Marcel Marceau, the renowned mime, was a master of the art of silence, captivating audiences worldwide with his peerless pantomime skills. Born Marcel Mangel on March 22, 1923, in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, he was introduced to music and theatre by his father, Charles Mangel, a kosher butcher, who was also a singer and a supporter of arts and music. Marcel's mother, Anne Mangel (née Werzberg),was a native Alsatian, and the family was bilingual.
At the age of 5, Marcel's mother took him to a Charlie Chaplin movie, and he was entranced, deciding to become a mime. He was also fond of art and literature, studying English in addition to his French and German, and became trilingual. When World War II broke out, Marcel had to hide his Jewish origin and changed his name to Marceau, as his Jewish family was forced to flee their home. His father was deported to Auschwitz, where he was killed in 1944.
Marcel Marceau served as interpreter for the Free French Forces under General Charles de Gaulle, acting as a liaison officer with the allied armies. After the war, he enrolled in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, where his teacher was Etienne Decroux, whose other apprentice Jean-Louis Barrault hired Marcel Marceau and cast him in the role as Arlequin.
Marcel Marceau's biggest inspirations were Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Marx Brothers. In 1947, he created his most famous mime character, Bip, a white-faced clown with a tall, battered hat and a red flower. He toured around the world, shone in a range of characters, from an innocent child to a peevish waiter, to a lion tamer, to an old woman, and became acknowledged as one of the world's finest mimes.
In just a couple of minutes, he could show a metamorphosis of an entire human life from birth to death. Through his alter ego, Bip, he played out the human comedy without uttering a word. His classic silent works, such as The Cage, Walking Against the Wind, The Mask Maker, In The Park, and satires on artists, sculptors, matadors, have been described as works of genius.
Marcel Marceau was an actor, director, teacher, interpreter, and public figure, and made extensive tours in countries on five continents. Outside of his mime profession, Marcel Marceau was a multilingual speaker and a great communicator, who surprised many with his flowing speeches in several languages.
Marcel Marceau passed away on September 23, 2007, at his home in France, like an Autumn leaf after the Autumn Equinox, and after Yom Kippur in the Jewish calendar, having the Day of Atonement as his final curtain. His burial ceremony was accompanied by the Mozart's piano concerto No. 21, and the music of J.C. Bach. Marcel Marceau was laid to rest in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France.
