Bob Bell (actor) - After Bozo

After Bozo

Bell retired from WGN-TV and The Bozo Show in 1984, and was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1996. Larry Harmon, who owned the rights to the Bozo the Clown character, refused to congratulate Bell on the honor and also prohibited him from receiving it in costume, as was customary at inductions.

He spent his last years in Lake San Marcos, California, where he was active in the Kiwanis club. Upon his death, he was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea. A memorial was held for him at the First Presbyterian Church of Deerfield, where he lived during his many years in Chicago. Bell received many posthumous honors: both the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois proclaimed April 18, 1998 "Bob Bell Day" as the section of Addison Street near the WGN-TV studios was named "Bob Bell Way". In 2005, the Museum of Broadcast Communications awarded WGN-TV's Studio 1 a plaque to commemorate the forty years of children's television broadcast from the studio. Ray Rayner and Friends with a likeness of Rayner and Chelveston, is on the plaque along with Frazier Thomas and Garfield Goose and Friends and Bob Bell as Bozo the Clown for Bozo's Circus. In 2008, he was inducted into the Chicago chapter of the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences' Silver Circle. One of Bell's Bozo costumes is part of the Bozo's Circus collection of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Bell's grandson, Trevor Bell, became a member of the Major League Baseball team Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005.

Actor Dan Castellaneta has cited Bell as the influence for the voice of The Simpsons character Krusty the Clown.