Marcel Marceau: 'the poet laureate of silence'. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext
So it's farewell to Marcel Marceau, the world's most - and arguably only - famous mime. In today's tributes, Marceau is remembered as "the poet laureate of silence". Nicolas Sarkozy has called him "one of France's most eminent ambassadors" and our own Brian Logan has doffed his hat and unscrewed an imaginary wine bottle for an invisible toast.
News of Marceau's passing has spurred bloggers to call for an inevitable moment's silence, reflecting the mime's own observation: "Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?" Fans have been busy posting their own tributes to the life and times of the mime. Here's Marcel as he'll be remembered: stripy jersey, high brows, wistful eyes and that down-turned mouth that held audiences captive with the merest promise of a smile.
In this compilation of clips, our man Marcel essays one of his dual roles as a tango-dancing couple and also plays a lion tamer staring down the jaws of his circus beast. For further proof that silence is golden, here's another classic bit of Marceau's sleight-of-hand: Is it a fish? Is it a bird?
The mime breaks his silence in this famous clip from Mel Brooks' 1976 comedy Silent Movie. Marceau struggles against a full-force gale blowing through his hotel room to reach a ringing telephone. Aspiring movie mogul Mel Funn (Brooks) and his honchos are on the line, hoping that Marceau will star in his silent movie. Marceau answers with a single word: a resounding "Non!" (Unable to speak French, the movie men fail to understand his answer ...)
French speakers can get the inside story on Marceau's work with Michael Jackson, whose moonwalk was inspired by the mime's famous "walking against the wind" routine. Here's a snippet of the two on stage together.
You can also hear Marceau in his own words in this clip, talking about his work with Jodorowsky (Santa Sangre). In this archive BBC interview, he talks about "the weight of the heart" and recalls imitating Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp in his youth. Marceau can also be seen donning the bowler hat for an onstage routine with his company, and the video has a nice bit of Bip - the mime's most famous creation, who was inspired by Charles Dickens' Pip in Great Expectations. And in this ITN report, Marceau bursts with pride at the sustained popularity of his profession.
· Read more about Marcel Marceau here.
