Marcel Marceau

Born Marcel Mangel on 22 March 1923, he became Marcel Marceau and spent more than six decades performing what he called "the art of silence." His stage persona Bip the Clown—a figure in whiteface, striped shirt, and worn top hat—carried him across continents and made mime legible to millions who had never seen it done at that level. He worked professionally into old age, holding the form steady long after most had written it off as novelty. He died on 22 September 2007, having proven that a man in greasepaint, saying nothing, could command a room better than most people with a microphone.