Marcel Marceau 1923 -2007, a most brilliant mime, whose most famous character portrayal was Bip The Clown.
Audiences often wondered was Marcel both deaf and/or dumb for his character was always mute on stage.
However he did appear in Silent Movie in 1976 where he had the only speaking part and it was to utter the word "non".
So the answer is that Marcel Marceau was neither deaf nor dumb, and was, in fact, a very voluble raconteur backstage.