Editing Marcel Marceau (section)

== Career ==
Marceau joined [[Jean-Louis Barrault]]'s company and was soon cast in the role of [[Harlequin|Arlequin]] in a pantomime, ''Baptiste'' (which Barrault had interpreted in the film ''[[Children of Paradise|Les Enfants du Paradis]]'').<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080516103005/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22474160-16947,00.html "Master of Mime passes away"], ''The Australian''. {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Marceau's performance won him such acclaim that he was encouraged to present his first "mimodrama", ''Praxitele and the Golden Fish'', at the Bernhardt Theatre that same year. The acclaim was unanimous, and Marceau's career as a mime artist was firmly established.

[[File:Marcel Marceau - 1974.jpg|thumb|left|Marceau as Bip the Clown in 1974]]
In 1947 Marceau created Bip the Clown, whom he first played at the Théâtre de Poche (Pocket Theatre) in Paris. In his appearance, he wore a striped pullover and a battered, be-flowered silk opera hat. The outfit signified life's fragility, and Bip became his alter ego, just as the "[[The Tramp|Little Tramp]]" had become [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s. Bip's misadventures with everything from butterflies to lions, from ships and trains to dance halls and restaurants, were limitless. As a stylist of pantomime, Marceau was acknowledged to be without peer. Marceau, during a televised talk with Todd Farley, expressed his respect for the mime techniques that Charlie Chaplin used in his films, noting that Chaplin seemed to be the only silent film actor who used mime.<ref>{{YouTube|8hlNITTKxC4|"Marcel Marceau with Todd Farley Part 9: Charlie Chaplin"}}, 11-part video</ref>

His silent mimed exercises, which included ''The Cage'', ''Walking Against the Wind'', ''The Mask Maker'', and ''In The Park'', all became classic displays. Satires on everything from sculptors to matadors were described as works of genius. Of his summation of the ages of man in the famous ''Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death'', one critic said: "He accomplishes in less than two minutes what most novelists cannot do in volumes." During an interview with [[CBS]] in 1987, Marceau tried to explain some of his inner feelings while creating mime, calling it the "art of silence:"
{{quote|The art of silence speaks to the soul, like music, making comedy, tragedy, and romance, involving ''you'' and your life. . . . creating character and space, by making a whole show on stage – showing our lives, our dreams, our expectations.<ref>{{YouTube|QbxNWmH6CAo|"Marcel Marceau Remembered"}} ''CBS Sunday Morning'', 25 September 2007</ref>}}

In 1949, following his receipt of the [[Deburau Prize]] (established as a memorial to the 19th-century mime master [[Jean-Gaspard Deburau]]) for his second mimodrama, ''Death before Dawn'', Marceau founded Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau, the only company dedicated to the art of pantomime in the world at the time. The ensemble played the leading Paris theatres, such as Le [[Théâtre des Champs-Élysées]], Le Théâtre de la Renaissance, and the Bernhardt Theatre, as well as other playhouses throughout the world.

From 1959 to 1960, a retrospective of his mimodramas, including ''[[The Overcoat]]'' by [[Gogol]], ran for a full year at the Amibigu Théâtre in Paris. He produced 15 other mimodramas, including ''Pierrot de Montmartre'', ''The Three Wigs'', ''The Pawn Shop'', ''14 July'', ''The Wolf of Tsu Ku Mi'', ''Paris Cries — Paris Laughs'' and ''Don Juan'' (adapted from the Spanish writer [[Tirso de Molina]]).

=== World recognition ===

[[File:Marcel Marceau - AP 1974.jpg|thumb|Marceau in 1974]]
Marceau performed all over the world to spread the "art of silence" (''L'art du silence''). It was the intellectual minority who knew of him until he first toured the United States in 1955 and 1956, close on the heels of his North American debut at the [[Stratford Festival of Canada]]. After his opening engagement at the [[Phoenix Theatre (New York City)|Phoenix Theater]] in [[New York City|New York]], which received rave reviews, he moved to the larger [[Ethel Barrymore Theatre|Barrymore Theater]] to accommodate the public demand. This first U.S. tour ended with a record-breaking return to standing-room-only crowds in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other major cities. His extensive transcontinental tours included South America, Africa, Australia, China, Japan, South East Asia, [[Taiwan]], Russia, and Europe. His last world tour covered the United States in 2004, and he returned to Europe in 2005 and to Australia in 2006. He was one of the world's most renowned mime artists.<ref>https://bypassmatrix.com/marcel-marceauexploring-the-life-and-legacy/ Marcel Marceau: Exploring the Life and Legacy</ref>

Marceau's art became familiar to millions through his multiple television appearances. His first television performance as a star performer on the Max Liebman, [[Mike Douglas]] and [[Dinah Shore]], and he also had his one-man show entitled "Meet Marcel Marceau". He teamed with [[Red Skelton]] in three concerts of pantomimes.

