Jean-Gaspard Deburau

Jean-Gaspard Deburau, sometimes (erroneously) Debureau (July 31, 1796 – June 17, 1846)—born Jan Kašpar Dvořák—was a celebrated Bohemian-French mime. He performed from around 1819 to the year of his death at the Théâtre des Funambules, which was immortalized in Marcel Carné's poetic-realist film Children of Paradise (1945), where he appears (under his stage-name, "Baptiste") as a major character. His most famous pantomimic creation was Pierrot—a character that served as the godfather of all the Pierrots of Romantic, Decadent, Symbolist, and early Modernist theater and art.