Emmett leo kelly biography

Emmett died on March 28, , of a heart attack when he was 80 years old. Read another story from us: Joseph Grimaldi is the man who turned the role of the clown into the main character in the Harlequinades. Featured News. At the age of fifteen, Kelly ran away from home and traveled the country, trying various professions. He worked as a clerk's assistant, accompanied trucks, painted signs, and always dreamed of becoming an artist and performing before the public.

He studied drawing by copying famous masters' paintings, drawing on every scrap of paper, and dreamed of having his own "artist-momentalist" act. Eventually, he began performing in amateur concerts and rural balls, and his act was well-received by audiences. While working at a film studio in Kansas City, Emmett created a series of "living drawings" where the silhouette of his future clown character first appeared.

This character was a melancholy, lonely hobo who was never happy but never lost his spirit, always ready to start over from scratch. Emmett Kelly spent many years developing this character, refining the costume, makeup, and routines. However, before he debuted as Weary Willie, he performed as an aerial gymnast and a White Clown in a circus tent.

Success and Legacy. On opening day, however, his incorrectly rigged trapeze resulted in a poor performance and the cancellation of the aerialist portion of his contract. Kelly, who still considered himself a trapeze artist, spent his first season performing as a whitefaced clown while studying the various aerialist acts and honing his own skills.

The following year he returned to the single trapeze with the John Robinson's Circus and remained there for three seasons. During his early years as a clown, Kelly performed in whiteface, using a zinc oxide and lard makeup with black or red greasepaint outlining the eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows. In the back of his mind, the cartoon tramp he had created slowly began to take form and finally emerged as his true clown identity.

Prior to the Great Depression, Kelly's ragged tramp clown was considered dirty-looking and unacceptable. By , however, the American public was ready to embrace the forlorn, melancholy little hobo who, according to Kelly, "always got the short end of the stick and never had any good luck at all, but who never lost hope and just kept trying.

The most famous of these relied on two props, a broom and a spotlight, and Willie's relentless determination to sweep up every last circle of light in the darkened arena before the show began. In , Kelly published his autobiography, Clown. He left Ringling Brothers and circus life in the spring of His career as a clown extended far beyond the circus arena.

At the end of his first circus season he began performing as a clown in night clubs and small theaters. In he debuted on Broadway in a production of Keep Off the Grass, receiving favorable reviews. A decade later he portrayed a murderous clown in the David O. Following his retirement from Ringling Brothers, Kelly opened at the Roxy in an ice show, spent a season as the Brooklyn Dodgers' mascot, performed in Sarah Caldwell's production of the opera The Bartered Bride, appeared in European movies and on European and American television, and served as the technical director of a General Electric Hour television feature based on his life.

Kelly herein demonstrates that circus rings need not be his sole field. The circus allowed Emmett to leave the tour for 15 weeks so that he could join James Stewart and Betty Hutton on the Paramount backlot. In the middle of the train wreck scene, Hutton told Emmett to get the clowns ready for the parade, and Kelly responded, "Parade? Willie appeared in several other scenes that were shot on the Hollywood soundstage, including a number with Hutton and Stewart where the three bounced on a trampoline.

Emmett said that his favorite scene in the film was the segment that showed him playing solitaire on top of a wagon as the circus paraded through the streets of Sarasota. As Willie placed his cards down, his game was interrupted by a sudden gust of wind. Emmett said the effect was accomplished by the blast of an air hose as he played cards against a yellow screen.

The special effect was then matched against the parade sequence that had been filmed in February before the season started. Although Kelly accompanied the Hollywood cast to Washington, D. The rest of his scenes were filmed at Paramount in Hollywood. Their courtship coincided with the release of his autobiography, Clown, My Life in Tatters and Smiles, co-authored with Ringling press agent F.

Beverly Kelley. The story, published by Prentice-Hall , started appearing in bookstores while the circus was at Madison Square Garden that spring. As part of the promotion, Kelly made numerous appearances at bookstores and on radio, and on March 26, , he was one of the first guests to be interviewed on Edward R. One of those who was captivated by Emmett's life story was actor Henry Fonda , who had read the book while he was filming Mister Roberts in the spring of By that summer, Fonda acquired the film rights and began making plans to produce the story, either as a television program or a full-length motion picture.

