What was Pennywise inspired by?

Almost certainly the most well-known evil clown (save for Batman¹s archnemesis, the Joker; more on him later), Pennywise is modeled after real-life serial killer John Wayne Gacy, aka Pogo the Clown, a.k.a. "The Clown Killer." Gacy was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing 33 boys in 1980; he posed as a clown ...
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Who was Pennywise based off?

The John Wayne Gacy Murders

The IT character Pennywise may have been based on the serial killer. While there is some debate on whether Gacy truly influenced the creation of Pennywise, the two are eerily similar, as both dress as clowns and target children.
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Where did the idea of Pennywise come from?

2017 film and 2019 sequel:

King stated in a 2013 interview that he came up with the idea for Pennywise after asking himself what children feared "more than anything else in the world", and feeling that the answer was clowns.
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Was Pennywise based on Bozo?

He has a white face and a bald head, with red hair on either side. His mouth has a red clown smile. He wears large white gloves and is usually carrying a bunch of balloons. Stephen King based his appearance on Ronald McDonald, Bozo the Clown, Clarabell the Clown, and John Wayne Gacy.
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Who was the first evil clown?

In 1801, Grimaldi first appeared at Sadler's Wells Theater with smears of conspicuous make-up and dressed in bizarre clothing. With this costume, he established the clown as a strange archetypal nightmare. It was “unsettling because it superimposed childlike… body adornment over a distinctly adult…
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IT: The Complete History of Pennywise | Horror History

Who is the most famous clown?

Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century.
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What is Pennywise scared of?

Stephen King's IT introduced readers to a one-of-a-kind creature that can take any form, the most common one being Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and as menacing as it is, this creature has one big enemy it's truly scared of: Maturin, the turtle.
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What is Pennywise famous line?

Quotes. It : I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I'm your worst dream come true. I'm everything you ever were afraid of.
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Why does Pennywise come every 27 years?

IT arrived on Earth through an event similar to an asteroid impact, landing in what would later become Derry, Maine. Once there, IT adopted its usual pattern of hibernation that lasted between 27 and 30 years, awakening to kill and eat and then going back to sleep.
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Who is Pennywise daughter?

Movie! Flashback of the past of Pennywise and his. Daughter Kersh 🤗 Of when IT became & took over. Pennywise the Dancing Clown better known as Bob. Gray.
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Why does IT call himself Pennywise?

However, it's favorite and most common form is that of a circus performer named "Pennywise the Dancing Clown," as most small children love a clown and generally, it seems that the people in Derry happily accepted the presence of a stray circus performer.
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Was Pennywise born a human?

Pennywise the Clown is not a clown at all. The Pennywise the clown origin story sees an ancient, evil being that is perhaps as old as the universe itself. In the novel, however, the entity IT/Pennywise has a real name — Bob Gray. Bob Gray isn't human, however, and shares the same origin as IT.
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Is IT inspired by a true story?

Answer and Explanation: No, Stephen King's It is not based on a true story. King had the idea for It when looking at an old wooden walking bridge in 1978 near his home in Boulder, Colorado.
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How did Pennywise become evil?

Pennywise was always evil - or, more accurately, he never really existed. He was just a creation of IT to lure in children so they could be terrified and then eaten. Or so that IT could create chaos, incite riots and spread fear.
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How many kills did Pennywise get?

Pennywise's Kills Add Up Over Time

The number is then multiplied by the number of times Pennywise has awakened -- once every 27 years throughout the 270-year history of Derry, equaling ten times -- to come up with a final tally of between 12,000 and 18,000 dead.
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What are Pennywise's last words?

Image via Warner Bros. Finally, Pennywise is beaten into submission. He scurries away, utters the word "fear," and partially disintegrates before falling into the void. It's a powerful defeat of a powerful monster, and it's satisfaction enough were IT to remain a single film.
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Why is Pennywise always a clown?

King stated in a 2013 interview that he came up with the idea for Pennywise after asking himself what children feared "more than anything else in the world", and feeling that the answer was clowns.
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Why does Pennywise smile?

He explains to Conan how in his childhood, he used the demonic smile to frighten his little brother after learning his older brother Gustav was also able to point his lip.
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Does Pennywise eat children or fear?

It describes that it prefers to kill and devour children, not by nature, rather because children's fears are easier to interpret in a physical form and thus children are easier to fill with terror, which It says is akin to marinating the meat.
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Why was Pennywise scared of the losers?

Another explanation is connected to the Turtle and the cosmic side of IT and Stephen King's Macroverse, suggesting the Losers as the “chosen ones” that were guided and thus protected to an extent by Maturin, the only creature IT is afraid of.
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Does Pennywise feel pain?

It has a low pain tolerance

It certainly does not have a very high pain tolerance for a frightening demon. Each time that Pennywise is harmed during his encounters with the Losers Club, it does not respond with anger and rage. Pennywise retreats once it has been hurt, removing itself from the fight.
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What is a female clown called?

Clownettes usually dress in less complex clothing than the larger… |
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What are the 4 types of clowns?

Traditional types. There are traditionally three basic types of clowns that appear in the circus: the whiteface, the auguste and the character. A fourth type, the tramp or hobo clown, is often recognized separately, though similar to the other three types.
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What is a sad clown called?

Pierrot, a diminutive of Pierre (Peter) or Pedrolino as he is known, is the sad clown among one of the most likeable stock characters of pantomime and Commedia dell'Arte.
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