Marceau was born in Strasbourg, France, as Marcel Mangel, son of a kosher butcher. During the German occupation of France, he and his brother, Alain, hid their identities as Jews and adopted the ...

After the war, Mangel changed his name to Marcel Marceau—after a general in Napolean’s army who hailed from the Alsace region—and became a world-renowned mime artist. Marceau died in Paris ...