Based on a True Story: On June 22, 1941, Jean Marais inflicted a beatdown on critic Alain Laubreaux at a Parisian restaurant.The reason? The amount of invoked homoerotic subtext between Marais and actor Alain Cuny were too much for the taste of Vichy French authorities. Banned in China: His staging of Racine's Andromaque only happened one evening on while it was supposed to be a full season.

There's also his double role as Bishop Bienvenu Myriel and a French bishop during World War II in the 1995 Claude Lelouch film Les Misérables.

Acting for Two: He played two different roles in the same film in Beauty and the Beast, in Ruy Blas and in the Fantômas trilogy (Fantômas was voiced by the much deeper-sounding Raymond Pellegrin in the latter films).

Les Misérables (1995) as Bishop Bienvenu Myriel and the 1942 bishop.

The Saint Lies in Wait (1966) as Simon Templar.

Fantômas film series (1964-1967) as Fandor and Fantômas.

The Iron Mask (1962) as Charles D'Artagnan.

The Mysteries of Paris (1962) as Rodolphe de Sambreuil.

Le Capitaine Fracasse (1961) as Baron Philippe de Sigognac.

The Miracle of the Wolves (1961) as Robert de Neuville.

Le Capitan (1960) as François de Capestang.

The Testament of Orpheus (1959) as Œdipus (cameo).

La Tour, prends garde! (1958) as Henri la Tour.

The Count of Monte Cristo (1954) as Edmond Dantès/Count of Monte Cristo.

Ruy Blas (1948) as Ruy Blas and Don César de Bazan.

Les Chouans (1947) as the marquis of Montauran.

Beauty and the Beast (1946) as the Beast and Avenant.

Serge became a singer and an actor, and committed suicide in 2012 at age 69. In the 1960s, he adopted a young man, Serge Ayala, who eventually took the name Serge Villain-Marais. In 1996, Marais was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French cinema. He devoted his time to sculpture in the last years of his life, influenced by a friend of his and Cocteau's, German sculptor Arno Breker, who protected both Cocteau and Marais from German occupation authorities during World War II. He became a prominent leading man in the The '50s and The '60s (especially in swashbuckler films), and performed in over 100 films in his career. He was The Muse and longtime lover of multifaceted artist Jean Cocteau, who directed Beauty and the Beast, his big screen break at age 33 (he had been acting on stage since the age of 20), and Orpheus, Marais' other famous role at the time. Jean Alfred Villain-Marais, better known as Jean Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), was a French stage and screen actor, writer, stage director, and sculptor.

Jean marais the count of monte cristo