- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJean Maurice Eugène Cocteau
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Jean Cocteau was one of the most multi-talented artists of the 20th century. In addition to being a director, he was a poet, novelist, painter, playwright, set designer, and actor. He began writing at 10 and was a published poet by age 16. He collaborated with the Russian Ballet company of Sergei Diaghilev, and was active in many art movements, but always remained a poet at heart. His films reflect this fact. Cocteau was also a homosexual, and made no attempt to hide it. His favorite actor was his close friend Jean Marais, who appeared in almost every one of his films. Cocteau made about twelve films in his career, all rich with symbolism and surreal imagery. He is now regarded as one of the most important avant-garde directors in cinema.
- IMDb mini biography by: Alan Katz <katz@panther.middlebury.edu>
- Rich, poetic films filled with symbolism
- Almost always cast his protégé and lover, Jean Marais.
- He was an ambulance driver during the First World War.
- Longtime companion of Jean Marais.
- When Jean Cocteau was asked who had the greatest influence on him, he replied, "Harry Langdon.".
- President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954.
- Was posthumously nominated for Broadway's 1995 Tony Award as author of Best Play nominee "Indiscretions."
- Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.
- I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.
- History consists of truths which in the end turn into lies, while myth consists of lies which finally turn into truths.
- [on cinema] That temple of sex, with its goddesses, its guardians and its victims.
- A film is a petrified fountain of thought.
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