Marais, Jean

▪ 1999

      French actor (b. Dec. 11, 1913, Cherbourg, France—d. Nov. 8, 1998, Cannes, France), appeared in more than 70 films as well as a number of stage productions and became one of France's most popular actors. He was especially noted for his performances in the works of the Surrealist poet and artist Jean Cocteau, his longtime partner and mentor, and it was as the beast in Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast) that he found his most memorable role. Though Marais had decided as a young child that he wanted to be an actor, drama schools rejected him, and he was able to win only small parts in stage and film productions. In 1937, however, Cocteau noticed Marais in his play Oedipe roi and later that year starred him in another of his plays Les Chevaliers de la table ronde. Although Marais's voice was considered weak, his good looks made him a screen idol; nonetheless, he worked to improve his acting skills and came to be respected for his performing abilities. Other Cocteau plays in which Marais starred included Les Parents terribles (1938), La Machine à écrire (1941), and La Machine infernale (1954). Among Marais's films for Cocteau were L'Eternel Retour (1943; The Eternal Return), Les Parents terribles (1948; The Storm Within), Orphée (1950; Orpheus), and Le Testament d'Orphée (1960; The Testament of Orpheus); films for other directors included Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1953; The Count of Monte-Cristo), Éléna et les hommes (1956; Paris Does Strange Things), Le notti bianche (1957; White Nights), and the Fantômas series in the 1960s. In 1983, on the 20th anniversary of Cocteau's death, Marais presented a one-man show, Cocteau-Marais, and he made a notable cameo appearance in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1996 film Stealing Beauty.

* * *

▪ French actor

in full  Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais 

born Dec. 11, 1913, Cherbourg, France

died Nov. 8, 1998, Cannes, France

      French actor who was a protégé and longtime partner of French writer-director Jean Cocteau (Cocteau, Jean). Marais was one of the most popular leading men in French films during the 1940s and '50s.

      Marais was first attracted to the stage in high school but was turned down by the Paris Conservatory. After working as a photographer's apprentice, he began playing bit parts and walk-ons in film and on stage, making his motion-picture debut in 1933. Despite his handsome features and muscular physique, Marais's thin voice and limited acting ability restricted the type and size of roles he played.

      After meeting Jean Cocteau (1937), however, his career took an upward turn. Marais became Cocteau's male lead and made a notable appearance as an archetypal romantic hero, Tristan, in Cocteau's L'Eternel retour (1943; The Eternal Return). He worked for Cocteau almost exclusively until, eventually, his maturity, experience, and acting ability led other directors to seek him out for lead roles.

      Among the more than 70 films he appeared in are La Belle et la bête (1946; Beauty and the Beast), L'Aigle à deux têtes (1948; Eagle with Two Heads), Les Parents terribles (1948; The Storm Within), Le Secret de Mayerling (1949; The Secret of Mayerling), Orphée (1950; Orpheus), and Éléna et les hommes (1956; Paris Does Strange Things). In the '60s he had success portraying a super-criminal named Fantômas—in the films Fantômas (1964), Fantômas se déchaîne (1965; Fantomas Strikes Back), and Fantômas contre Scotland Yard (1966; Fantomas Against Scotland Yard). After a 15-year hiatus Marais began appearing in films again in the mid-1990s; his most notable mature performance was in Bernardo Bertolucci's (Bertolucci, Bernardo) Stealing Beauty (1996).

* * *