On this day in Paris, October 11: Jean Cocteau dies at his home in Milly-la-Forêt

Jean Cocteau dies on October 11, 1963 in his house in Milly-la-Forêt, a few hours after the announcement of Edith Piaf's death. The poet had made this dwelling in Essonne his refuge and one of his main creative hubs.

In his house in Milly-la-Forêt where he has worked and stayed for 16 years, Jean Cocteau dies at the age of 74 on October 11, 1963. Poet, novelist, playwright, draftsman, filmmaker and academic, he passes away a few hours after learning of the death of Édith Piaf, his longtime friend. The coincidence immediately gives rise to a story often told as a final chapter written for the theatre: Cocteau would have died of heartbreak on learning of the singer's passing.

But the reality is actually more nuanced, his health already very fragile. On 22 April 1963, a severe heart attack sent him to the hospital, before a convalescence with Jean Marais à Marnes-la-Coquette. Cocteau returns to Milly on 5 July. The morning of 11 October, a producer from the RTF calls to tell him of Piaf’s death and ask him to take part in a radio tribute. The poète, exhausted after a bad night, agrees. When the journalist in charge of recording arrives in Milly around 1 p.m., he runs into the doctor who has just confirmed his mort.

The legend of a Cocteau felled by the news of Piaf’s death takes hold at once. Jean Marais would challenge it the very next day, explaining that the poet’s heart had already grown very weak. The chronology of Edith Piaf’s own death further muddies the tale: she actually died on October 10, 1963 near Grasse, before her body was secretly transported to Paris and her death officially declared on the 11th.

The two artists remain linked in the collective memory by that October day, not least because their bond ran deep. Cocteau had written Le Bel Indifférent for Piaf, a play premiered in 1940 at the Bouffes-Parisiens with Paul Meurisse. He deeply admired the singer and had written the preface to her memoirs. Their closeness is enough to explain why the news affected him that morning, without needing to seek a single cause for her death.

The house where his life ends has long held a singular place in his story. In 1947, shortly after La Belle et la Bête, Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais purchased in Milly-la-Forêt part of the old dependencies of the château de la Bonde, known as the Maison du Bailli. This 17th‑century residence, built in local stone and lined by canals, offered him the calm he sought away from the bustle of Paris, even as he kept his apartment at the Palais-Royal. "In Milly I found the rarest thing in the world: a frame", he would write.

With designer Madeleine Castaing, he shapes a deeply personal interior: antique furniture, works by artist friends, quirky objects and wallpapers mingle in the rooms that open onto the garden. The leopard-skin anteroom remains one of the most recognizable settings in the house. Cocteau hosts his intimates there, sketches, writes and lays out several projects, notably Le Testament d’Orphée and his final major poem, Requiem.

Milly also provides the setting for another major work from his later years. In 1958, local authorities asked him to decorate the small chapelle Saint-Blaise-des-Simples, a former chapel linked to a medieval leprosarium. Cocteau covers its walls with large medicinal plants (belladonna, mint, valerian, colchicum, and henbane) in reference to the "simples" cultivated in the region for centuries. A Resurrection scene completes this ensemble, finished in 1959.

These Milly years also marked his formal recognition by the establishment. Elected to the Académie française on March 3, 1955, Cocteau was welcomed to the Dome on October 20, taking the seat of Jérôme Tharaud. This crowning comes at the end of a career that carried him from the Ballets russes to Picasso, from Enfants terribles to La Machine infernale, from Sang d’un poète to Orphée. He himself, however, continued to insist above all on the word poète, no matter the medium.

His funeral is held in Milly-la-Forêt on October 16, 1963. Cocteau is first interred near the Saint-Blaise chapel, before his remains are moved inside the building on April 24, 1964. His tombstone bears an epitaph chosen with a nearly disarming simplicity: "I stay with you."

Further reading:

The Maison Jean Cocteau in Milly la Forêt, a bucolic interlude between art and history in Essonne
We're off to Essonne, and more precisely to Milly-la-Forêt, to discover the former Maison du Bailli, a place steeped in history that was once the home of Jean Cocteau. Now a museum, the Maison des Illustres is waiting to welcome you. [Read more]

In Essonne, this unusual chapel was decorated by Jean Cocteau... before he was buried here.
In the heart of Essonne, in Milly-La-Forêt, a mysterious XIIᵉ century chapel becomes, thanks to Jean Cocteau, a showcase of simplicity and resurrection - a real heritage jewel to (re)discover. In fact, it was the famous French artist's last home. Here's the story of Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples. [Read more]

A poetic stroll in the footsteps of Jean Cocteau in Paris and the Ile-de-France region
Stroll in the enchanting footsteps of Jean Cocteau in Paris and the Île-de-France region. Discover his surprising universe, from his poetic haven in Milly-la-Forêt to his works on view in the four corners of Paris. A tale full of fantasy and legend. [Read more]

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