Marceau also showed his versatility in motion pictures such as Professor Ping in ''[[Barbarella (film)|Barbarella]]'' (1968); ''First Class'' (1970), in which he played 17 roles; ''[[Shanks (film)|Shanks]]'' (1974), where he combined his silent art, playing a deaf and mute puppeteer, and his speaking talent, as a mad scientist; and a cameo as himself in [[Mel Brooks]]'
''[[Silent Movie]]'' (1976), in which, with intentional irony, his character has the only audible speaking part, uttering the single word "Non!" when Brooks asks him (via [[intertitle]]) if he would participate in the film.<ref>Marceau thus refuses to be in a film he is appearing in and also makes the "silent" film a [[talkie]].</ref> His last film appearances included small roles in [[Klaus Kinski]]'s ''[[Paganini (1989 film)|Paganini]]'' (1989) and ''[[Joseph's Gift]]'' (1998). He also had a role in a low-budget film roughly based on his life story called ''Paint It White''. The film was never completed because another actor in the movie, a lifelong friend{{who|date=November 2010}} with whom he had attended school, died halfway through filming.

[[File:Marcel Marceau (1962).jpg|thumb|left|Marceau in 1962]]
As an author, Marceau published two books for children, the ''Marcel Marceau Alphabet Book'' and the ''Marcel Marceau Counting Book'', and poetry and illustrations, including ''La ballade de Paris et du Monde'' (''The Ballad of Paris and the World''), an art book which he wrote in 1966, and ''The Story of Bip'', written and illustrated by Marceau and published by Harper and Row. In 1974, he posed for artist Kenneth Hari and worked on paintings and drawings that resulted in a book and artwork in a number of museum collections. In 1982, ''Le Troisième Œil'', (''The Third Eye''), his collection of ten original lithographs, was published in Paris with an accompanying text by Marceau. Belfond of Paris published ''Pimporello'' in 1987. In 2001, a new photo book for children titled ''Bip in a Book'', published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, appeared in bookstores in the U.S., France, and Australia.

In 1969, Marcel Marceau opened his first school, École Internationale de Mime, in the Théàtre de la Musique in Paris. The school was open for two years with fencing, acrobatics, ballet, and five teachers of mime. In 1978, Marceau established his school, École Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris, Marcel Marceau (International School of Mimodrame of Paris, Marcel Marceau). In 1996, he established the Marceau Foundation to promote mime in the United States.

In 1995, pop megastar [[Michael Jackson]], who had been friends with Marceau for nearly 20 years, planned a concert together with him for [[HBO]], but the concert was canceled after Jackson was hospitalized for exhaustion during rehearsals. Jackson, during an interview, said that he had always been "in awe" at Marceau's skill as a performer:
{{quote|He was a great guy. I used to go see Marcel Marceau all of the time, before [[Off the Wall (album)|'' Off the Wall'']]. I used to sneak in and sit in the audience and watch how he would defy the laws of gravity like he was stepping on air. I would take some of those things and include it into rhythm and dance when I move.<ref name=Jet>"Michael Jackson Breaks Silence, Remembers Mime Marcel Marceau", ''Jet'', Oct. 15, 2007 p. 32</ref><ref>{{YouTube|-PMDYjD21E0|Michael Jackson and Marcel Marceau on stage for HBO}}, video</ref>}}

In 2000, Marceau brought his full mime company to New York City to present his new melodrama, ''The Bowler Hat'', previously seen in Paris, London, Tokyo, Taipei, Caracas, Santo Domingo, Valencia (Venezuela), and Munich. From 1999, when Marceau returned with his classic solo show to New York and San Francisco after 15-year absences for critically acclaimed sold-out runs, his career in America enjoyed a remarkable renaissance with strong appeal to a third generation. He later appeared to overwhelming acclaim for extended engagements at such legendary American theaters as The [[Ford's Theatre]] in Washington, D.C., the [[American Repertory Theater]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], Massachusetts, and the [[Geffen Playhouse]] in Los Angeles demonstrating the timeless appeal of the work and the mastery of this unique artist.{{cn|date=March 2025}}<!---looks like copyvio---> 

Marceau's new total company production ''Les Contes Fantastiques'' (''Fantasy Tales'') opened to great acclaim at the [[Théâtre Antoine]] in Paris.{{cn|date=March 2025}}