Jean Cocteau

French artist, poet, novelist, critic, playwright, painter, and illustrator, as well as stage and screen designer and producer, a multi-faceted and brilliant talent. He was educated at Lycee Condorcet, 1900-1904, and in his youth travelled about Europe with his mother; his dad committed suicide in 1898. He served with an ambulance unit during World War I, as a driver.

Cocteau was an avant-garde experimenter in many of the arts in France. In 1923 he became addicted to opium after the death of his companion, Raymon Radiquet. His following two books, 1930 and 1932, describe his recovery from the addiction. In 1946, he made the film "Beauty and the Beast" with Jean Marais. He was considered unconventional throughout his creative life, constantly changing the style of his work in order to remain on the cutting edge. He wrote his autobiography, "Professional Secrets" and "Maalesh," a published journal chronicling his 1949 Egyptian journey. Cocteau was elected to the French Academy and Royal Belgian Academy in 1955 and the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1957.

Cocteau was gay; one of his lovers was Jean Marais. He was described by friends as bird-like, unrestrained with a big ego who loved to join in the gossip and glamour of Paris life.

He died on 11 October 1963 at age 74 in Paris from a heart attack, one hour after hearing about the death of his friend Edith Piaf.