Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais 11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998, known professionally as Jean Marais, was a French actor, writer, director and sculptor. He performed in over 100 films and was the muse and lover of acclaimed director Jean Cocteau. In 1996, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French Cinema.
Early life
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.
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 Carne 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.
Marais appeared in Cocteau’s play Les Parents terribles (1938), supposedly based on Marais’ home life, which was a great success.
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.
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.
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.
Beauty and the Beast and Jean Cocteau
Marais became a star in Beauty and the Beast (1946), written and directed by Cocteau.
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.
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 Clement. 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. 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).
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.
In 1963, he was a member of the jury at the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival.
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.
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.
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.
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. Marais appears on the cover sleeve of The Smiths single “This Charming Man”.
Personal life
Marais was Jean Cocteau’s lover from 1937 to 1947, his muse and longtime friend. 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. He might have also been among the lovers of Umberto II of Italy.
In spite of being mainly homosexual, in 1942 Marais met and had a two-year liaison with actress Mila Parély, with whom he later performed in Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast. They remained lifelong friends, and since 1976 Parély managed Marais’ pottery shop in Paris.
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.
Death
Marais died from cardiovascular disease in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes in 1998. He is interred in the Village cemetery at Vallauris, near Antibes.
In popular culture
His life story became the inspiration for the 1980 François Truffaut film The Last Metro.
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 | ||
| L’Aventurier | the young worker | Uncredited | ||
| 1936 | Les Hommes nouveaux | the office clerk | ||
| 1937 | Nuits de feu | Uncredited | ||
| Bizarre, Bizarre | Marcel Carné | Uncredited | ||
| Abus de confiance | Marais | Henri Decoin | ||
| 1938 | The Patriot | Maurice Tourneur | ||
| 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 | |
| Carmen | Christian-Jaque | |||
| 1943 | L’Éternel retour | Patrice | Jean Delannoy | |
| Voyage sans espoir | Alain Ginestier | Christian-Jaque | ||
| 1944 | Carmen | Don José | ||
| 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 | ||
| Aux yeux du souvenir | 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 | Les Miracles n’ont lieu qu’une fois | Jérôme | Yves Allégret | |
| 1952 | Leathernose | Roger de Tainchebraye | ||
| 1952 | L’Amour, Madame | Himself | Gilles Grangier | cameo appearance, Uncredited |
| 1953 | L’Appel du destin | 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 | |
| Royal Affairs in Versailles | Louis XV of France | Sacha Guitry | ||
| 1955 | Napoléon | Montholon | Sacha Guitry | |
| Futures vedettes | Éric Walter | Marc Allégret | ||
| 1956 | Si Paris nous était conté | Francis I of France | Sacha Guitry | |
| Goubbiah, mon amour | Goubbiah | Robert Darène | ||
| Toute la ville accuse | François Nérac | Claude Boissol | ||
| Elena et les hommes | Général François Rollan | Jean Renoir | ||
| 1957 | Typhon sur 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 | ||
| La Vie à deux | 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 | |
| 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 | 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 | (final film role) |
| 1997 | Milice, film noir | Himself | Alain Ferrari | Documentary |
| 1999 | Luchino Visconti | Himself | Carlo Lizzani | Documentary |