Larry Harmon, aka Bozo the Clown, RIP

Thu., Jul. 3, 2008 4:15 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Larry Harmon, the man who delighted millions of kids playing Bozo the Clown for over five decades and is widely credited with popularizing the character the world over, has died. He was 83.

His longtime publicist, Jerry Digney, told Reuters that Harmon passed away from congestive heart failure on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles.

While not the original Bozo, Harmon was largely hailed for honing the clown's trademark look by adding the orange clumps of hair, the big red nose and that crazy red, white and blue costume.

He was also responsible for making the clown a household name after he and a group of investors bought the licensing rights to the character from Capitol Records in the early '50s.

Bozo turned out to be a marketing bonanza for the budding entrepreneur as he launched local TV shows featuring the clown on almost every major U.S. station and farmed him out globally to such far-flung countries as Thailand and Brazil.

Those stations, in turn, hired various actors to portray Bozo, including Bob Bell for WGN-TV Chicago and perhaps most famously Willard Scott, who donned the makeup before becoming the longtime weatherman for NBC's The Today Show.

"We didn't have satellite, syndication and networking like today," Harmon once told Reuters in an interview. "So, I created my own network of local clowns and productions, a cross-country operation that kept me on the road for 50 weeks a year for decades."

Aside from continuing to make countless personal appearances as the character throughout the years, Harmon trained over 200 Bozos, marketed a variety of Bozo merchandise and even helped hatch a cartoon.

Bozo became so ubiquitous in pop culture that the name ended up coming to define zany, foolish behavior. He and his TV show also served as an early inspiration for Krusty the Clown's hijinks on The Itchy & Scratchy Show on The Simpsons.

Harmon is survived by his wife of 29 years, Susan Harmon, son Jeff Harmon and daughters Lori Harmon, Marci Breth-Carabet, Ellen Kosberg and Leslie Breth.

Source; E Online