His lifelong problem with asthma also contributed to problems with insomnia.
He lined the walls of his room with cork not only to keep out the noises that might keep him from sleeping, but also to keep out dust that might trigger an asthma attack.
A newly unearthed silent film Marcel Proust at Elaine Greffulhe's Wedding (1904) is declared to be the only footage ever captured of the legendary French author after a Canadian professor at Laval University in Quebec, Jean-Pierre Sirois-Trahan, certifies that the man shown in the film bears a striking and irrevocable resemblance to the writer.