Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (July 5, 1889 – October 11, 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, and filmmaker. He was born at Maisons-Laffitte, France, a small town near Paris. His versatile, unconventional approach and enormous output brought him international acclaim. Jump to: navigation, search July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in Leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Poets are authors of poems, or of other forms of poetry such as dramatic verse. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... Designer is a broad term for a person who designs any of a variety of things. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

Life and work

Despite his achievements in virtually all literary and artistic fields, Cocteau insisted that he was primarily a poet and that all his work was poetry. As a leading member of the Surrealist movement, he had great influence on the work of others, including the group of composer friends in Montparnasse known as Les Six. However, despite the fact that the word Surrealism was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire to describe Cocteau's 1917 collaboration with Erik Satie, Pablo Picasso, and Léonide Massine Parade, self-proclaimed Surrealism leader André Breton declared Cocteau a "notorious false poet, a versifier who happens to debase rather than to elevate everything he touches." (Breton, 1953) Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ... The Montparnasse Tower, which at 209m was the tallest building in Western Europe when it was built. ... Le Groupe des Six, 1922, by Jacques-Emile Blanche. ... Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (August 26, 1880 – November 9, 1918) was a poet, writer, and art critic. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... Jump to: navigation, search Young Pablo Picasso The first cubist painting, Les Demoiselles dAvignon (1907) Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish painter, (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art, probably most famous as the founder, along with Georges Braque... Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (August 9, 1896–March 15, 1979) was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. ... André Breton (February 18, 1896 – September 28, 1966) was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist. ...

On the sunny afternoon of August 12, 1916, Pablo Picasso and his new girlfriend, the fashion model Paquerette, Max Jacob, Manuel Ortiz de Zarate, Marie Vassilieff, Henri-Pierre Roché, Moise Kisling, Amedeo Modigliani and the critic André Salmon were sitting together outside the café La Rotonde in Montparnasse. Their friend, Cocteau, recorded for posterity this extraordinary gathering of talent in a series of 21 photographs showing such characters as a dapper Picasso dressed à l'anglaise with a flat cap, cane and briar pipe. Paquerette wore a long elegant dress and a very silly hat, while Max Jacob at least looked as though he was sober and respectable, and the tiny Marie Vassilieff appeared the formidable little lady she was. Jump to: navigation, search Young Pablo Picasso The first cubist painting, Les Demoiselles dAvignon (1907) Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish painter, (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art, probably most famous as the founder, along with Georges Braque... Jump to: navigation, search Max Jacob (July 12, 1876 – March 5, 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. ... Manuel Ortiz de Zárate, (October 9, 1887 - October 28, 1946), was a Chilean painter. ... Mariya Ivanovna Vassiliéva , (February 12, 1884 - May 14, 1957), better known as Marie Vassilieff, was a Russian painter. ... Henri-Pierre Roché (May 28, 1879 – April 9, 1959) was a French writer. ... Moise Kisling (January 22, 1891 - April 29, 1953) was a Polish painter. ... Jump to: navigation, search Andy Garcia (left) playing Amedeo Modigliani in the movie Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) was an Jewish Italian painter and sculptor. ...

In 1918 he met the 15 year old poet Raymond Radiguet, with whome he had an intense and often stormy relationship until the latter's premature death while on a trip together. See Historical pederastic relationships Jump to: navigation, search 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Raymond Radiguet (June 18, 1903 - December 12, 1923) was a French author. ... Whitman & Duckett Over the course of history there have been a number of recorded love-based mentoring relationships between older men and adolescent boys. ...

In the 1930s, Cocteau had an unlikely affair with Princess Nathalie Paley, the beautiful daughter of a Romanov grand duke and herself a fashion-plate, sometime actress, model, and former wife of couturier Lucien Lelong. She became pregnant. To Cocteau's distress and Paley's lifelong regret, the fetus was aborted due to the intervention of Marie-Laure de Noailles, the eccentric arts patron who had loved Cocteau as a young woman and was determined to ruin his new romance. Cocteau's longest lasting relationship was with the handsome French actor Jean Marais, whom he discovered and cast in Beauty and the Beast. Jump to: navigation, search The House of Romanov (Рома́нов, pronounced Ro-MAH-nof) was the second and last imperial dynasty of Russia, which ruled Muscovy and the Russian Empire for five generations from 1613 to 1762. ... Jump to: navigation, search An abortion is the premature termination of pregnancy resulting in the death of any or all carried embryo(s) or fetus(es). ... Marie-Laure, Vicomtesse de Noailles (31 October 1902 - 29 January 1970), was one of the 20th centurys most daring and influential patrons of the arts, noted for her associations with Salvador Dalí, Balthus, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Jean-Michel Frank and others as well as her tempestuous life and... Jean Marais, born Jean-Villain Marais (December 11, 1913 - November 8, 1998) was a French actor, and the lover of Jean Cocteau. ...

Jean Cocteau

In 1940 Le Bel Indifférent, Cocteau's play written for and starring Édith Piaf, was enormously successful. He also worked with Picasso on several projects and was friends with most of the European art community. He struggled with opium addiction for most of his adult life and was openly gay, though he had a few brief and complicated affairs with women. He published a considerable amount of work criticising homophobia. This work is copyrighted. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Édith Piaf Édith Piaf (December 19, 1915–October 10, 1963) was one of Frances most loved singers and a national icon. ... Jump to: navigation, search Young Pablo Picasso The first cubist painting, Les Demoiselles dAvignon (1907) Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish painter, (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art, probably most famous as the founder, along with Georges Braque... Jump to: navigation, search Opium is a narcotic drug which is obtained from the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L. or the synonym paeoniflorum). ... Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Jump to: navigation, search The term homophobia is a portmanteau derived from the words homosexual and phobia. ...

