Bill Irwin
| Bill Irwin | |
|---|---|
Irwin in 2013
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| Born |
William Mills Irwin April 11, 1950 Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actor, clown, comedian |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Spouse(s) | Martha Roth |
| Children | 1 |
William Mills "Bill" Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has also made a number of appearances on film and television, and he won a Tony Award for his role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf on Broadway. He is also known as Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street's "Elmo's World", and regularly appears as a therapist on Law and Order: SVU.
Irwin was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Elizabeth (née Mills), a teacher, and Horace G. Irwin, an aerospace engineer. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1974 and attended 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, and decided to pursue stage work.
Irwin has created several highly regarded stage shows that incorporate elements of clowning, often in collaboration with composer Doug Skinner. These works included The Regard of Flight (1982), which ran on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in April 1987 for 17 performances.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 2013, he teamed with his occasional partner David Shiner to create and perform in the Off-Broadway "clowning revue-with-music" Old Hats along with actress and musician Nellie McKay.Old Hats won the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue.Old Hats was revived in New York City in 2016 with Shiner and Irwin returning and a new third performer, musician Shaina Taub, in between sketches Taub performed original songs with a band.
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