Marcel Marceau (1923 - 2007)
Marcel Marceau was a famous French mime artist who entertained tens of thousands of people in a career that lasted more than 60 years.
He studied acting and mime in Paris and presented his first 'mimodrama' to French audiences in 1946. Marceau could make people laugh and cry without saying a single word.
He created a wide range of silent characters and quickly became the world's greatest mime artist. In just a few minutes he could act out an entire story or create a person using simple gestures. His most famous mime creation was Bip, a white-faced clown who wore tight black trousers, a striped sweater and a battered hat with a flower stuck in it. Bip was always getting into trouble and his adventures were full of excitement and sadness.
One critic said Marceau could tell a better story in a few minutes of mime than many novelists could tell in a book. His 'art of silence' was world-famous. He didn't need sound to entertain and move audiences.
Siegfried (1939 - ) and Roy (1944 - )
Siegfried and Roy are entertainers famous for their spectacular and dangerous magic tricks with cheetahs, lions and tigers. After meeting in Germany in 1957 and discovering they both had an interest in magic, Siegfried and Roy toured Europe before a theatre manager invited them to appear in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of America.