Bob Keeshan
| Bob Keeshan | |
|---|---|
Keeshan at BOK Tower in April 1999
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| Born |
Robert James Keeshan June 27, 1927 Lynbrook, New York |
| Died | January 23, 2004 (aged 76) Windsor, Vermont |
| Alma mater | Fordham University |
| Years active | 1947–2004 |
Robert James "Bob" Keeshan (June 27, 1927 – January 23, 2004) was an American television producer and actor. He created and played the title role in the children's television program Captain Kangaroo, which ran from 1955 to 1984, the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day.
Keeshan also played the original Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody television program.
Keeshan was born in Lynbrook, New York. After an early graduation from Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York, in 1945, during World War II, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, but was still in the United States when Japan surrendered. He attended Fordham University on the GI Bill and a few years at Hillsdale College.
Network television programs began shortly after the end of the war. Howdy Doody, an early show which premiered in 1947 on NBC, was one of the first. Debuting on January 3, 1948, Keeshan played Clarabell the Clown, a silent Auguste clown who communicated by honking several horns attached to a belt around his waist. One horn meant "yes"; two meant "no". Clarabell often sprayed Buffalo Bob Smith with a seltzer bottle and played practical jokes. Keeshan gave up the role in 1952, and was replaced.
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