Dimitri is a Swiss and international legend. And you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone in Switzerland who hasn’t heard of him. Dimitri preferred performing solo in theatres with only a few props and no scenery. Beyond Switzerland, he also performed in many other countries across the globe. In 1995, he was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame.

Dimitri Jakob Muller, known as Dimitri, was a Swiss clown and mime artist.

He was born in Ascona, Switzerland in 1935.

Dimitri’s father was a sculptor and painter. His mother made imaginative creatures out of textile remnants.

When he was seven years old, Dimitri decided he wanted to become a clown.

After graduating from school, he became an apprentice potter while also studying music and theatre. Dimitri then went to Paris to study under Étienne Decroux, then Marcel Marceau.

Étienne Decroux was a French actor who studied at Jacques Copeau’s École du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life’s obsession: corporeal mime. During his long career as a film and theatre actor, he created many pieces, using the human body as the primary means of expression.

Marcel Marceau was a French actor as well, and a mime artist most famous for his stage persona Bip the Clown. He referred to mime as the “art of silence,” and he performed worldwide for over sixty years.

Both men became Dimitri’s mentors, laying the foundations for his later unique style.

In 1959, Dimitri appeared as Auguste with the famous white clown Maïss at Circus Medrano in Paris.

While enjoying this experience, he created his own solo mime act which immediately struck a chord with not just the audience, but the entertainment community.

That same year, Dimitri appeared for the first time in a programme of his own, in Ascona, Switzerland. The initial solo performances were soon followed by tours around the world, including three tours with the Swiss National Circus: Circus Knie.

During the 1962 International Mime Festival in Berlin, Dimitri’s solo act was received with much acclaim.

Dimitri’s acts were motivated by his unique comical logic and playful spirit. Additionally, Dimitri was greatly talented in different artistic disciplines. This allowed him to incorporate a wide variety of circus skills into his act.

Interaction with the audience was an integral part of all of his stage acts. The finale of his show became his own personal signature. A graceful, memorable way to always say goodbye to his audience at the end of the show: Dimitri played four saxophones simultaneously.

He loved performing abroad. In a televised interview further along in his career, he said, “It feels like a triumph when I can make someone laugh abroad. Because here in Switzerland, I am well known. Thus, people will laugh even before I have done anything funny.”

Here is part of a performance from the beginning of his career, called Porteur(1962). Many fans claim that no matter how brilliant his later performances were as well, this one is still one of his best:

In 1971, Dimitri founded his own theatre, Teatro Dimitri, together with his wife Gunda in Verscio, Switzerland.

Then, in 1975, he founded the Scuola Teatro Dimitri (Theater School Dimitri) in Verscio. It is still open to young artists as a small performing arts college.

In 1973, Dimitri was awarded the Grock prize, and appeared with New York’s Big Apple Circus.

In 1978, he founded his own production company, the Compagnia Teatro Dimitri, for which he created and directed several plays over the years.

Then, in the year 2000, Dimitri founded a museum dedicated to the comical arts. This was a joint venture together with his friend Harald Szeemann.

This museum is still in Verscio: the Museo Comico.

Later in life, Dimitri was joined onstage by his two talented daughters, Masha and Nina; his nephew Samuel Muller Dimitri; and a close family friend, Silvana Gargiulo.

Dimitri said, “We are a harmonious family, and we are truly having fun on stage. This genuine excitement rubs off on our audiences.”

Along with many other prizes and honors over the course of his artistic life, Dimitri received the Swiss Award for Culture in 2009. This was followed by the Swiss Lifetime Award in 2013.

Here is a short trailer of a solo Dimitri performed in 2011.

Dimitri died at the age of 80, on July 19, 2016, in Borgnone, Ticino, in Switzerland.

The day before his sudden death, Dimitri still performed in his theatre in Verscio.

He remains one of the world’s best clowns who not only made his public laugh but who touched his audiences deeply with his poetic mind and generous heart.

Official Website Clown Dimitri

This article was originally published on TheatreArtLife.com. Written by TheatreArtLife's Content Producer - Liam Klenk.

Anna Robb

All around the world there are people working in arts and entertainment. They are not in the industry for the money, the fame or the work/life balance. They are there through a sheer driving force; The need to create. From this community, TheatreArtLife was born.
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