Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, filmmaker, and artist who was one of the great polymaths of 20th century modernism. His films include The Blood of a Poet (1930), Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête, 1946), and Orpheus (Orphée, 1950). He was openly gay in the sense that his relationship with actor Jean Marais — who starred in Beauty and the Beast and Orpheus — was understood by his Parisian circle, though not the subject of press disclosure. He was elected to the Académie française in 1955. His circle included Picasso, Stravinsky, and Coco Chanel, and his sexual identity was woven through his artistic vision without being its explicit subject.