William Irwin was also the name of a Canadian politician

Bill Irwin (born April 11, 1950, Santa Monica, California) is an American clown and actor noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He is known for his vaudeville-style stage acts, and has made a number of appearances on film and television.

Bill Irwin graduated from from Oberlin College in 1973 with a degree in theater arts, and from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College the following year. In 1975, he helped found the Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco, California. He left the company in 1979 to create a run of highly regarded stage shows including The Regard of Flight (1982), Largely New York (1989), Fool Moon (1993), The Harlequin Studies (2003), and Mr. Fox: A Rumination (2004). Mr. Fox is a production that Irwin has worked on for years, a biography of 19th century clown George Washington Lafayette Fox that also has autobiographical elements.

In 1981, Irwin was a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship in 1981 and 1983. In 1984 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow and awarded a 5-year MacArthur Fellowship.

He appeared in an occasional recurring role on the television series Northern Exposure and in the music video for 1988's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin (along with McFerrin and Robin Williams). He has been in about two dozen films, though most appearances have been brief. He got a fair amount of screen time in My Blue Heaven, a 1990 movie featuring Steve Martin and Rick Moranis. Irwin also appeared on stage with Martin and Williams for a production of Waiting for Godot around that time. He played Lucky, in which he spoke at length in 500 word long monologue (most of his performances are silent).

External links

References

• (2004). Bill Irwin, Clown Prince. Great Performances (PBS).