director Jean-Charles Dudrumet. He did a comedy, Friend of the Family (1964), then had a huge box office success with Fantomas (1964), playing the villain and hero, under the direction of Hunebelle.^[8]

In 1963, he was a member of the jury at the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival.^[12]

Marais did Ivory Coast Adventure (1965) directed by Christian-Jaque; Killer Spy (1965), directed by Georges Lampin; a sequel to The Reluctant Spy; and Operation Double Cross (1965), a spy film; then a Fantomas sequel, Fantomas Unleashed (1965).

He played Simon Templar in The Saint Lies in Wait (1966) for Christian-Jaque, and a French general in Seven Guys and a Gal (1967), directed by Bernard Borderie. Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967) was the third and final Fantomas, with Hunebelle.

Marais went on to appear in Le Paria (1969); Renaud et Armide (1969), based on a play by Cocteau; and Le jouet criminel (1969), a short.

1970s

After 1970, Marais preferred concentrating on his stage work, and his movie performances became fewer.

His film credits included La provocation (1970); Donkey Skin (1970) with Catherine Deneuve, directed by Jacques Demy; and Robert Macaire (1971) for French TV.

He was in the miniseries Karatekas and co (1973) and Joseph Balsamo (1973), and did the TV movies Vaincre à Olympie (1977) and Les Parents terribles (1980), based on the play by Cocteau.

He directed stage productions of Le bel indifférent (1975) and Les Parents terribles. He took the latter to London in 1978.^[13]

Later career

His later work included Emmenez-moi au théâtre; Parking (1985) directed by Demy; Lien de parenté (1986); Les enfants du naufrageur (1992); Dis Papa, raconte-moi là-bas (1993); Les Misérables (1995 film), directed by Claude Lelouch; and Stealing Beauty (1996), directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.^[11]

He performed on stage until his 80s, also working as a sculptor. His sculpture Le passe muraille (The Walker Through Walls) can be seen in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.^[14]

In 1985, he was the head of the jury at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival. He was featured in the 1995 documentary Screening at the Majestic, which is included on the 2003 DVD release of the restored print of Beauty and the Beast.^[15]

Personal life

Marais was Jean Cocteau's lover from 1937 to 1947, his muse and longtime friend.^[16] After Cocteau's death, Marais wrote a memoir of Cocteau, L'Inconcevable Jean Cocteau, attributing authorship to "Cocteau-Marais". He also wrote an autobiography, Histoires de ma vie, published in 1975. From 1948 until 1959, his companion was the American dancer George Reich.^[4] He is rumored to have been among the lovers of Umberto II of Italy.^[17]

In the early 1960s, Marais adopted a young man, Serge Ayala, who eventually took the name Serge Villain-Marais. This adopted son, who became a singer and an actor, committed suicide in 2012 at age 69 after an inheritance litigation and bouts of loneliness and depression.^[18]^[19]

Death

Marais died from cardiovascular disease in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes in 1998. He is interred in the Village cemetery at Vallauris, near Antibes.^[20]

In popular culture

The character Tragicomix, in the comic book Asterix the Legionary of 1967, has his characteristics based on Jean Marais.

His life story became the inspiration for the 1980 François Truffaut film The Last Metro.^[21]

In 1983, a still shot of him from Jean Cocteau's 1950 film Orphée was featured on the cover of The Smiths' "This Charming Man."

