pantomime or mime [Gr.,=all in mimic], silent form of the drama in which the story is developed by movement, gesture, facial expression, and stage properties. It is known to have existed among the Chinese, Persians, Hebrews, and Egyptians and has been observed in many other cultures. Pantomime was popular in ancient Rome, where it was often explained by songs or simple action. The traditional characters of pantomime take their origin in the Italian commedia dell'arte of the 16th cent. English pantomime, originated by John Rich, was more pageant than pantomime, and in 1818, when J. R. Planche began his extravaganzas with "speaking openings," pantomime in England became a dramatic spectacle with songs and speeches. Joseph Grimaldi and Jean Gaspard Deburau were famous pantomime stars of the 19th cent. In silent pictures, Charlie Chaplin made his name as a great pantomime actor. Marcel Marceau has been the leading artist in France.

Dramatic performance in which a story is told solely by expressive body movement. Mime appeared in Greece in the 5th century BC as a comic entertainment that stressed mimetic action but included song and spoken dialogue. A separate Roman form developed from circa 100 BC and centred on crude and licentious subjects. Roman pantomime differed from Roman mime by its loftier themes and its use of masks, which called for expression through posture and hand gestures. Mime was also important in Asian drama from ancient times, and it is an element in major Chinese and Japanese dramatic forms (e.g., nō theatre). The Roman tradition of pantomime was modified in the 16th-century commedia dell'arte, which in turn influenced the 18th-century French and English comic interludes that developed into 19th-century pantomime, a children's entertainment emphasizing spectacle. Modern Western mime developed into a purely silent art in which meanings are conveyed through gesture, movement, and expression. Famous mimes include Jean-Gaspard Deburau, Étienne Decroux (who developed a systematic language of gesture), and Marcel Marceau. Charlie Chaplin was an accomplished mime, as were Sid Caesar and the circus clown Emmett Kelly.

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