Cocteau's films, the bulk of which he both wrote and directed, were particularly important in introducing Surrealism into French cinema and influenced to a certain degree the upcoming French New Wave genre. Jump to: navigation, search Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ...

Cocteau is best known for his 1929 novel Les enfants terribles, the 1929 play Les parents terribles, and the 1945 film, Beauty and the Beast. Jump to: navigation, search 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Beauty and the Beast (in French La Belle et la Bête) is a French film, made in 1946, based on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The film was directed by Jean Cocteau, and starred his gay lover Jean Marais as the Beast and Josette Day as Beauty. ...

In 1955 he was made a member of the Académie française and The Royal Academy of Belgium. Jump to: navigation, search 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Académie française, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... LAcadèmie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique or The Royal Academy for Sciences, Letters and Arts of Belgium is one of the two royal academies on science and the arts in Belgium, being first so named in 1845. ...

During his life Cocteau was commander of the Legion of Honor, Member of the Mallarmé Academy, German Academy (Berlin), American Academy, Mark Twain (U.S.A) Academy, Honorary President of the Cannes film festival, Honorary President of the France-Hungary Association and President of the jazz Academy and of the Academy of the Disc. Jump to: navigation, search Knights badge of the Legion of Honour The Légion dhonneur (Legion of Honor (AmE) or Legion of Honour (ComE)) is an Order of Chivalry first established by Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic, on May 19, 1802. ... The Palais des Festivals in which the festival takes place. ...

Cocteau died in 1963 at the age of 74 and is buried in Chapelle St. Blaise Des Simples, Milly La Foret, Essonne, France. Jump to: navigation, search 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Milly-la-Forêt is a town and commune in the Essonne département, in France. ... The French département of Essonne is part of the région of ÃŽle-de-France. ...

Filmography, as director

• Le testament d'Orphée (1960)
• La villa Santo-Sospir (1952)
• Coriolan (1950)
• Orphée (1949)
• Les parents terribles (1948)
• L'aigle à deux têtes (1947)
• La belle et la bête (1946)
• Le sang d'un poète (1930)
• Jean Cocteau fait du cinéma (1925)

Orphée (also known as Orpheus) is a 1949 movie directed by Jean Cocteau starring Jean Marais. ... Beauty and the Beast (in French La Belle et la Bête) is a French film, made in 1946, based on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The film was directed by Jean Cocteau, and starred his gay lover Jean Marais as the Beast and Josette Day as Beauty. ...

Books by Jean Cocteau

Selected works:

• Cocteau, Jean, The Art of Cinema, edited by André Bernard and Claude Gauteur, translated by Robin Buss, Marion Boyars, London, 1988
• Cocteau, Jean, Diary of an Unknown, translated by Jesse Browner, Paragon House Publishers, New York, 1988
• Cocteau, Jean, The Eagle Has Two Heads, adapted by Ronald Duncan, Vision Press Ltd., Great Britain, 1947
• Cocteau, Jean, The Holy Terrors (Les enfants terribles), translated by Rosamond Lehmann, New Directions Publishing Corp., New York, 1957
• Cocteau, Jean, The Human Voice, translated by Carl Wildman, Vision Press Ltd., Great Britain, 1947
• Cocteau, Jean, The Infernal Machine And Other Plays, translated by W.A. Auden, E.E. Cummings, Dudley Fitts, Albert Bermel, Mary C. Hoeck, and John K. Savacool, New Directions Books, New York, 1963
• Cocteau, Jean, Les parents terribles, new translation by Jeremy Sams, Nick Hern Books, London, 1994
• Cocteau, Jean, The White Book (Le livre blanc), translated by Margaret Crosland, City Lights Books, San Francisco, 1989
• Cocteau, Jean, Le coq et l'arlequin: Notes autour de la musique - avec un portrait de l'Auteur et deux monogrammes par P. Picasso, Paris, Éditions de la Sirène, 1918

External links

• Jean Cocteau at the Internet Movie Database
• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database

• About Cocteau :
  • en : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cocteaufan/
  • fr : http://www.jeancocteau.net
  • fr : http://jeancocteau.free.fr
  • fr : http://perso.club-internet.fr/leonicat/cocteau/cocteau.htm
  • fr : http://alor.univ-montp3.fr/XXESUPV/cocteau/
  • fr : http://franceweb.fr/poesie/cocto2.htm
• Biography:
  • fr :http://membres.lycos.fr/ericd/Mylene/Beyond2/JeanCocteau/CoctBio.html
  • en : http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cocteau.htm
  • en : http://www.studiocleo.com/librarie/cocteau/cocteau.html
• Graphic arts :
  • fr en : http://www.cocteau-art.com/
• Poetry and music :
  • en : http://www.ubu.com/sound/cocteau.html reading poetry backed by the Dan Parrish Jazz Orchestra

Jump to: navigation, search The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), owned by Amazon. ...

Other references

• See also references in Les Six article.
• Breton, André (1953). La clé des champs, p.77. Paris: Éditions du Sagittaire.

Le Groupe des Six, 1922, by Jacques-Emile Blanche. ...