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1933	On the Streets		Victor Trivas	Uncredited
	L'Épervier		Marcel L'Herbier
	Étienne		Jean Tarride
1934	The Scandal	the liftboy	Marcel L'Herbier
	Le Bonheur	Un journaliste		Uncredited
	The Adventurer	the young worker		Uncredited
1936	The New Men	the office clerk
1937	Nuits de feu			Uncredited
	Bizarre, Bizarre		Marcel Carné	Uncredited
	Abus de confiance	Marais	Henri Decoin
1938	The Patriot		Maurice Tourneur
1938	Remontons les Champs-Élysées	L'abbé-précepteur	Sacha Guitry
1941	The Pavilion Burns	Daniel	Jacques de Baroncelli
1942	Le Lit à colonnes	Rémi Bonvent	Roland Tual
1942	Carmen		Christian-Jaque
1943	The Eternal Return	Patrice	Jean Delannoy
1943	Voyage Without Hope	Alain Ginestier	Christian-Jaque
1944	Carmen	Don José	Christian-Jaque
1946	Beauty and the Beast	The Beast / The Prince / Avenant	Jean Cocteau
1947	The Royalists	the Marquis de Montauran	Henri Calef
1948	Ruy Blas	Ruy Blas	Pierre Billon
	L'Aigle à deux têtes	Stanislas	Jean Cocteau
	To the Eyes of Memory	Jacques Forester	Jean Delannoy
	Les Parents terribles	Michel	Jean Cocteau
1949	The Secret of Mayerling	Archduke Rodolphe	Jean Delannoy
1950	Orphée	Orphée	Jean Cocteau
	The Glass Castle	Rémy Marsay	René Clément
	Coriolan		Jean Cocteau
1951	Miracles Only Happen Once	Jérôme	Yves Allégret
1952	Leathernose	Roger de Tainchebraye	Yves Allégret
1952	Love, Madame	Himself	Gilles Grangier	cameo appearance, Uncredited
1953	The Call of Destiny	Lorenzo Lombardi	Georges Lacombe
	The Lovers of Midnight	Marcel Dulac	Roger Richebé
	Voice of Silence	the former maquis	Georg Wilhelm Pabst
	Dortoir des grandes	Désiré Marco	Henri Decoin
	Julietta	André Landrecourt	Marc Allégret
	Boum sur Paris	Himself	Maurice de Canonge
	Le Guérisseur	Pierre Lachaux-Laurent	Yves Ciampi
1954	The Count of Monte Cristo	Edmond Dantès / Comte de Monte-Cristo	Robert Vernay
1954	Royal Affairs in Versailles	Louis XV of France	Sacha Guitry
1955	Napoléon	Montholon	Sacha Guitry
1955	Futures vedettes	Éric Walter	Marc Allégret
1956	Si Paris nous était conté	Francis I of France	Sacha Guitry
	Goubbiah, mon amour	Goubbiah	Robert Darène
	The Whole Town Accuses	François Nérac	Claude Boissol
	Elena et les hommes	Général François Rollan	Jean Renoir
1957	Typhoon Over Nagasaki	Pierre Marsac	Yves Ciampi
	S.O.S. Noronha	Frédéric Coulibaud	Georges Rouquier
	Le Notti bianche	the tenant	Luchino Visconti
	Amour de poche	Jérôme Nordman	Pierre Kast
1958	La Tour, prends garde !	Henri La Tour	Georges Lampin
	Chaque jour a son secret	Xavier Lezcano	Claude Boissol
	Life Together	Teddy Brooks	Clément Duhour
1959	Le Bossu	Henri de Lagardère	André Hunebelle
1960	Le Testament d'Orphée	Oedipe	Jean Cocteau	Uncredited
	Austerlitz	Lazare Carnot	Abel Gance
	Le Capitan	François de Capestan	André Hunebelle
1961	La Princesse de Clèves	Le Prince de Clèves	Jean Delannoy
	Captain Fracasse	Capitaine Fracasse	Pierre Gaspard-Huit
	Le Miracle des loups	Robert de Neuville	André Hunebelle
	Napoléon II l'Aiglon	General de Montholon	Claude Boissol
	L'Enlèvement des Sabines	Mars	Richard Pottier
1962	Ponce Pilate	Pontius Pilate	Gian Paolo Callegari
	The Mysteries of Paris	Rodolphe de Sambreuil	André Hunebelle
	Le Masque de fer	d'Artagnan	Henri Decoin
1963	L'honorable Stanislas, agent secret	Stanislas Evariste Dubois	Jean-Charles Dudrumet
1964	Cherchez l'idole	Un invité au spectacle de Sylvie Vartan	Michel Boisrond	Uncredited
	Patate	Noël Carradine	Robert Thomas
	Fantômas	Fantômas / Fandor	André Hunebelle
1965	Le gentleman de Cocody	Jean-Luc Hervé de la Tommeraye	Christian-Jaque
	Thomas l'imposteur	Narrator	Georges Franju	Voice
	Pleins feux sur Stanislas	Stanislas Evariste Dubois	Jean-Charles Dudrumet
	Train d'enfer	Antoine Donadieu	Gilles Grangier
	Fantômas se déchaîne	Fantômas / Fandor	André Hunebelle
1966	Le Saint prend l'affût	Simon Templar	Christian-Jaque
1967	Sept hommes et une garce	Dorgeval	Bernard Borderie
1967	Fantômas contre Scotland Yard	Fantômas / Fandor	André Hunebelle
1969	Le Paria	Manu	Claude Carliez
1970	La Provocation	Christian	André Charpak
	Le Jouet criminel	the nameless protagonist	Adolfo Arrieta
	Peau d'âne	"The first King"	Jacques Demy
1973	Joseph Balsamo [fr]	Alessandro Cagliostro	André Hunebelle	7 episodes
1976	Chantons sous l'Occupation	Himself	André Halimi
1977	Vaincre à Olympie	Menesthée	Michel Subiela	TV movie
1980	Les Parents terribles	Georges	Yves-André Hubert	TV movie
1982	Emmenez-moi au théâtre	George Bernard Shaw	Alexandre Tarta	Episode: "Cher menteur"
1985	Parking	Hades	Jacques Demy
1986	Lien de parenté	Victor Blaise	Willy Rameau
1992	Les Enfants du naufrageur	Marc-Antoine	Jérôme Foulon
1993	Dis Papa, raconte-moi là-bas		Guy Gilles
1995	Les Misérables	Monseigneur Myriel	Claude Lelouch
1996	Stealing Beauty	Monsieur Guillaume	Bernardo Bertolucci
1997	Milice, film noir	Himself	Alain Ferrari	Documentary
1999	Luchino Visconti	Himself	Carlo Lizzani	Documentary

