Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (July 5, 1889 – October 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."

More on [ Jean Cocteau ]

AP - Celebrity News

Stars of music, TV, Hollywood unanimous in praise of Obama's historic acceptance speech
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:29:00 -0700
DENVER (AP) _ First word on Barack Obama's historic nomination acceptance speech from a bevy of celebrities in attendance was decidedly partisan: "It was excellent," Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie said. "It was amazing."
Jennifer Aniston returns to NBC
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:41:19 -0700
Jennifer Aniston will return home to NBC, the TV network where she became a breakout star on the hit sitcom "Friends."
Marion 'Suge' Knight out on bail, faces assault, drug charges in Las Vegas
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:43:00 -0700
LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Marion "Suge" Knight has been released from a Las Vegas jail.

Subscribe to People RSS feed