The actor, writer, painter and sculptor Jean Marais was born in Cherbourg on 11 December 1913. He started his career as an extra, before meeting Jean Cocteau in 1937, who gave him his first major roles on stage and screen. During the post-war period, he appeared in films directed by Jean Renoir, Luschino Visconti and Sacha Guitry, among others. Over the following decade, he turned his hand to mainstream cinema, appearing in swashbucklers and the Fantômas series. The end of his career was marked by a return to the theatre and his film appearances became few and far between. Alongside his acting career, he practised painting, pottery and sculpture, opening two galleries to exhibit his work. Two autobiographical books detail his career and another is dedicated to his early love, Jean Cocteau. He died in Cannes on 8 November 1998.