Séverin Cafferra

Séverin Cafferra, known as Séverin or mime Séverin, was one of the best-known French Pierrots or mime artists around the turn of the twentieth century.

Life

Caffera was born in Ajaccio, Corsica. He studied under the Marseille mime Louis Rouffe, who in turn had studied under Charles Deburau. He worked at Marseille, then at the Théatre des Funambules in Paris. In his 1929 book, L'Homme Blanc : souvenirs d'un Pierrot, Caffera describes Rouffe as having created a complete language of gesture.