Larry Harmon, Bozo The Clown
Beloved children entertainer, Larry Harmon, who became a household name as Bozo the Clown, died of congestive heart failure on Thursday, July 3 at the age of 83. Harmon dauned the costume of Bozo the clown several times but mostly licensed the character and his likeness out to others.
“You might say, in a way, I was cloning Bozo the Clown before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA,” Harmon told the Associated Press in 1996.
Though not the first person to be Bozo the Clown (the first was Pinto Colvig who voiced Disney’s Goofy), he did eventually win the role of the famous clown and then bought the rights to him and made the character all his own.
“He was the most optimistic man I ever met,” said Susan Harmon, his wife of 29 years. “He always saw a bright side; he always had something good to say about everybody. He was the love of my life.”
For more about Larry Harmon’s delightful and charming life, you can read his complete Associated Press obituary.
Photo by AP Photo/International Clown Hall of Fame