Larry Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dead at 83

Larry Harmon, often mistakenly identified as the original Bozo the clown, has died from congestive heart failure at the age of 83. Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, after purchasing the name, licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.

Pinto Colvig, also the voice for Disney's Goofy, created Bozo the Clown for Capitol Records in 1946. Harmon met him when he applied during a casting call to make personal appearances as a clown to promote 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.

Bozo _ portrayed in Chicago for many years by Bob Bell _ was so popular that the waiting list for tickets to a TV show eventually stretched to a decade, prompting the station to stop taking reservations for 10 years. On the day in 1990 when WGN started taking reservations again, it took just five hours to book the show for five more years. The phone company reported more than 27 million phone call attempts had been made. By the time the show bowed out in Chicago, in 2001, it was the last locally produced version.

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