Marcel Marceau Movies and Career Information

Marcel Marceau (22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown. Marcel Marceau (Marcel Mangel) was born in Strasbourg, France, to Ann Werzberg and Charles Mangel. When he was four, the family moved to Lille, but later returned to Strasbourg. When France entered World War II, Marceau, 16, fled with his family to Limoges. In 1944 his father, a kosher butcher, was captured and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Before being taken to the crematorium, his name was not registered. Marcel's mother survived. Marcel and his older brother, Alain, adopted the last name "Marceau" during the German occupation; the name was chosen as a reference to François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, a general of the French Revolution. The two brothers joined the French Resistance in Limoges, where they saved numerous children from the race laws and concentration camps, and, after the liberation of Paris, joined the French army. Owing to Marcel's excellent command of the English language, he worked as a liaison officer with General Patton's army. Marcel started miming as way of keeping children quiet, as they were