50 Fun Facts About Jean Cocteau

Where was Cocteau born in 1889?

His father, a lawyer and amateur painter, died by suicide when Jean was nine.

What nickname, from a volume he published at 22, did bohemian Paris give young Cocteau?

He had published his first poems, Aladdin's Lamp, at nineteen and left home at fifteen.

What did Cocteau do during the First World War?

It was then that he met Apollinaire, Picasso and Modigliani.

Which impresario persuaded Cocteau to write the scenario for the ballet Parade?

The Ballets Russes had already staged Le Dieu bleu, which Cocteau made with Bakst in 1912.

Who designed the sets and costumes for Parade in 1917?

Erik Satie wrote the music; the premiere was at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 18 May 1917.

Which everyday objects did Cocteau add to Satie's score for Parade as noise-makers?

A pistol was in the mix too, somewhat to Satie's dismay.

Which uniformed friend did Cocteau credit with saving Parade's makers from angry women?

With his shaved skull, scar and head bandage, the poet's presence, Cocteau said, stopped the audience gouging their eyes out with hairpins.

Which group of composers did Cocteau champion in the 1920s?

The name came from two 1920 articles by the critic Henri Collet.

Which member of the group Cocteau championed was Swiss rather than French?

The others were Auric, Durey, Milhaud, Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre.

What was the name of the wildly popular 1920s bar that Cocteau helped christen?

The presence of Cocteau and his composer friends was a big part of the draw.

Which young writer did Cocteau meet in 1918 and promote tirelessly?

He arranged the publication of the young man's first novel and used his influence to win it a prize.

What was the title of Radiguet's autobiographical novel of adultery that Cocteau got published?

It won the Nouveau Monde prize; the other titles are Cocteau's own novels.

How did Radiguet die in 1923?

His second novel, Le Bal du comte d'Orgel, appeared posthumously.

What did Cocteau do immediately after Radiguet's death, rather than attend the funeral?

He went to see the Ballets Russes perform Les noces; he generally avoided funerals.

To which drug did Cocteau become addicted in the 1920s?

He blamed a chance meeting with Louis Laloy of the Monte Carlo Opera, and later published a diary of his cure.

How quickly did Cocteau write Les Enfants Terribles?

He wrote it during a strenuous drug withdrawal; the novel appeared in 1929.

Which Catholic philosopher supported Cocteau through his 1929 recovery?

Under his influence Cocteau briefly returned to the sacraments and co-founded the magazine Le Roseau d'Or.

Cocteau wrote the libretto for which Stravinsky opera-oratorio, premiered in 1927?

It was first performed at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris on 30 May 1927.

Cocteau's 1934 play La Machine infernale retells which legend?

It is considered his greatest work for the theatre.

Cocteau's play La Voix humaine became a 1958 opera by which composer?

The 40-minute one-act work for soprano was prepared with Denise Duval.

Cocteau's neo-Jules Verne reportage for Paris-Soir recounted a journey of what kind?

Mon Premier Voyage was one of two volumes of journalism he published in the 1930s.

Which nobleman financed Cocteau's first film, The Blood of a Poet?

The Vicomte's money also funded Buñuel's L'Age d'Or; the film was made in 1930 and shown in 1932.

Which famous photographer made her only film appearance in The Blood of a Poet?

The film also features the aerialist Barbette.

Which three films make up Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy?

They span thirty years, from 1930 to 1960.

Who played the Beast in Cocteau's 1946 Beauty and the Beast?

Josette Day played Belle; the story came from Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's 1756 tale.

In Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, what guides Belle's father through the castle?

It leads him to a laden dinner table, where he falls asleep; picking a rose is what dooms him.

Who was the cinematographer of Beauty and the Beast?

Christian Bérard handled the production design and Georges Auric the score.

Which composer turned Beauty and the Beast into an opera in 1994?

Glass also based an opera on Les Enfants Terribles.

In Cocteau's Orpheus, how do the Princess and her motorcyclists pass into the underworld?

The film transposes the Greek myth to contemporary Paris, with poetry crackling over a car radio.

What make of car does the Princess drive in Orpheus?

Orpheus stores it in his garage after inviting the chauffeur Heurtebise to stay.

Where does the poet Orpheus first meet the Princess in the 1950 film?

The drunken young poet Cégeste starts a brawl there and is run down outside.

Who plays the 18th-century poet at the centre of Testament of Orpheus?

Picasso, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Brynner all make cameos in the 1960 film.

Which Hollywood star helped finance Testament of Orpheus and appeared in it?

The film also features the matador Luis Miguel Dominguín.

Which director co-made the 1950 film of Les Enfants Terribles with Cocteau?

The novel later inspired an American minimalist opera.

In what year did the actor who played his Beast become Cocteau's lover and muse?

Cocteau directed him in The Eternal Return, Beauty and the Beast, Ruy Blas and Orpheus.

Whom did Cocteau formally adopt late in life?

The actor was, with Marais, one of his two longest-lasting relationships.

Cocteau's semi-autobiographical homoerotic novel of 1928 was published how?

Le Livre blanc was never repudiated; a later edition carried his foreword and drawings.

Which Jean Genet novel appeared in 1947 in a secret edition with 29 explicit Cocteau drawings?

Paul Morihien published it.

Which German sculptor persuaded Cocteau that Hitler was a pacifist and patron of the arts?

Cocteau's 1942 article Salut à Breker led to a post-war collaboration charge, of which he was cleared.

Whom did Cocteau later call 'the only great politician of the era'?

The remark came after he grew close to communists such as Louis Aragon; he claimed his politics were non-existent.

For which singer did Cocteau write the 1940 play Le Bel Indifférent?

It was enormously successful; she died the day before he did.

Which chapel did Cocteau decorate with murals in 1956?

The next year he decorated the marriage hall of Menton's town hall.

Cocteau was elected to which body in 1955?

The same year he joined the Royal Academy of Belgium.

Of which film festival was Cocteau honorary president?

He was also president of the Jazz Academy and the Academy of the Disc.

Where did Cocteau die of a heart attack in October 1963?

He was 74; the story that his heart failed on hearing of Piaf's death is almost certainly apocryphal.

With which patron did Cocteau have a painful breach in his final months?

Roger Peyrefitte blamed the rift, over her affair with a minor writer, for his decline; they reconciled shortly before his death.

What epitaph is set into the chapel floor above Cocteau's grave?

He is buried beneath the Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples in the village where he died, as he wished.

Cocteau designed a 1960 French postage stamp depicting whom?

The Marianne de Cocteau is listed among his artworks.

Which schoolmate at the Lycée Condorcet reappeared throughout Cocteau's work?

The Dargelos figure recurs in Les Enfants Terribles and elsewhere.

Cocteau's 1929 book subtitled Diary of a Cure alternated withdrawal notes with what?

It recounts his 1929 recovery moment by moment, alongside thoughts on the people and events around him.