Background
The son of a postman and a nurse, Holst was born in Galesburg, Illinois.
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Timothy J. Holst
Edit ProfileEducation
He attended Ricks College and Utah State University, studying drama.
Career
While performing in the summer stock theater in Yellow Stone National Park, he was "discovered" by a traveling promoter for Ringling Brothers. He later became the General Manager of the Red Show and ultimately the Feld Entertainment Incorporated. Vice President of Talent and Production in 1984.
He spent the last twenty years identifying and signing new hires for the circus, and was responsible for making deals with then-Communist countries to hire performers and enter into cultural exchanges.
As the talent scout for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, he traveled to 164 countries, where he recruited more than 3,000 people before his death in 2009. When not traveling 11 months of the year, Holst lived most of his adult life in Sarasota County, Florida.
He died in Sao Paulo, Brazil while on a trip there to recruit circus performers. The official Circus Ring of Fame memorial tribute to Tim Holst from the Feld Family and Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus can be seen on the Circle in Sarasota Florida on Saint Armands Key.
Holst appeared in a segment of Sesame Street with nine other clowns.
He is number 8 and he bonks himself on the head with a mallet.
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Born
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Died
April 16, 2009 (aged 61)