Born in Cherbourg to a veterinarian father and a mother who raised him unconventionally, he entered the theatrical scene through a 1937 production of Oedipe, catching the eye of poet-filmmaker Jean Cocteau. Their partnership launched Marais into cinema, with early appearances in Marcel L'Herbier’s The Sparrowhawk and Marcel Carné’s Bizarre, Bizarre, but it was the lead role in Cocteau’s Beauty and…
