TV actor Robert Keeshan was #BornOnThisDay, June 27, 1927. Known for his self-created role in the children's TV program #CaptainKangaroo, (1955-'84). Keeshan also played the original Clarabell the Clown on the #HowdyDoody #1950s TV show. He passed in 2004 (age 76). #RIP #BOTD

Bob Keeshan


Keeshan in 1995

Born: Robert James Keeshan; June 27, 1927; Lynbrook, New York, U.S.
Died: January 23, 2004 (aged 76); Windsor, Vermont, U.S.
Alma mater: Fordham University
Occupation(s): Television host, producer, actor
Years active: 1947–2004

Robert James 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. He also played the original Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody television program.

Early life
Bob Keeshan was born to Irish parents[3] in Lynbrook, New York. After an early graduation in 1945 from Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York, 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. He received his bachelor's degree in education in 1951.

An urban legend claims that actor Lee Marvin said on The Tonight Show that he had fought alongside Keeshan at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Over time, this legend has been published verbatim. Other legends had compounded on it, such that Keeshan was a trained killer, that he was awarded the Navy Cross, that he was a tough sergeant who saved the lives of dozens of men and women in the war, and that he destroyed a German tank in action in North Africa (an apparent confusion with a similarly named British soldier). However, Marvin never made the statement (he never served in Iwo Jima, but was wounded during the Battle of Saipan). Keeshan never saw combat in Europe or Japan, having enlisted too late to serve overseas. The Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C, still receives calls asking for verification of Keeshan's "heroic" war service. Keeshan continuously dispelled the rumors.

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