This thesis is neither a textbook of pantomime, with instructions for the development of mimetic expertise, nor a history of pantomime. What is recorded here is the personal philosophy of the art of pantomime advanced by Jean-Louis Barrault, Étienne Decroux, Charlie Chaplin, Marcel Marceau, and Red Skelton. The section devoted to each artist contains the portions of his biography pertaining to his development as a mime and a representative sample of critical reactions to his work. In addition to this purpose, this thesis also offers evidence that the comic style of pantomime underwent a change in nature in its use by the mimes who are studied here. Whereas the comic style was original! y unique to pantomimes that had no other intent but to produce laughter or, at most, pathos by physical comedy, these mimes took the comic pantomime into the realms of introspection and philosophy.