Cor Witschge

Vocation

Dutch actor, best known for his role as Pipo the clown. Cor was the third child of the baker Pieter Hermanus Witschge (8 Sept 1893, Amsterdam - 9 Oct 1963, Culenborg) and Johanna Francina van Driel (1 Jan 1894, Amsterdam - 24 March 1976, Amsterdam), who married 8 July 1920 in Amsterdam and got five children. He grew up in the poor workers part of Amsterdam De Jordaan. After visiting some years the trade school, he auditioned at age sixteen with the Netherlands Jeugdtoneel to become an actor. After many small roles, he became famous as Pipo de clown, a youth series broadcasted before 7 PM on Dutch television. The first episode started on 17 September 1958. The last episode ended 19 April 1980. He played Pipo for the last time on 17 February 1990, on the television show Rondom tien, after which he donated the Pipo costume to the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. Witschge died on 13 March 1991 of an heart attack , while he walked with his dog in the dunes of Terschelling. He was there to play a role as police inspector in the film Meeuwen after a short story of Bernlef. Witsche married on 9 February 1954 in Amsterdam Marijtje Ali (Marijke) Jonker (27 June 1928, Alkmaar - 3 March 1979, Amsterdam). The couple had no children. Link to Dutch Wikipedia