If cinema is an art of illusions, then the performer in films like “Orpheus,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Parisian Mysteries,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “The Iron Mask,” and “Fantomas” was the king of mirage. Behind the mask and makeup always lay a mystery that pertained not only to the plotlines of the films but also to the personal life of Jean Marais.
“The Monster with the Face of an Angel”
The future artist was born on December 11, 1913, in the port city of Cherbourg. He was the son of veterinarian Alfred Emmanuel Villen-Mare and the adventurer or kleptomaniac Marie-Alin Vossor, who was periodically imprisoned for theft. The boy was barely four years old when his parents divorced, and his mother moved with her two sons (his brother Henri was four years older) to Paris. One of Jean’s most vivid childhood memories was his first visit to a cinema in the capital. The film “The Mysteries of New York” so impressed the young viewer that from that moment on, he wanted to act himself.
After watching a performance with his mother featuring the main character Cabichu and his beloved Rosalie, the son called Marie-Alin “my Rosalie,” and she called him “my Cabichu.” His mother’s example influenced his behavior: Jean Marais and his friends were incorrigible troublemakers. The actor recalled himself at that time as a “monster with the face of an angel”: a charming child who stole, lied, fought, bullied his teachers at the Saint-Germain-en-Laye college, and performed poorly in school. As a teenager, he amused himself by dressing in women’s clothing and flirting with teachers, whom he skillfully deceived.
For such antics, the artistic student was expelled from at least three educational institutions—in Vesinet, Saint-Germain, and Janson-de-Sailly. After graduating from a Catholic college in Bouzonville, 16-year-old Jean Marais became fascinated with photography, apprenticing with a photographer who was knowledgeable about painting. The teacher imparted basic knowledge of composition and techniques for working with space, volume, light, and color. His discovered artistic talent allowed the young man to paint pictures for sale, helping him raise funds for acting classes. To fulfill his dream, he also worked as a model for magazines.
Jean Marais in School Years
Jean Marais in His Youth
After three attempts to enroll in the acting department of the Paris Conservatory, Jean Marais sent his photos to film studios and, at 20, became a student in beginner actor courses. After participating in training performances, the young man with a striking appearance began his long-awaited film career. In 1934, the protégé and lover of director Marcel L’Herbier made his acting debut in his patron’s film “Scandal,” and then appeared in several small roles in other films. Three years later, he would meet the most significant person in his life: in 1937, the handsome actor encountered the renowned director Jean Cocteau, a relationship that Jean Marais would later describe as his “second birthday.”
Jean Marais and Jean Cocteau
The outstanding filmmaker and writer contributed to the professional development of the young lover, introducing him to the higher poetic world and transforming him into a movie star. The friend and mentor gave his beloved leading roles in his own works, which became a key part of Jean Marais’s filmography. The young actor performed in Jean Cocteau’s play “Oedipus Rex,” the 1938 film “Knights of the Round Table,” and the film adaptation of the opera “Carmen,” which was filmed in 1942 and released in 1945, breaking popularity records (the film was viewed by over 4 million spectators). In 1943, Jean Marais’s film list was enriched by the film “Eternal Return,” based on a script by Jean Cocteau.
Eternal Return
By that time, the actor, who had already become a favorite in France, was formally married: in 1942, he wed his co-star from the film “Canopy Bed,” actress Mila Parely. The artist proposed to his colleague to marry so he could get four days off and take a break from the war—this marriage lasted until 1944. Rumors circulated about a romance between Jean Marais and , but in reality, they were just friends. After returning to his work post-war (the actor’s participation in the war was marked by a Military Cross), Jean Marais again collaborated with director Jean Cocteau in 1946 for the film “Beauty and the Beast.”
Jean Marais with Marlene Dietrich
“A Cinematic Wonder”
In their next collaborative film, Jean Marais portrayed three characters on screen, playing the friend of Ludovic Avelan, the Prince, and the Beast. Critics dubbed these performances a “cinematic wonder.” This film by Jean Cocteau earned Jean Marais his first “Bambi” award in 1948, while the director received the Louis Delluc Prize. A year before these notable accolades, Jean Marais starred in Cocteau’s next drama “The Two-Headed Eagle.” The actor disliked working with stunt doubles, so he performed his own stunts, nearly dying during the filming of that movie when he got stuck upside down in a crevice between two rocks.
The Two-Headed Eagle
Two years later, the actor’s collection of remarkable works expanded with the role of Orpheus in the eponymous fantasy project. Critics recognized this portrayal as the best of the actor’s career (the film was nominated for a BAFTA award). “The Two Jeans” formed a stable and productive creative tandem, whose joint works gained worldwide recognition and were hugely successful with audiences: a million-strong army of female fans considered the actor, with his rare masculine beauty accentuated by romantic costume roles, a “charming prince.” And the director skillfully maintained this image of his lover on screen and stage.
In the 1950s, Jean Marais’s filmography saw new roles in “swashbuckler” films. “Captain Fracasse,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “The Hunchback”—in these films, Jean Marais played heroes with a code of honor: defenders of the weak and champions of justice. The best directors offered the star roles in their films: André Hunebelle invited the popular French actor to his film “Parisian Mysteries,” Abel Gance—into “The Battle of Austerlitz,” and Luchino Visconti—into “White Nights.” In the 1960s, a series about Fantomas hit the screens, where the incomparable comic embodied the character of Commissioner Juve, while Jean Marais played two main characters.
Jean Marais and Louis de Funès in the Fantomas Films
Life is Beautiful
Jean Marais was a knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor, a laureate of the Louis Delluc Prize, a recipient of the main prize at the Venice International Film Festival, the “Silver Lion,” and four “Bambi” awards. He excelled not only as a renowned actor but also as a writer, stuntman, painter, sculptor, designer, and decorator, receiving high praise from none other than . In the 1970s, the artist published “Tales of Jean Marais” with his own illustrations, and in memory of his beloved friend, who passed away in 1963 (the actor did not deny, though he did not publicize, his long-term relationship with Jean Cocteau), he released a book about him and staged a play at the Théâtre de l’Atelier titled “Cocteau-Mare.”
Marais with a Portrait of Jean Cocteau
After a severe car accident in the late 1960s, Marais stepped away from the screen for a long time: throughout the 1970s, he hardly acted, making a return to the set in 1986 in the film “Family Ties” by young director Willy Rameau, and ten years later, he played an aging artist in Bernardo Bertolucci’s iconic film “Stealing Beauty.” In 1989, a monument to writer Marcel Aymé was erected in Paris’s Montmartre, with the bronze sculpture “The Man Who Walks Through Walls” created by the writer’s friend Jean Marais (who, by the way, was also a talented poet).
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Marais, and Alain Delon
At the end of Jean Marais’s biography, the actor performed in theater productions of world masterpieces such as “King Lear,” “Le Cid,” and “Tartuffe.” In the second half of the 20th century, the artist left Paris, settling in his own villa on the French Riviera. In Vallauris, he engaged in painting, sculpture, and pottery. He lived, as always, with inspiration and creativity, unaware of his bone marrow disease. In 1996, Marais, suffering from a severe cold, took to the stage in the premiere of “The Tempest” based on . Even while moving poorly, the artist attended an art exhibition in Cannes, where his paintings were displayed. He passed away a month before his 85th birthday, on November 8, 1998. Jean Marais’s grave in the Old Cemetery in Vallauris is guarded by sculptural lions created by the artist himself.
Photos from open sources
