Jean Marais

I do not know who took this photograph of Jean Marais, a popular French actor who appears in dozens of films, performed on stage well into his eighties, sculpted, painted and notably wrote a biography on his former lover, French Surrealist filmmaker, Jean Cocteau.

In 1946, Marais plays two roles - that of the Beast and that of Beauty's unsuccessful suitor - alongside his former wife, Mila Parély, in Jean Cocteau's classic La belle et la bête, my all-time favorite film.

In 1996, Marais was awarded the French Legion of Honor. Two years later, just shy of his 85th birthday, he passed away in Cannes, France.