What was Marcel Marceau’s cause of death? French mime artist died at 84

Marcel Marceau was featured on Google Doodle on Wednesday, as a form of celebrating the French mime artist on his 100th birth anniversary. He died on September 22, 2007, at the age of 84.

The news was announced to the world by his personal assistant and former student Alexander Neander.

What was Marcel Marceau’s cause of death?

Marceau died in a retirement home in Cahors, France where he had moved after retiring from the stage in 2005. At his burial ceremony, the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 was played, as was the sarabande of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5. Marceau was interred at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

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At the time of his death, no cause of death was given. Almost 15 years later details surrounding his death have still not been made public.

The master of silence was born on this day in 1923 in Strasbourg, France. His real name was Marcel Mangel but he changed his last name after the German occupation of France to avoid being identified as Jewish.

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He always dreamt of starring in silent films from his childhood ever since he was introduced to movies. He was just 17 during France’s invasion by Nazi Germany. He and his family fled to Limoges where his cousin Georges Loinger, one of the members of the French Jewish Resistance in France urged him to join the French Jewish Resistance in France to help rescue Jews during the Holocaust.

Marceau began using his silent acting skills to help smuggle Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied France. His pantomimes were also used to keep calm children down when they faced perilous moments during the journey to the Switzerland border. During the war, Marceau made three of these trips and liberated at least 70 children.