What is an interesting fact about Marcel Marceau?

Marcel Marceau, born Marcel Mangel on March 22, 1923, was a French actor and mime artist best known as “Bip the Clown” on stage.

He referred to mime as the “art of silence,” and he performed professionally all around the world for more than 60 years

What is an interesting fact about Marcel Marceau?

Marcel Marceau, born Marcel Mangel, is largely responsible for most people’s understanding of what a mime looks like—the white face with cartoonish features, the black and white attire.

Marceau maintained that he developed Bip the Clown, the character he mimed, as a symbol of hope. During a speech at the University of Michigan to accept a humanitarian award, he stated that he drew on aspects from history and movies to create Bip’s name (which riffs on the character Pip from Great Expectations) and his appearance.

Nevertheless, while Bip is what Marceau is renowned for today, he utilized his mime abilities for another reason before creating the character: to assist him to smuggle Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied France when he was a member of the French Resistance.

Marceau’s skill for mimicking may have also saved his life during the war, Singer writes, when he came upon a troop of 30 German soldiers.

According to him, the impersonator appeared to be an advance guard of a bigger French force and convinced the Germans to retreat.