Reggie Montgomery

He was best known as the first African-American clown to perform in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, though he spent only a year of his career doing so.

Reggie Montgomery
Reggie Montgomery, year unknown
Born	(1947-09-15)September 15, 1947 Tallahassee, Florida, US
Died	January 13, 2002(2002-01-13) (aged 54) New York City, US
Education	Florida A&M University, BS Trinity University, MFA, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College
Known for	First African-American clown in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, acting

Montgomery was born in 1947 in Tallahassee, Florida, and had two siblings. His parents wanted him to become an English teacher. In high school, he studied acting and played touch football. He went to Florida A&M University and studied drama, graduating in 1968.

Montgomery was born in Tallahassee, FL. He had two siblings. He said of the experience: "Especially being of color, I am always figuring out a way to survive in the world and in the theater...I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida in the 50s where people were still being lynched". As a child, Montgomery had a speech impediment, which required surgery. In part to help with his speech impediment, when he was 6 years old he was enrolled in a theater program at Florida A&M University, run by Sheppard Randolph Edmunds, founder of the first Black theater educational program at Dillard University in 1936, and sometimes known as "the dean of Black academic theater". Montgomery stayed in the program for 8 years.

After graduating from Florida A&M University in 1968, Montgomery studied at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, the first year of the school's existence. The dean of the school, Mel Miller, saw Montgomery in a local stage production, and invited Montgomery to apply. Of 1,000 applicants, Montgomery was one of 30 accepted.

He studied under Otto Griebling and Emmett Kelley, learning "acrobatic exercises--tumbles, flops and rolls...[and] also studied elements of visual comedy, along with practice work in pantomime." He expressed not liking circus when he had seen it 10 years prior, but "decided to give it a try" after being invited to apply. Drawn to performance, his parents expressed a preference for him to be an English teacher (he did, in fact, work as a substitute English teacher at Florida's Sarasota Junior High while attending Clown College "to earn 'bread-and-butter' money").

He later earned a master's degree in fine arts from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.

In 1969, he attended the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, founded the year before. He was the only Black man in his classes, and Ringling's first Black clown. During the six weeks of clown college he also worked as a substitute English teacher. He did not want to appear in white face, and with the agreement of circus managers he applied a more scaled down clown make up.

He stayed with Ringling for a year, saying that

We've got people from more than 18 foreign countries. But nobody allows himself to get uptight about Communism or international boundaries or race. Everybody just helps everybody else. And like things really jell.

In 1969, after graduating from clown college, he toured as a clown with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, refusing to do white-face, saying to Ebony magazine in 1969: "My own paint job’s good enough."

In the 1970s, Montgomery established the Minority Repertory Theater in Dallas, TX together with actress Irma P. Hall, where he worked with Paul Baker at the Dallas Theater Center. While in Dallas, he portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. He later moved to Los Angeles, CA to further pursue acting. In 1982, he moved to New York.

In theater, Montgomery staged Spunk (1990) and Mule Bone (1991), as well as Digging Eleven, I Ain’t Yo Uncle: The New Jack Revisionist Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Colored Museum and …Love, Langston at Hartford Stage, where he also served for 2 years as an associate artistic director. Montgomery previously appeared in George C. Wolfe's original productions of Spunk (he played a pimp) and The Colored Museum ("a series of satirical sketches about black American history" playing various characters, including "Walter-Lee-Beau-Willy, a purposely stereotypical black man" and "Miss Roj...a transvestite in white go-go boots and orange patio pants"). For his performances in Wolfe's plays, he won the Audelco Best Actor Award, at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 2001, he portrayed James Baldwin in A Prophet Among Them (his final acting credit). He also performed on Broadway, acting in The Green Bird.

From 1995 to 1999, Montgomery was an associate professor of theater arts at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where he also directed "The Suburban Violence Project".

In 2000, Montgomery directed Suzzanne Douglas in Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill, at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ. He previously worked with Douglas in an Actors Studio production of The Obeah Man, a musical adaptation of Molière's The Doctor in Spite of Himself.

Montgomery also taught acting at the Alvin Ailey School of Dance and at the American Musical and Dramatic Arts Academy in New York.

In 1986, he was part of George C. Wolfe's play The Colored Museum, where he played several characters. His theater work included Suzan-Lori Parks's The America Play and In the Blood and plays by Zora Neale Hurston. He worked as a director and acting coach. Montgomery's film and TV roles included Matlock (TV series), Law & Order, Malcolm X and Joe the King.

Montgomery was a close friend of fellow actor Tommy Hollis.

Montgomery was found dead in his New York City apartment on January 13, 2002. He died of natural causes after "a long illness". He was survived by a brother, Rodney Montgomery, and a sister, Yvonne Montgomery-Curl. He was buried in Tallahassee, FL.

George C. Wolfe said:

I don't necessarily know the true meaning of the word "artist," but I do know when I'm in the presence of one. And from that very first meeting I knew Reggie was a great artist: A heroic spirit, a subversive jester and a fierce warrior.