Shaping culture and breaking barriers
Regarded as the world's greatest mime artist, this master of silence was most famous for his stage persona "Bip," a tragicomic figure first presented by Marceau in 1947.
Marceau, who'd already begun doing mime performances in the orphanage, came up with a deceptively simple ploy.
Marcel Marceau was born Marcel Mangel on March 22, 1923, in Strasbourg, France.
In the immediate post-war years in France, many people connected to the universality of his character Bip—and his pathos.
Working with Loinger, Marceau was tasked with evacuating Jewish children, who had been hiding in a French orphanage, and get them to the Swiss border.
He was recruited to help the French Resistance by his cousin, Georges Loinger (pictured here in 2005). Loinger was active in a clandestine unit that was part of the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants, a Jewish relief group that smuggled Jewish children from occupied France to neutral countries.
Born into a Jewish family, Mangel changed his name to Marceau during his youth and lived in hiding while working with the French Resistance throughout much of the Second World War.
The deception worked. Marceau was able to deliver his young charges to safety in Switzerland. In all, the mime artist's ingenuity saved the lives of 70 children. Georges Loinger, meanwhile, is credited with saving around 350 children.
With Bip already a household name in France, Marcel Marceau achieved worldwide fame in the 1950s with his mimodramas—performances of dramatic work through mime.
Marceau later said that part of the sadness projected by Bip was born out of the events he witnessed during the war and the loss of his father.
It was after seeing Charlie Chaplin on screen in 1928 that Marcel Marceau decided to become a mime artist.
After the war, he enrolled at the School of Dramatic Art of the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris. An early mentor was mime artist and actor Étienne Decroux.
In 1947, he created his silent alter ego, Bip the Clown. The character was based on mime techniques that Chaplin used in his films.
Marceau's aim was to convey the "art of silence" (L'art du silence) to a global audience. In 1955, he performed in North America for the first time, making his debut at the Stratford Festival of Canada.
Meanwhile, he further developed his mimodrama repertoire, productions that included 'Pierrot de Montmartre,' 'The Three Wigs,' 'Paris Cries — Paris Laughs,' and, in 1964, 'Don Juan' (pictured).
In the 1960s and early '70s, the French mime artist demonstrated his versatility as an actor in several television and movie productions. Notable among these was 1968's 'Barbarella,' in which he appeared alongside Jane Fonda.
Bip endured throughout the 1970s, the character further promoted through the establishment in 1978 of the École Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris, Marcel Marceau (International School of Mimodrame of Paris, Marcel Marceau).
Marceau had earlier founded the Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau, the only company of pantomime in the world at the time, and the ensemble played the leading Paris theaters as well as other playhouses throughout the world.
He first came to England in 1952, where he effortlessly popularized mime and instantly became synonymous with the art form.
The US leg of the tour ended with a record-breaking return to standing-room-only crowds in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other major cities.
It was also in 1964 that this amusing photograph was taken, depicting the actor promoting his new stage show outside the Adelphi Theatre in London's Strand.
It was in the United States in 1999 that Marcel Marceau enjoyed a remarkable career renaissance when his acclaimed sold-out runs across the nation drew a new generation of younger fans.
In 1996, he established the Marceau Foundation to promote mime in the United States.
Marcel Marceau retired from performing in 2005. His many honors and awards included commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Officer of the Légion d'honneur, and, in 2001, the Wallenberg Medal awarded by the University of Michigan in recognition of his humanitarianism and acts of courage aiding Jewish people and other refugees during the Second World War.
One of Marceau's biggest admirers was Michael Jackson. A longtime friend of Marceau, he appeared alongside the French mime artist in 1995 during rehearsals for a proposed concert for HBO that was ultimately shelved. Jackson said later he had always been "in awe" at Marceau's skill as a performer.
Marcel Marceau died on September 22, 2007, aged 84. He was laid to rest in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Marcel Marceau is considered the greatest mime artist in history. Best known for his Bip the Clown character, Marceau was also celebrated for his many mimodramas—performances of dramatic work through mime.
While he is remembered for an extraordinary ability to deliver silent performances with eloquence, deceptive simplicity, and balletic grace, Marcel Marceau also took on a far more dangerous and dramatic role during the Second World War as a member of the French Resistance. During his time with the Resistance, he saved dozens of Jewish children from certain death not by using a gun but by miming his way out of trouble.
Intrigued? Click through the following gallery and learn more about the master of silence.
He'd use his mime skills to make the youngsters comfortable and put them at ease, pretending all the way as if the kids were embarking on a vacation to a home near the Swiss border.
But this plan posed a problem: how to travel with a large group of noisy children without arousing the suspicion of the authorities?
As well as his cross-border feats, Marceau was also skilled in forgery. He produced dozens of fake identity documents to make Jews look younger so they'd be allowed to flee Nazi deportation.
But with triumph came tragedy. The conflict saw the burgeoning mime artist suffer personal loss: his father, Charles Mangel, was murdered at Auschwitz. However, his mother, Anne, survived the war.
He had a memorable cameo in Mel Brooks' 'Silent Movie,' in which, with intentional irony, his character has the only audible speaking part, uttering the single word "Non!" after being asked by Brooks whether he'd like to appear in the film.
The biographical drama 'Resistance' provides an admirable account of the bravery and tenacity demonstrated by Marcel Marceau during the Second World War.
The film stars Jesse Eisenberg as the mime artist on a mission, and pays sincere tribute to its real-life protagonist.
Sources: (History.com) (Biography) (The Independent) (World Mime Organisation)
Why mime artist Marcel Marceau left everyone speechless
The greatest mime artist in the world saved dozens of children during WWII
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Marcel Marceau is considered the greatest mime artist in history. Best known for his Bip the Clown character, Marceau was also celebrated for his many mimodramas—performances of dramatic work through mime.
While he is remembered for an extraordinary ability to deliver silent performances with eloquence, deceptive simplicity, and balletic grace, Marcel Marceau also took on a far more dangerous and dramatic role during the Second World War as a member of the French Resistance. During his time with the Resistance, he saved dozens of Jewish children from certain death not by using a gun but by miming his way out of trouble.
Intrigued? Click through the following gallery and learn more about the master of silence.