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| French mime artist Marceau dies | French mime artist Marceau dies |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The French mime artist Marcel Marceau has died at the age of 84, the AFP news agency has reported. | The French mime artist Marcel Marceau has died at the age of 84, the AFP news agency has reported. |
| The performer was known around the world for his silent portrayal of a white-faced clown with battered hat. | The performer was known around the world for his silent portrayal of a white-faced clown with battered hat. |
| Born in Strasbourg in 1923, Marceau studied under mime master Etienne Decroux in Paris. | |
| His daughter, Camille, said he died on Saturday evening, adding that details of the burial at Paris' Pere Lachaise cemetery would be given out later. | |
| Silent films | |
| Marceau, whose real name was Marcel Mangel, became world famous for his 1947 creation of Bip, the sad, white-faced clown in a striped jumper and a battered silk opera hat. | |
| He was single-handedly responsible for reviving the art of mime after World War II, after two decades of being eclipsed by the silent movie. | |
| Marceau was inspired to become a mime by the great American actors of the silent era such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon. | |
| His Compagnie Marcel Marceau was the only mime troupe in the world in the 1950s and 1960s, which enjoyed as much acclaim abroad as at home. | |
| From 1969 to 1971 he directed the Ecole Internationale de Mime before founding his Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame in Paris in 1978. | |
| He also made several films including Un Jardin Public. | |
| He enjoyed particular popularity in the US, Japan and China. |