- Cocteau, Jean
- (Maurice Cocteau / July 5, 1889, Maison-Lafitte, Yvelines, France - October II, 1963, Milly-la-Forêt, Essonne, France)The son of a lawyer and amateur painter who killed himself when Cocteau was ten years old, he was a poet, playwright, novelist, drawer, critic, and designer and wrote ballets. In 1912, he became a member of the Parisian artistic world and notably befriended with Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Diaghilev, Pablo Picasso, Erik Satie, Sarah Bernhardt, and Marcel Proust. He made his directing debut shooting an experimental short. Besides his directing work, he also collaborated with other filmmakers as screenwriter (1940 La Comédie du Bonheur, also adapter, dialogist, Marcel L'Herbier; 1943 L'Eternel Retour / UK: Love Eternal / USA: The Eternal Return, also dialogist, Jean Delannoy; 1947 Ruy Blas, also adapter, dialogist, Pierre Billon; 1950 Les Enfants terribles / UK and USA: The Strange Ones, as co-adapter, dialogist, also original novel, Jean-Pierre Melville; 1951 La corona negra / La Couronne noire / UK and USA: Black Crown, as author of original story, Luis Saslavsky, Spain / France; Ce Siècle a Cinquante Ans / Hallo, die grosse Weltrevue / Die letzten 60 Jahren / UK: The Century Is Fifty / USA: Days of Our Years, segment directed by Roland Tual, also actor as himself, France / West Germany; 1953 Les Têtes interverties / La Cravate, short, as author of the introduction, Alejandro Jodorowsky; 1954 Pantomimes, short, also author of commentaries, Paul Paviot; 1957 Le Bel Indifférent, short, also original play, Jacques Demy; 1959 Django Reinhardt, documentary, also author of commentaries; 1960 La Princesse de Clèves / La principessa di Cleves, Jean Delannoy, France / Italy; 1965 Thomas l'Imposteur, as author original novel co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist), dialogist (1943 Le Baron Fantôme / UK: The Phantom Baron, also actor, Serge de Poligny; 1945 Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne / UK: Ladies of the Park / USA: The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne, Robert Bresson), actor (1943 La Malibran, Sacha Guitry; 1949 Les Noces de Sable / UK: Desert Wedding / USA: Daughter of the Sands, as narrator only, André Zwoboda; 1951 Traité de Bave et d'Eternité / USA: Venom and Eternity, Isidore Isou), and costume designer (1948 Aller et Retour / Ulysse ou Les mauvaises Rencontres, short, Alexandre Astruc). He appeared as himself in several pictures (1944 De Jeanne d'Arc à Philippe Pétain, documentary, short, narrator only, Sacha Guitry; 1949 Jean Cocteau, documentary, Jorgen Ross; 1951 Désordre, short, Jacques Baratier; Colette, short, Yannick Bellon; 1957 C'est arrivé à 36 Chandelles, uncredited, Henri Diamant-Berger; 1958 Musée Grévin, documentary, short, Jacques Demy, Jean Masson; 1960 Les Gens de Lettres, Henri Cham-petier; 1985 Jean Cocteau: Autoportrait d'un Inconnu / US DVD: Jean Cocteau: Self Portrait of a Man Unknown, archives documentary, Edgardo Cozarinsky).Filmography1925 ◘ Jean Cocteau fait du Cinéma (short; also screenwriter, editor)1932 ◘ Le Sang d'un Poète / USA: The Blood of a Poet (short; shot in 1930)1946 ◘ La Belle et la Bête / USA: Beauty and the Beast (with René Clément as technical adviser; also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)1948 ◘ L'Aigle à Deux Têtes / UK: The Eagle Has Two Heads / USA: The Eagle with Two Heads (also screenwriter, dialogist)◘ Les Parents terribles / UK and USA: The Storm Within (also screenwriter, dialogist)1950 ◘ Orphée / USA: Orpheus (also screenwriter, dialogist)◘ Coriolan (16-mm short; also actor; unreleased)1952 ◘ La Villa Santo Sospir (16-mm short; unre-leased)1957 ◘ 8 X 8: A Chase Sonata in 8 movements / USA: 8 X 8 (co-director with Hans Richter; also actor)1960 ◘ Le Testament d'Orphée ou ne me demandez pas pourquoi / Le Testament d'Orphée / USA: The Testament of Orpheus (also screenwriter, dialogist, actor)
Encyclopedia of French film directors . Philippe Rège. 2011.
