Emmett Kelly, in full Emmett Leo Kelly, (born December 9, 1898, Sedan, Kansas, U.S.—died March 28, 1979, Sarasota, Florida), one of the great American circus clowns, best known for his role as Weary Willie, a mournful tramp dressed in tattered clothes and made up with a growth of beard and a bulbous nose.

Kelly as a young man studied to become a cartoonist, and he originally created the Weary Willie character as a cartoon figure. He worked at various jobs in and around the circus, including as a painter.

He taught himself trapeze work and was hired as a trapeze artist for Howe’s Great London Circus. In 1923 he brought his cartoon character of the defeated hobo to life as a clown.

He worked for the Sells-Floto and Hagenbeck-Wallace circuses until 1931 and then for the Cole Bros. After appearing in England in the late 1930s with the Bertram Mills Circus, where he is said to have perfected his pantomime skills, Kelly joined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in 1942 and was a featured act there until the late 1950s.

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