Marcel Marceau (1923 – 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona as "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence" and he performed professionally worldwide for over 60 years. His only speaking role was in the 1968 film, 'Barbarella' as Professor Ping.

As a youth, he lived in hiding and worked with the French Resistance during most of World War II, giving his first major performance to 3000 troops after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. Following the war, he studied dramatic art and mime in Paris.

In 1959, he established his own pantomime school in Paris, and subsequently set up the Marceau Foundation to promote the art in the U.S. In 1998, among his awards and honours he was was awarded the National Order of Merit in France.

He was friends with Michael Jackson for nearly 20 years and Jackson said he used some of Marceau's techniques in his own dance steps. Marceau was married three times: first to Huguette Mallet, with whom he had two sons, Michel and Baptiste; then, to Ella Jaroszewicz, with whom he had no children.

His third wife was Anne Sicco, with whom he had two daughters, Camille and Aurélia. Marceau died at the racetrack in Cahors, France, on 22 September 2007 at the age of 84.

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