William Mills "Bill" Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performances and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has also made a number of appearances on film and television, and he won a Tony Award for his role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf on Broadway. He is also known as Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street's "Elmo's World", and regularly appears as a therapist on Law and Order SVU.

Early life

Irwin was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Elizabeth (née Mills), a teacher, and Horace G. Irwin, an aerospace engineer. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1974 and attended Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College the following year. In 1975, he helped found the Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco, California. He left the company in 1979, and decided to pursue stage work.

Career

Creator and writer

Irwin has created several highly regarded stage shows that incorporate elements of clowning, often in collaboration with composer Doug Skinner. These works included The Regard of Flight (1982), which ran on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in April 1987 for 17 performances.Largely New York (1989), Fool Moon (1993),The Harlequin Studies (2003), and Mr. Fox: A Rumination (2004).Mr. Fox is a production that Irwin has worked on for years, a biography of 19th century clown George Washington Lafayette Fox that also has autobiographical elements. In 2013, he teamed with his occasional partner David Shiner to create and perform in the Off-Broadway "clowning revue-with-music" Old Hats.Old Hats won the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue.

Monsignor William "Bill" Irwin, OC (1928 – August 29, 2004) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest who founded, in 1961, what has become the largest multi-function social service agency in Canada, the Catholic Social Services.

In 1988, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Officer in 1998. In 1990, he was appointed an honorary prelate with the title of monsignor by Pope John Paul II.

In May 2008 plans were announced by the Edmonton Catholic School District for the construction of a French immersion elementary school in Monsignor Irwin's name. September 2010 will mark the inaugural school year for the elementary school. The school was opened on October 7, 2010 with his nieces and nephews present.

References

William Franklin Irwin (September 16, 1859 – August 7, 1933) was a baseball player for the Cincinnati Red Stockings (AA) in 1886. He batted right and threw right-handed. He was born in Neville, Ohio and died in Fort Thomas, Kentucky.

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