Marcel Marceu, the “Maestro of Mime“, died today at the age of 84.

Although most mimes remain fair game for jokes about annoying street performers, Marceau’s creation of l’art du silence has been credited for its powerful ability to compress emotion and thought into brief vignettes. As one critic noted, “He accomplishes in less than two minutes what most novelists cannot do in volumes.”

Marcel was best known for his character, Bip, the white-faced clown sporting a flower in his top hat. Of this character, Marceu once wrote, “He is a romantic and burlesque hero of our time, and he is also my alter ego, struggling like Don Quixote against the windmills in the battlefields of life.”

RIP, Maestro. Then again, perhaps you always have.

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