Find Auditions, Castings & Casting Calls

" His first U , performing a sketch about a man trapped in a cage Now, with his country and his "second country" locked in disagreement over how to disarm Iraq, Marceau says diplomatically: "I am not a politician He adds modestly: "I don't want to make a monument of what I'm saying " In an interview at his agent's office before the U S "How could I thank him for everything he did?" Marceau says Marceau spent his childhood imitating Chaplin S tour, though, Marceau is sticking with his beloved one-man show featuring the clown Bip As a teenager he worked with the French Resistance, altering documents and helping a cousin who smuggled Jewish children to safety Bip is Marceau's alter ego, a sad-faced double whose eyes light up with childlike wonder as he discovers the world "But now is when I'm having the best reviews He's a descendant of the 19th-century harlequin, with clownish gestures inspired by silent film stars like Chaplin tour, Marceau sat under a map dotted with stick pins to mark cities where he has performed "I am not a great acrobat " He has just finished performing with his "New Company of Mimodrama" ââ‚¬â€? a troupe of actors in their 20s who graduated from his mime school in Paris "You learn from that," he says The battered black hat topped with a red flower conceals a mass of wavy gray hair In the end, he says, life's powerful moments leave us all without words Pantomime Marceau Returns to Agile Form Mar 19, 12:06 PM EST Marcel Marceau talks fast, filling every minute with words War is not a solution At the time, Marceau was a young man about to start his career, and Chaplin was a revered old star His own war experiences have made him treasure peace I am not a singer It turns out the world's greatest pantomime is disarmingly chatty During World War II, he played before U I want to be humble "I would retire if the press said, 'We have seen Marcel Marceau too much,'" he says " Marceau is so busy that he gave up working on a memoir because he had no time to write An hour into a recent interview ââ‚¬â€? after zipping through such subjects as his hero Charlie Chaplin and war in Iraq ââ‚¬â€? he stops his running monologue and asks politely, "But maybe you have some questions?" Marceau turns 80 on March 22 He performed for four U Like most good Frenchmen, he swears by the occasional glass of wine with dinner He performs with a troupe young enough to be his grandchildren, and onstage, Marceau looks half his age S I give emotion through movement His eyes are green and expressive, and his hands fly as he talks " Marceau spends a lot of time with "the new generation " Marceau sees the moment as a kind of baton-passing from one generation of artist to another Next he heads to Asia Another, "The Tiger," is a tale of baby-snatching based on an old Chinese story " Marceau also watches his diet "But not more than one or two glasses a day The company's work is darker and more complex than the productions with which most audiences are familiar And then when I kissed his hand, he had tears in his eyes " It's silence " "But as a Frenchman, I wouldn't make a war," he says, reflecting back on the conflict that shaped his life ââ‚¬â€? World War II " He is touched that his art has reached at least three generations of Americans presidents: Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton I come to America to play my art White grease paint hides his wrinkles He beams as he describes a chance encounter with his hero at an airport in 1967 For the new generation, for the future, we have to be very careful And at an age when most French show business legends are retired and relaxing on the Cote d'Azur, he has taken his one-man show to the United States for a two-month coast-to-coast tour soldiers In one, "The Masked Ball," a deformed woman dons a mask for a ball, passing herself off as a beauty His English, fine-tuned over decades, is almost flawless, and he calls the United States his "second country "If you stop at all when you are 70 or 80, you cannot go on," he says His secret: keeping in constant motion "They said: `It's us!' They were moved During the U "You have to keep working The master of impressions can still transform himself from a toddler bouncing a ball into a jaunty police officer swinging a billy club into an old woman knitting S "Wine is very healthy for the stomach," he says This is why the public has been passionate He appeared in Mel Brooks' 1976 "Silent Movie" ââ‚¬â€? he had the only speaking line, "Non!" Once, he played for prisoners in Joliet, Ill After Paris was liberated, Marceau joined the French First Army show in 1955 got raves, and he's been back every two years I am a silent musician "They screamed," Marceau says of his audience He lost his father at Auschwitz "What has made my success?" he asks S Playing the sad-faced clown Bip, Marceau is as moving ââ‚¬â€? and almost as agile ââ‚¬â€? as ever "We are a small planet," he says Marceau, a French Jew, was born Marcel Mangel Retirement? He's not even thinking about it "We could all live in peace "So I took his hand " That kind of experience has made his performances richer, he says His performances have only grown richer with time