Because Emmett's entire life story could not be told in a half-hour, the program focused on his transition from trapeze artist to clown, with Fonda wearing Willie's makeup and actress Dorothy Malone playing Kelly's first wife, Eva. During the program, Weber performed on the wire along with the DeWayne teeterboard troupe, Hap Hadley's elephant, and Winston's seals.

Faye and Rosie Alexander doubled for Emmett and Eva during the flying return sequence. As part of the publicity blitz for Ringling's New York engagement, Emmett appeared on another CBS program less than a month later. When, on November 6, Evi gave birth to their daughter Stasia, a news photographer named Frank Beatty snapped a picture of a grinning Weary Willie as he spoke by telephone to the new mother.

At the same time Beatty was shooting his picture of Emmett, a separate photographer had been dispatched to Sarasota where a photo of Evi and Stasia was also recorded, capturing both sides of the touching telephone conversation. After 14 years with Ringling Bros. Although he was already the most recognized clown in America, his family responsibilities, along with myriad new opportunities, were the catalysts that propelled his career to new heights.

In the winter of , Kelly was hired to play the role of Willie Voight in an upcoming television program titled The Captain from Kopenick. Under the terms of his circus contract, Kelly would appear with Ringling only during the indoor dates in New York and at the Boston Garden. On March 11, , the sad-faced Willie was the first guest on the hit television show What's My Line?

Because the character was so well known, each of the panelists was required to put on a mask before Willie appeared on camera. The interview segment that followed was a classic as Emmett stayed in character throughout, never speaking and responding only with a grunt. After Arlene Francis peppered Willie with questions for five minutes, she correctly identified his occupation as a clown and said, while still blindfolded, "The only clown's name that comes to my mind is Emmett Kelly".

The circus was plagued with labor problems in , and prior to its New York premiere, a picket line was set up outside of Madison Square Garden by both the Teamsters and the American Guild of Variety Artists. Many performers loyal to the circus were conflicted because of their membership in AGVA. Kelly, as well as clown Felix Adler and ringmaster Harold Ronk , chose not to cross the picket line, and their contracts were terminated.

Circus preceded a feature film and included acrobats, animal acts, and trapeze artists, along with performers on ice skates. In early January, O'Malley hired Kelly as the official mascot of the team, and in his role, Weary Willie would "characterize all of Brooklyn when the team loses, and a happy bum when the team wins. Late in the season, on the same day that the Dodgers lost the opener during what would be the "Bums" final homestand ever in Brooklyn, Evi Kelly gave birth in New York to their second daughter, Monika.

Emmett leo kelly biography

When the baseball season ended and the announcement was made that the Dodgers would be moving to Los Angeles, Kelly was cast in the film Wind Across the Everglades , a movie that was written, produced, and directed by Budd Schulberg , the same filmmaker who had won Best Picture with On the Waterfront in The story was set in the early 20th century and told the true tale of poachers who would hunt for egrets and other birds so that they could sell their plumes for women's hats.

In the film, Emmett played the role of Bigamy Bob, a cutthroat who escaped to the Everglades to get away from his many wives. With another film credit under his belt, Emmett reiterated that he no intention of retiring his classic character and that he planned "to bring Willie to the public for as long as I can". Circus to appear at its big stands in Philadelphia and Chicago in For Emmett it was a busy year.

After spending five days in January with Cristiani Bros. Pacific Ocean Park was created to compete directly with Disneyland , and in the summer of , Emmett Kelly was hired for 19 weeks to serve as "Vice President in Charge of Fun. The idea of performing in one place for an extended period appealed to Emmett and Evi, and in , Kelly began a long-term relationship with casino owner Bill Harrah.

In , he starred in a musical motion picture titled The Clown and the Kids. The movie was filmed in Bulgaria. As Emmett grew older, his acting ability, along with the complexity of his character, made him a favorite for producers looking to evoke emotion from their audience.