A Thousand Clowns is a 1965 American comedy-drama film directed by Fred Coe and starring Jason Robards, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam, and Barry Gordon.

Overview of A Thousand Clowns, 1965, directed by Fred Coe, with Jason Robards Jr., Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam, at Turner Classic Movies A Thousand Clowns is a thousand laughs. Format: DVD. In the end, Murray becomes another of the conforming people he has fought so hard not to become. While the central message of A Thousand Clowns may grate on some viewers, the film is saved by the exuberance of the cast. A Thousand Clowns (1965) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.

4.5 out of 5 stars 147 ratings. A Thousand Clowns Jason Robards (Actor), Barbara Harris (Actor), Fred Coe (Director, Producer) & Rated: NR. A middle-aged iconoclast, doggedly avoiding the tedium of employment and conventional life, faces the prospect of losing custody of his young ward. With Jason Robards, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam, Gene Saks. An adaptation of a 1962 play by Herb Gardner, it tells the story of an eccentric comedy writer who is forced to conform to society to retain legal custody of his nephew. Directed by Fred Coe.

While A Thousand Clowns meets the classic definition of a comedy - at the end Murray and Sandy form a household with Nick - it is in a real sense a tragedy.

I was first introduced to the story I was kid through the film version starring Jason Robards, Jr. The amusingly eccentric lifestyle and dialogue of the nonconformist unemployed Murray Burns, who shouts his grievances to New York from his apartment window, makes this play truly wonderful.