Jean Cocteau
Also known as Clément Eugène Jean Pierre Cocteau, Zhan Kokto, Eugène Jean Maurice Cocteau, Eugene Jean Maurice Cocteau
French writer and filmmaker (1889–1963)
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Jean Cocteau was a French artist who worked across multiple creative fields including writing and filmmaking during the 20th century. His work across these different mediums made him an influential figure in modern French culture and avant-garde art.
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Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker. His versatile, unconventional approach and enormous output brought him international acclaim. Cocteau was born in Maisons-Laffitte, a small town near Paris to Georges Cocteau and his wife Eugénie Lecomte, a prominent Parisian family. His father was a lawyer and amateur painter, who committed suicide when Cocteau was nine. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Jean+Cocteau">Read more on Last.fm</a>
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Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( UK: /ˈkɒktoʊ/ KOK-toh, US: /kɒkˈtoʊ/ kok-TOH; French: [ʒɑ̃ mɔʁis øʒɛn klemɑ̃ kɔkto]; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th century and highly influential on the Surrealist and Dadaist movements, among others. The National Observer suggested that "of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man".
He is most notable for his novels Le Grand Écart (1923), Le Livre blanc (1928), and Les Enfants Terribles (1929); the stage plays La Voix Humaine (1930), La Machine Infernale (1934), Les Parents terribles (1938), La Machine à écrire (1941), and L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946); and the films The Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents Terribles (1948), Beauty and the Beast (1946), Orpheus (1950), and Testament of Orpheus (1960), which alongside Blood of a Poet and Orpheus constitute the so-called Orphic Trilogy. He was described as "one of [the] avant-garde's most successful and influential filmmakers" by AllMovie. Cocteau, according to Annette Insdorf, "left behind a body of work unequalled for its variety of artistic expression".
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1889 births1963 deaths20th-century French dramatists and playwrights20th-century French LGBTQ people20th-century French male artists20th-century French male writers20th-century French painters20th-century French screenwritersBelgian recipients of the Legion of HonourChristian novelistsChristian poetsCommanders of the Legion of Honour