Marcel Marceau

See also: Marceau

Marcel Marceau (born Marcel Mangel ), known as the MIME Marceau , born the March 22nd 1923 with Strasbourg and dead on September 22nd, 2007 with Cahors. It is buried with the Lachaise Father.

Actor and MIME French, the MIME Marceau becomes with the passing of years one of the French artists most known in the world, in particular thanks to its rounds in the United States where it creates a true theatrical revolution in the years 1950, with in particular his movement of “walk against the wind”, at the origin of the moonwalk of Michael Jackson.

The War and Resistance

Marcel Mangel passes his childhood to Strasbourg until the 15 years age. He made his studies with the Lycée Fustel de Coulanges, beside the cathedral, where, according to his French professor, he was the best pupil in recitation. Its family of Jewish origin Polish is forced, after the German invasion, to leave her residence for Périgueux and it continues its studies with the college of Limoges. His/her father, a butcher casher, is stopped in 1944 by the Gestapo and is assassinated with Auschwitz. Under the influence of his/her first cousin Georges Loinger, Marcel joined the Résistance in 1942 to Limoges. At this point in time it takes the pseudonym of Marceau. He tells “to have taken it in Resistance because of the worms of Victor Hugo, in the Punishments : “And Joubert on the Adige/And Marceau on the the Rhine. ” I had been born in the Low-Rhine and I wanted to pare the Germans out of France”. In the Free French Army, thanks to its excellent control of the English, it becomes liaison officer with the army of the general Patton.

The MIME Marceau

After having attended the School of decorative arts of Limoges, which leaves him the taste of the Dessin and the Peinture that it practices regularly, Marcel Marceau becomes the pupil of Charles Dullin, Jean-Louis Barrault and Etienne Decroux, who establishes the “grammar” of the art of miming that it called it “mobile sculptor”.

Its “mimodrame” or art of miming rather consists in giving form to its thoughts (tragic) through the gestures. “The word is not necessary to express what one has on the heart”. March 22nd, 1947, day of the 24e birthday of the artist, leaves the shade of the slides funny of character, Lunar Pierrot, “hurluberlu blafard” with the carbonaceous eye and the mouth torn of a red feature, funny of top hat on the head, a trembling red flower being used as plume with this Don Quichotte dégingandé therefore in crusade against the windmills of the existence: IBP had been born, as indissociable from Marcel Marceau as the character Charlot of Chaplin. Beep is a sensitive and poetic being, inspired of Deburau, Charlie Chaplin and the character of Pip of the novel Of great hopes of Charles Dickens, which enables him to explore the life and the modern society and to clarify their tragic side.

In 1947, it founds its own company (Company Marcel Marceau) --the only one of existing MIME in the world-- and registered with the repertory of the mimodrames and the mimes (" Manteau" , according to Gogol, " The Player of flûte" , " Exercises of style" , " Matador" , " Small the cirque" , " Paris which laughs, Paris which pleure").

It meets and engages at that time Alejandro Jodorowsky, artist Chile in whom used already the MIME in its first film Fando and Lis.

The MIME Marceau becomes with the passing of years one of the French artists most known in the world, in particular thanks to its rounds with the the United States where it creates a true theatrical revolution in the Années 1950, with in particular its movement of “walk against the wind”, at the origin of the Moonwalk of Michael Jackson.

It continues its gestural work through the largest scenes of the world. In 1975, he plays in the Main courtyard of the Palate of the popes for the Festival of Avignon. He creates in 1978, a school of MIME with Paris, where he teaches in order to ensure the changing. It was the international school of mimodrame to perpetuate the “grammar” reinvented by Etienne Decroux and fifty years of experiment of MIME.

Other activities

Among its other personal interests, he was Honorary president of France-Czechoslovakia Association during several years until the dissolution of Association when the Czechoslovakia is dissolved. He is deceased only two small weeks after his colleague and collaborator in this work, the former Vice-president of honor of Association, Guy Erismann, and both remain well-known like good friends of the people Czech and Slovak.

Marcel Marceau becomes member of the Académie of the fine arts (section of the free members) on February 27th, 1991.

He Marie three times and has four children.

Recognized by the French Republic, it receives high decorations:

He dies of an heart attack on September 22nd, 2007 with Cahors. He was buried with the Cimetière of the Father-Lachaise to Paris, on September 26th, 2007.

Catalog of films

  • 1968 : Barbarella of Roger Vadim: professor Ping . It is the first time that one hears his voice.

  • 1976 : the Last Madness of Mel Brooks ( Silent movie ) of Mel Brooks: itself . It is paradoxically in this film that one " the entend" again (in fact, he pronounces only one word, which appears besides in a label like all the other dialogs of this silent film, the made-to-order of films of before the talking films - from where his English title. What gives all savor to the participation of Marcel Marceau, because his voice is not finally heard, but what he says is unambiguous. Besides Mel Brooks, in the history, makes purposely badly translate this word, in French in the internationally comprehensible text but…)

Literary work

He wrote several works, of which History of Beep , seven deadly sins and Pimporello .

Notes and references of the article

To deepen

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