Famous for his portrayal of “Bip the Clown,” Marcel Marceau was a French actor and mime who was born Marcel Mangel and passed away on September 22, 2007.
Mime, which he referred to as the “art of silence,” has been performed professionally for more than 60 years all around the world.
He was a young Jewish man who worked with the French Resistance and spent the most of World War Two in hiding.
He performed his first important performance before 3,000 troops after Paris was freed in August. During the war, he studied mime and dramatic art in Paris.
Marcel Marceau children: Meet Michel Marceau, Aurélia Marceau, Camille Marceau, Baptiste Marceau
Michel Marceau, Aurélia Marceau, Camille Marceau, and Baptiste Marceau have all been named as Marcel’s offspring.
When Marceau joined Jean-Louis Barrault’s company, he was assigned the role of Arlequin in the pantomime Baptiste right away (which Barrault had interpreted in the film Les Enfants du Paradis).
The response to Marceau’s performance was so enthusiastic that the next year he decided to play his first “mimodrama,” Praxitele and the Golden Fish, at the Bernhardt Theatre. There was widespread acclaim for Marceau’s mime performances, and his career was well established.
