Jean Cocteau

Artist, filmmaker, and writer though he was, Jean Cocteau protested that he was at all times a poet. A cutting-edge artist and a celebrity, he was associated with other prominent figures of his time. His writing attracted the interest of musicians; several used him as a lyricist or librettist, most notably Stravinsky, Poulenc, Daniel Biro, Guy Sacre, and Louis Durey. Born to parents of wealth, Cocteau was confronted at age ten by his father's suicide. He was sent to a private school in 1900, but was expelled four years later, thereupon fleeing to Marseilles to live under a fa...