I'll cop to always harboring a churlish dislike for the famous French mime Marcel Marceau, who was as responsible as anyone for the rise of annoying, mute street performers all across the U.S. Not only did he appear in a really terrible Mel Brooks movie, he created the "moonwalk" move that ultimately helped Michael Jackson dominate pop videos for what seemed like 100 years.
Marceau has died and the obit I read at Breitbart.com (via Drudge) is really impressive, especially the part about Marceau's participation in the French Resistance:
When the Nazis marched into eastern France, he fled with family members to the southwest and changed his last name to Marceau to hide his Jewish origins.
With his brother Alain, Marceau became active in the French Resistance, altering children's identity cards by changing birth dates to trick the Nazis into thinking they were too young to be deported. Because he spoke English, he was recruited to be a liaison officer with Gen. George S. Patton's army.
His father was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944.
"Yes, I cried for him," Marceau said. But he said he also thought of the others killed.
"Among those kids was maybe an Einstein, a Mozart, somebody who (would have) found a cancer drug," he told reporters in 2000. "That is why we have a great responsibility."
I dread the inevitable obit cartoon with him either moonwalking or climbing an imaginary rope into heaven, but his casual heroism is nothing short of inspiring.