References

^ Shelokhonov, Steve. "Mini-Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
^ Hal Erickson (2016). "Movies". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016.
^ Kirkup, James (10 November 1998). "Obituary: Jean Marais". The Independent. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
^ ^a ^b Trambouze, Claude. Jean Marais : Un Homme aux milles. PORTRAIT (in French). Retrieved 11 July 2015.
^ Jean Marais' statements in the documentary Cocteau - Marais, un couple mythique [fr], directed by Yves Riou and Philippe Pouchain, France, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jean Marais: [1F Edition] The Times 10 Nov 1998: 21.
^ French box office of 1945 at Box Office Story
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Box Office Figures for Jean Marais films". Box Office Story.
^ "Jean Cocteau's Acclaimed Films". They Shoot Pictures, Don't They. 2016. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
^ Jean Marais 'Souvenir' Star Los Angeles Times 23 Nov 1950: A24.
^ ^a ^b Obituary: Jean Marais: [FINAL Edition] Kirkup, James. The Independent 10 Nov 1998: 6.
^ "3rd Moscow International Film Festival (1963)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
^ Tourists mob box office – and the theaters thrive: Half the audience Impresario White Musical flaw Difficulty overcome By Sir Harold Hobson Special to The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor 12 June 1978: B10.
^ "Berlinale: Juries". berlinale.de. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
^ "The Criterion Collection: Beauty and the Beast by Jean Cocteau".
^ "Légendes d'Écran Noir: Jean Marais". www.ecrannoir.fr.
^ A. Petacco, Regina: La vita e i segreti di Maria José, Milan, 1997
^ "Jean Marais, Histoires de ma vie", German Edition 1975 "Spiegel meiner Erinnerung" page 262 ff
^ Jean Marais: Son fils Serge s'est suicidé
^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 29906). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
^ L'Epervier and L'Aventurier in 1933