Roy Brown (clown) - Legacy

Legacy

Brown won a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award in 1992. He was elected into the International Clown Hall of Fame the next year; it was not until three years later that his colleague, Bob Bell, joined him. Roy also became a member of the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle in 1993. His health forced Brown to retire in 1994. Upon his retirement, he donated some of his costumes and clown-related material to the International Clown Hall of Fame. Brown was able to be a part of the 35th anniversary Bozo's Circus program in 1996 and also to take part in "An Evening With Roy Brown", presented by the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Brown made his final appearance on the show on 26 August 2000. He died in 2001 of congestive heart failure. He was survived by his second wife, Mary Lu, four sons, three stepsons, and three step-grandchildren. His interment was at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights, Illinois. One of Brown's Cooky costumes is part of the collection of the Museum of Broadcast Communications' Bozo's Circus collection. The cast of characters that he created for Garfield Goose and Friends are also in the museum.

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. Garfield Goose and Friends is on the plaque along with Ray Rayner and Friends and Bozo's Circus. Roy Brown was an important part of all three of the shows; his work delighted three generations of young Chicagoans.