Marcel Marceau has died quietly at the age of 84. And, while a mime is a terrible thing to waste, it had to happen sometime. This also begs the question that if a mime falls in the forest and no one is around to see him, does he make a sound?
Attendees to Marceau’s funeral were speechless. However, there was a lot of pointing and other gesturing going on. The famed pantomime artist was not buried in a regular casket, but an invisible box Marceau had fashion for himself during his last breath.
The preacher presiding over the funeral did not say and word, but rather gestured towards his eye as if a tear were falling from it. During the open casket viewing, painted smiles were turned upside down into frowns as many coworkers in the mime field were fashioning their own invisible boxes from which to escape.
During his last hours in the hospital, Marceau’s relatives reportedly asked him to say his last words. Marcel Marceau replied “Ack!” During the funeral, the Simon and Garfunkel song “Sounds of Silence” was played repeatedly.