Marcel Marceau

Marcel Marceau was born in Strasbourg, France. His interest in the art of mime began in childhood, inspired by such silent screen artists as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel & Hardy. In 1944 he enrolled in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art in the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, where he studied with his mime master Etienne Decroux, who also taught Jean-Louis Barrault. At the Liberation of Paris, he enrolled in the First French Army and participated in the German campaign, side by side with the American GI's. Demobilized in May 1946, he entered Barrault's Company, and was cast in the role of Arlequin in the pantomime Baptiste which Barrault himself had interpreted in the world famous film Les Enfants du Paradis. He continued to work with Decroux until 1948.
In 1947, Marcel Marceau created his character, "Bip", who has become his alter-ego like Chaplin's "Little Tramp". Bip's adventures are likened to Don Quixote's struggle against the windmills of life. In 1948 Marceau formed his Compagnie de mime Marcel Marceau - the only company of pantomime in the world at that time - and played in the leading Paris theatres as well as other playhouses in Europe, Canada and South America. With his company, he has produced, directed and played 26 mimodramas, including Pierrot de Montmartre, The 3 Wigs, The Pawn Shop, 14th July, The Wolf of Tsu-Ku-Mi, Paris laughs - Paris cries, and Don Juan (adapted from Tirso de Molina). More recently, the company has offered The Overcoat and The Bowler Hat in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Marcel Marceau first toured in the United States in 1955-56 to overwhelming acclaim, ending with a record-breaking return to New York's City Center in the spring of 1956. With his international renown thus established, his subsequent tours have included numerous countries and every continent in the world. He continues to average over 200 performances per year worldwide. When not touring, Marceau teaches in his accredited international school of mime in Paris.
Mr. Marceau has appeared on television internationally, especially in America where he received two Emmy Awards for his appearances on The Maurice Chevalier Show and Laugh In. He appeared on the BBC as 17 different characters in A Christmas Carol in 1973, and in 13 short films produced by Encyclopedia Britannica including Bip and the style pantomimes. Marcel Marceau has also demonstrated his versatility in motion pictures such as Barbarella with Jane Fonda, directed by Roger Vadim; Shanks, directed by Bill Castle, in which he combined his silent art playing a deaf mute puppeteer and a speaking mad scientist. He said the only word ("Non") in Mel Brook's Silent Movie.
Publications of Marceau's paintings, poetry and illustrations include his La Ballade de Paris et du Monde, Les Réveries de Bip, The Story of Bip (Harpers and Row), Pimporello (Belfond Paris), The Third Eye (Paris Lithoprint). Children have been delighted by The Alphabet Book and Marcel Marceau's Counting Hat Book, and are enjoying the just-released Bip in a Book (Stewart, Tabori & Chang).
The French Government has conferred upon Mr. Marceau its highest honours: Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, and Grand Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite. He is an elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and is a member of the prestigious Institut de France. Mr. Marceau holds honorary doctorates from Princeton University, Ohio State University, Linfield College, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Mr. Marceau has accepted the honour and responsibilities of serving as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Second World Assembly on Ageing, which will take place in Madrid, Spain in April, 2002, at which Mr. Marceau is scheduled to appear. His current tour is 11 weeks in length, with performances in over two dozen cities. It includes a return to Australia and New Zealand after a 10-year absence, following an American tour involving his first appearances on the Hawaiian Islands.
Information on Marcel Marceau and his activities is made available by the New York-based nonprofit organization, The Marcel Marceau Foundation for the Advancement of the Art of Mime, Inc. at www.marceau.org