Jean Marais

Jean Marais, whose real name is Jean Alfred Villain -Marais (born 11 December 1913 in Cherbourg, † November 8, 1998 in Cannes, Alpes- Maritimes) was a French actor and sculptor.

He was the longtime friend and life companion of Jean Cocteau, which put him in film classics like Once Upon a Time. Marais counted as the main actor of cloak-and -dagger films for many years the most popular French film stars.

Life

Jean Marais was five years old when his parents separated. Together with his brother Henri, he was raised by his mother, his aunt and his grandmother in a big house in Le Vésinet in Paris ( Boulevard de Belgique No. 60, No. today. 90). Early on, he developed a passion for drawing and theater games. As turbulent student, he was expelled from the school.

His professional career began as Fotoretuscheur and caddy at a golf course, the artistic career by participating in the Salon des Independants. The film director and producer Marcel L' Herbier made ​​sure that he could participate as an extra in a movie for the first time, but failed him more significant roles. After Marais had failed the entrance examination of the Conservatory, he attended acting classes by Charles Dullin and paid them through his work as an extra in Dullin theater.

In 1937, the first encounter with the almost 25 years older than Jean Cocteau took place, his future mentor and companion, in the Jean Marais ' career brought about the big turn and has a long and creative friendship and cooperation initiated. Marais played Malcolm in "Macbeth" and was hired by Jean Cocteau for premieres of Les chevaliers de la table ronde ( The Knights of the Round Table ) and Les parents terribles ( Parents Terribles ). The first planned filming of the " terrible parent" as a result of the mobilization did not materialize.

The real breakthrough came in the Marais for his roles in the films Le pavillon brûle (1941, directed by Jacques de Baroncelli ) and The Eternal Vampire (1943, screenplay: Cocteau, directed by Delannoy ). There were other films, including such well-known works such as Once Upon a Time (1946 ), The Double Eagle ( 1947) Les parents terribles (1949 ), Orpheus (1949 ), The Count of Monte Cristo (1954 ), Fracass, the cheeky Cavalier (1961 ), the iron Mask (1962 ), Knight of the Night ( 1959), the Testament of Orpheus (1960), the Rape of the Sabine Women (1961) and Fantomas (1964).

Until the mid- 1960s, Marais was one of the leading French stars and was very popular, especially in cloak-and -dagger films in which he took on the classic hero role. The actor was known to also perform difficult stunts ( in Fantomas he climbs example of a crane boom on a rope ladder hanging from a helicopter, and flies away ). From the 1970s Marais frequently appeared in television films.

The actor celebrated well into old age success in the theater. At the end of his life he turned increasingly to sculpture. He created, among other things, the model for the bronze figure of Le passe- muraille ( The man who walked through the wall ), which can be seen in the Montmartre district in Paris in the place which is named after Marcel Aymé, the author of the novella of the same name.

The chain -smoking Jean Marais died on 8 November 1998 at the age of 84 in Cannes from pneumonia and was buried in Vallauris (Alpes Maritimes).

Filmography

Theater

  • Macbeth
  • Les chevaliers de la table ronde
  • Les parents terribles

Awards

  • Bambi in 1948, 1955, 1956, 1957
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