Bev Bergeron

Bevely Joseph "Bev" Bergeron (December 29, 1930 - December 3, 2020) was an American actor and magician. He wrote magic shows for stage and television. Bergeron played his clown character, Rebo, on CBS-TV and later ABC-TV series "Magic Land of Allakazam." He was head-writer for the series for its 5 year run. Later, he got with Mark Wilson and Nani on three other projects. These included the 1970 TV special "Pillsbury's Magic Circus."

In 1964 and 1965 he played McDonald's spokesperson, Ronald McDonald, in McDonaldland. He played the character in ads for the company from 1966 to 1968. In 1971, Bev Bergeron began performing as Pecos Bill at Walt Disney World's Diamond Horseshoe Revue. He did this until 1986.

Bev joined a traveling tent show when he was 17 years old. He wrote a book about his adventures. It was called Willard the Wizard. The Smithsonian chose the book for their tribute to American Tent Theatre in 1983. Bergeron has writen several other books.

His written material has been seen with Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Merv Griffin, Jackie Gleason and Roy Rogers. It has been used on The Greatest Show on Earth (TV); Disney theme parks, SeaWorld of Florida, Six Flags of St. Louis and many other places.
Bergeron was voted into the Society of American Magicians' "Hall of Fame." He was made President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians in 1996. Other awards include honoree of the Magic Collector's Conclave; Disney Hall of Fame; The Jimmy Durante Comedy Award and Life Time Achievement Award presented by the Academy of Magical Arts of The Magic Castle in Hollywood.

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Category:1930 births
Category:2020 deaths
Category:actors from Texas
Category:American magicians