Whose Birthday Is It? March 22, 2016

Marcel Marceau (1923)

Marceau was a French actor and mime who gained renown in 1947 with the creation of Bip, a sad, white-faced clown with a tall, battered hat—reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp. Noted for his eloquent, deceptively simple portrayals, he earned worldwide acclaim in the 1950s with his production of the “mimodrama” of Nikolai Gogol’s Overcoat. In 1978, he founded a school of mimodrama in Paris. How did Marceau’s miming help save children from the Nazis during World War II? More…