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Larry Harmon, 83, played Bozo the Clown, trained other Bozos — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83.
His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died at his home.
Although not the original Bozo, Mr. Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.
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Willard Scott Played Bozo from 1959-1962
Found by Dale Huber.
You could say the man was a real Bozo alright. Actually I mean that in a good natured way. You don’t find entertainment like this anymore. Ronald MacDonald is no match for this guy.
Sad to lose Harmon, but as a note; Vance “Pinto” Colvig Sr. (1892-1967) is frequently overlooked as the man who originated the character. First known only as Capitol Records’ “Capitol Clown” then later named “Bozo” for dozens of childrens records. Colvig was earlier a story man for Walt Disney (also the voice of Goofy, and two of the Seven Dwarfs, Grumpy and Sleepy.)
We’re all Bozo’s on this bus.
ArianeB great reference to Firesign Theatre.I remember as a boy watching the Chicago station on our cable system.A 7 year old missed in a game and said:”Cram it Bozo!”
Clowns are scary…I dont like them.
#5: Clowns are scary…I dont like them.
While clowns don’t scare me, I gotta admit that if you stare at that picture for a while it does start to get really creepy. But then again I just had a quite a few beers. Is this how phobias start?
#5: “Clowns are scary…”
Lots of kids and adults don’t like clowns — see Coulrophobia, an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulrophobia
Kinda risky for McDonalds to choose a clown for a corporate mascot, eh?
RIP, Bozo, you were OK by me!
Did he train Gacy?
Now THAT would be a Dvorak story if he did.
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So, that explains it. As a kid, I went to a birthday party that had Bozo there. As a kid, I was pretty good at detecting fakes and he seemed totally like the real Bozo to me. Even in southern California, it seems pretty unlikely that the real Bozo would be at a birthday party.
Finally this article explains it! It may have been a franchised Bozo.
No kidding, I have wondered about that ever since.