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Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (July 5, 1889October 11, 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker. He was born at Maisons-Lafitte, France, a small town near Paris. His versatile, unconventional approach and enormous output brought him international acclaim.

Early years


Cocteau was born in Maisons-Lafitte into a prominent Parisian family. His father was a lawyer and amateur painter, who committed suicide when Cocteau was nine. At the age of fifteen, Cocteau left home. Despite his achievements in virtually all literary and artistic fields, Cocteau insisted that he was primarily a poet and that all his work was poetry. He published his first volume of poems, Aladdin's Lamp, at nineteen. Soon Cocteau became known in the bohemian artistic circles as 'The Frivolous Prince' - the title of a volume he published at twenty-one. Edith Wharton described him as a man "to whom every great line of poetry was a sunrise, every sunset the foundation of the Heavenly City..."

In his early twenties, Cocteau became associated with Marcel Proust, André Gide, and Maurice Barrès. The Russian ballet-master Sergei Diaghilev challenged Cocteau to write for the ballet - "Surprise me," he urged. This resulted in Parade which was produced by Diaghilev, designed by Pablo Picasso, and composed by Erik Satie in 1917. An important exponent of Surrealism, he had great influence on the work of others, including the group of composer friends in Montparnasse known as Les Six. The word Surrealism was coined, in fact, by Guillaume Apollinaire to describe Parade, a work which was initially not well-received. "If it had not been for Apollinaire in uniform," wrote Cocteau, "with his skull shaved, the scar on his temple and the bandage around his head, women would have gouged our eyes out with hairpins."

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Guardian Unlimited - Jean Cocteau: La Belle et La Bête - Journalistic essay and related links.

IMDb - Jean Cocteau - Biographical information and filmography.
Meta Description: [ Jean Cocteau - Filmography, Awards, Biography, Agent, Discussions, Photos, News Articles, Fan Sites ]

Jean Cocteau - A look at the director's Orphic Trilogy and brief profile.
Meta Description: [ Jean Cocteau: The Blood of a Poet, Orpheus, and The Testament of Orpheus on DVD ]

Jean Cocteau - Provides a biography, bibliography, a filmography, movie stills and selected quotations.

Jean Cocteau - Biographical details, bibliography, filmography and essay exploring the 1946 film La Belle et La Bete.

500 Jean Cocteau Website - Biography, filmography and synopses.

Wikipedia - Open content encyclopedia article covering Cocteau's life, works, and awards.

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