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 |
| Occupation | Actor, director |
| Years active | 1933 - 1996 |
| Spouse(s) | Mila Parély (1942-1944) |
| Partner(s) | Jean Cocteau (1937-1963; his death) |
Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais, also known as Jean Marais (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ maʁɛ]; 11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), was a French actor, writer, director and sculptor. He performed in over 100 films and was the muse of acclaimed director Jean Cocteau. [1] In 1996, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French Cinema. [2]
Life and career
A native of Cherbourg, France, Marais was a son of Alfred Emmanuel Victor Paul Villain-Marais and his wife, the former Aline Marie Louise Vassord.[3]
He was discovered in 1933 by filmmaker Marcel L'Herbier who purchased one of his paintings, then cast him in two films L'Epervier and L'Aventurier. His life story became the inspiration for the 1980 Francois Truffaut film The Last Metro.[4]
Marais starred in several movies directed by Jean Cocteau, for a time his lover and a lifelong friend, most famously Beauty and the Beast (1946) and Orphée (1949).
In the 1950s, Marais became a star of swashbuckling pictures, enjoying great box office popularity in France. He performed his own stunts. In the 1960s, he played both the famed villain and the hero of the Fantômas trilogy. In 1963, he was a member of the jury at the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival.[5]
After 1970, Marais's on-screen performances became few and far between, as he preferred concentrating on his stage work. He performed on stage until his eighties, also working as a sculptor. His sculpture "Le passe muraille" (The Walker Through Walls) can be seen in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.[6]
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.[7] Marais appears on the cover sleeve of The Smiths single This Charming Man.
Personal life
He was married for two years to the actress Mila Parély, with whom he later performed in Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast.[8]
Marais, who was homosexual, was the muse and lover of Jean Cocteau until Cocteau's death.[9] After Cocteau's death, Marais wrote a memoir of Cocteau, L'Inconcevable Jean Cocteau, attributing authorship to "Cocteau-Marais". He also wrote his own autobiography, L'Histoire de ma vie, published in 1975. From 1953 until 1959, his companion was the American dancer George Reich.[3]
Marais died from cardiovascular disease in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, in 1998. He is interred there at Vallauris cemetery.
In the early 1960s, Marais learned that he had a biological son, Serge Ayala, whom he recognized in 1962 and who eventually took the name Serge Villain-Marais. This son, who became a singer and an actor, committed suicide in 2012 at age 69.[3][10]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | Dans les rues | uncredited | Victor Trivas |
| L'Épervier | uncredited | Marcel L'Herbier | |
| Étienne | uncredited | Jean Tarride | |
| 1934 | Le Scandale | the liftboy | Marcel L'Herbier |
| L'Aventurier | the young worker | ||
| Le Bonheur | uncredited | ||
| 1936 | Les Hommes nouveaux | the office clerk | |
| Nuits de feu | uncredited | ||
| 1937 | Abus de confiance | Marais | Henri Decoin |
| Bizarre, Bizarre | uncredited | Marcel Carné | |
| 1941 | Le Pavillon brûle | Daniel | Jacques de Baroncelli |
| 1942 | Le Lit à colonnes | Rémi Bonvent | Roland Tual |
| 1942 | Carmen | Christian-Jaque | |
| 1943 | L'Éternel retour | Patrice | Jean Delannoy |
| Voyage sans espoir | Alain Ginestier | Christian-Jaque | |
| 1945 | Carmen | Don José | |
| 1946 | Beauty and the Beast | The Beast / The Prince / Avenant | Jean Cocteau |
| 1947 | The Royalists | the Marquis de Montauran | Henri Calef |
| Ruy Blas | Ruy Blas | Pierre Billon | |
| L'Aigle à deux têtes | Stanislas | Jean Cocteau | |
| 1948 | Aux yeux du souvenir | Jacques Forester | Jean Delannoy |
| Le Secret de Mayerling | Archduke Rodolphe | ||
| Les Parents terribles | Michel | Jean Cocteau | |
| 1949 | Orphée | Orphée | |
| 1950 | Le Château de verre | Rémy Marsay | René Clément |
| Les Miracles n'ont lieu qu'une fois | Jérôme | Yves Allégret | |
