Who played the Beast in Jean Cocteau's 1946 film Beauty and the Beast?
Answer
Jean Marais
Jean Marais played the Beast in Jean Cocteau's 1946 French film Beauty and the Beast.
Marais also played Avenant, a human character created for the film who resembles the Beast's human identity. This dual role emphasizes the story's transformation theme and allowed the actor to appear as both the enchanted creature and a possible romantic rival.
The film, titled La Belle et la Bête in French, is regarded as a landmark of poetic fantasy cinema. Cocteau used elaborate sets, practical effects, makeup, lighting, and camera movement to create an enchanted world without modern digital effects.
Josette Day played Belle. The movie draws primarily on the 1756 literary version by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, but Cocteau reshaped its tone and visual language for cinema.