If you had to name a mime, the only name that most of us could come up with would be Marcel Marceau. After all, it's a pretty niche talent. Marceau, who was born Marcel Mangel in 1923, admired Charlie Chaplin from a young age, but the first time he used miming skills was to thwart the Germans who occupied his country. When the Nazis invaded France in 1940, Marceau was sixteen years old. He changed his name to Marceau to hide his Jewish identity, and joined the French Resistance.
Marceau's job was to lead groups of Jewish children through forests across the Swiss border. The journey required absolute silence, and Marceau would mime his instructions to the children. During downtime, he would also entertain them. And so a unique career was launched. Read about Marceau and his World War II exploits at Messy Nessy Chic.
(Image credit: the White House)
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