Marcel Marceau (March 22, 1923 – September 22, 2007) was a French actor and mime 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. (Click here for full Wikipedia article)
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Chaplin made me laugh and cry without saying a word. I had an instinct. I was touched by the soul of Chaplin- Mime is not an imitator but a creator.
Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?
I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth... I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish.
I have spent more than half a lifetime trying to express the tragic moment.
In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people.
It's good to shut up sometimes.
Mime makes the invisible, visible and the visible, invisible.
Music and silence... combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.
Music conveys moods and images. Even in opera, where plots deal with the structure of destiny, it's music, not words, that provides power.
Never get a mime talking. He won't stop.
No art is superior to another one, but every art looks for expertise and perfection. This is life, which continues; this is why there is no death. There is continuation. There is no silence. There is a continuation of thought.
Silence is like a flame, you see?
To communicate through silence is a link between the thoughts of man.
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(September 22 is also the birthday of Philip Stanhope.)
Categories: Marcel Marceau, Quotes of the day
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