RIP Bozo

Larry Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dead at 83

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Larry Harmon wasn't the original Bozo the Clown, but
he was the real one. Harmon, who portrayed the wing-haired clown for
more than half a century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure,
said his publicist, Jerry Digney. He was 83.

As an entrepreneur, Harmon licensed the character to others,
particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The
stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.

"Bozo is a combination of the wonderful wisdom of the adult and the
childlike ways in all of us," Harmon told The Associated Press in a 1996
interview.

Pinto Colvig, who provided the voice for Walt Disney's Goofy, was the
first Bozo the Clown, a character created by writer-producer Alan W.
Livingston for a series of children's records in 1946. Livingston said
he came up with the name Bozo after polling several people at Capitol
Records.

Harmon would later meet his alter ego while answering a casting call to
make personal appearances as a clown to promote the records.

He got that job and eventually bought the rights to Bozo. Along the way,
he embellished Bozo's distinctive look: the orange-tufted hair, the
bulbous nose, the outlandish red, white and blue costume.

"You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before
anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA," Harmon said in the
1996 interview. "I felt if I could plant my size 83AAA shoes on this
planet, (people) would never be able to forget those footprints."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhj-8BF2XnML69KPAiEQQkgECTRwD91N54JG0

http://tinyurl.com/64yt9h




.

Relevant Pages

  • "Youll be my Butch for a day!" - Larry (Bozo) Harmon - RIP - Part 2
    ... Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown ...
    (rec.arts.animation)
  • Re: America just got a whole lot nicer!
    ... LOS ANGELES -- Larry Harmon wasn't the original Bozo the Clown, ... a character created by writer-producer Alan W. Livingston ...
    (alt.fan.letterman)
  • Bozo was boffo, no?
    ... Larry Harmon played Bozo the clown on TV for decades in the US -- he ... popularity of US clowns named Bozo as ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Wally pass away. Bozo the Clown, dead at 83
    ... As an entrepreneur, Harmon licensed the character to others, ... "Bozo is a combination of the wonderful wisdom of the adult and the ... first Bozo the Clown, a character created by writer-producer Alan W. ... The Chicago version of Bozo ran on WGN-TV in Chicago for 40 years and ...
    (misc.news.internet.discuss)
  • Wally pass away. Bozo the Clown, dead at 83
    ... LOS ANGELES - Larry Harmon wasn't the original Bozo the Clown, ... The Chicago version of Bozo ran on WGN-TV in Chicago for 40 years and ...
    (misc.news.internet.discuss)