The world’s best-known mime artist, Marcel Marceau, has died at the age of 84. For decades, Marceau epitomised his silent art, eliciting laughter and tears from audiences around the globe. His comic and tragic sketches appealed on a universal level, with each audience interpreting his performance in its own way. “Mime, like music, knows neither borders nor nationalities,” he once said. “If laughter and tears are the characteristics of humanity, all cultures are steeped in our discipline.” On stage, he charmed with his deft silent movements, a white-faced figure in white harlequin suit, striped jersey and battered top hat. Off stage, with the costume and the pancake make-up removed, Marceau was a slim, agile Frenchman whose eloquent description and explanation complement his mute mastery of the art of mime.