| 1951 | Nez de cuir | Roger de Tainchebraye | |
| 1952 | L'Amour, Madame | cameo appearance | Gilles Grangier |
| La Maison du silence | the former maquis | Georg Wilhelm Pabst | |
| 1953 | L'Appel du destin | Lorenzo Lombardi | Georges Lacombe |
| Les Amants de minuit | Marcel Dulac | Roger Richebé | |
| Dortoir des grandes | Désiré Marco | Henri Decoin | |
| Julietta | André Landrecourt | Marc Allégret | |
| 1954 | The Count of Monte Cristo | Edmond Dantès / Comte de Monte-Cristo | Robert Vernay |
| Le Guérisseur | Dr. Jean Scheffer | Yves Ciampi | |
| Royal Affairs in Versailles | Louis XV of France | Sacha Guitry | |
| 1955 | Futures vedettes | Éric Walter | Marc Allégret |
| Napoléon | Montholon | Sacha Guitry | |
| 1956 | Goubbiah, mon amour | Goubbiah | Robert Darène |
| Toute la ville accuse | François Nérac | Claude Boissol | |
| Elena et les hommes | Général François Rollan | Jean Renoir | |
| Si Paris nous était conté | Francis I of France | Sacha Guitry | |
| 1957 | Typhon sur Nagasaki | Pierre Marsac | Yves Ciampi |
| S.O.S. Noronha | Frédéric Coulibaud | Georges Rouquier | |
| Amour de poche | Jérôme Nordman | Pierre Kast | |
| La Vie à deux | Teddy Brooks | Clément Duhour | |
| Le Notti bianche | the tenant | Luchino Visconti | |
| La Tour, prends garde ! | Henri La Tour | Georges Lampin | |
| 1958 | Chaque jour a son secret | Xavier Lezcano | Claude Boissol |
| 1959 | Le Bossu | Henri de Lagardère | André Hunebelle |
| Le Testament d'Orphée | Oedipe (uncredited) | Jean Cocteau | |
| 1960 | 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 | Montholon | Claude Boissol | |
| L'Enlèvement des Sabines | Mars | Richard Pottier | |
| 1962 | Ponce Pilate | Pontius Pilate | Gian Paolo Callegari |
| Le Masque de fer | d'Artagnan | Henri Decoin | |
| The Mysteries of Paris | Rodolphe de Sambreuil | André Hunebelle | |
| 1963 | L'honorable Stanislas, agent secret | Stanislas Evariste Dubois | Jean-Charles Dudrumet |
| 1964 | Patate | Noël Carradine | Robert Thomas |
| Fantômas | Fantômas/Fandor | André Hunebelle | |
| Thomas l'imposteur | Narrator (voice) | Georges Franju | |
| 1965 | Le gentleman de Cocody | Jean-Luc Hervé de la Tommeraye | Christian-Jaque |
| Pleins feux sur Stanislas | Stanislas Evariste Dubois | Jean-Charles Dudrumet | |
| Train d'enfer | Antoine Donadieu | Gilles Grangier | |
| Fantômas se déchaîne | Fantômas/Fandor | André Hunebelle | |
| Le Saint prend l'affût | Simon Templar | Christian-Jaque | |
| 1966 | Sept hommes et une garce | Dorgeval | Bernard Borderie |
| 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 (TV miniseries) | Alessandro Cagliostro | André Hunebelle |
| 1976 | Vaincre à Olympie (TV) | Menesthée | Michel Subiela |
| Chantons sous l'Occupation | as himself | André Halimi | |
| 1980 | Les Parents terribles | Georges | Yves-André Hubert |
| 1982 | Cher menteur (TV) | George Bernard Shaw | Alexandre Tarta |
| 1985 | Parking | Hades | Jacques Demy |
| 1986 | Lien de parenté | Victor Blaise | Willy Rameau |
| 1992 | Les Enfants du naufrageur | Marc-Antoine | Jérôme Foulon |
| 1995 | Les Misérables | Monseigneur Myriel | Claude Lelouch |
| 1996 | Stealing Beauty | Monsieur Guillaume | Bernardo Bertolucci |
| 1997 | Milice, film noir | as himself | Alain Ferrari |
| 1999 | Luchino Visconti | as himself | Carlo Lizzani |
See also
References
- ↑ Shelokhonov, Steve. "Mini-Biography". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/45265/Jean-Marais/biography
- 1 2 3 Trambouze, Claude. Jean Marais : Un Homme aux milles. PORTRAIT (in French). Retrieved 11 July 2015.
- ↑ L'Epervier and L'Aventurier in 1933
- ↑ "3rd Moscow International Film Festival (1963)". MIFF. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
- ↑ "Berlinale: Juries". berlinale.de. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
- ↑ The Criterion Collection: Beauty and the Beast by Jean Cocteau
- ↑ Shelokhonov, Steve. "Mini-Biography". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
- ↑ Légendes d'Écran Noir: Jean Marais
- ↑ France-Dimanche, 9–15 March 2012
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean Marais. |
- Jean Marais at the Internet Broadway Database
- Jean Marais at the Internet Movie Database
- Eternel Jean Marais
- Jean Marais at the Films de France
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