Ata February 2 press preview for the current Broadway production of Edward Albee’s seismic marriage drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” actor Bill Irwin was asked if he thought the character he played, the seemingly passive academic George, husband of man-eating Martha, was weak. “He’s the last man standing,” replied the actor with a quiet smile. Indeed, at the end of Mr. Albee’s three-hour marathon of civilized marital war games, only George’s psychic spine hasn’t been broken.

On June 5, when this year’s Tony Award were handed out, life mirrored art in a surprising way. Both the production and star Kathleen Turner, who was roundly praised for her Martha, were considered front-runners in their categories. But by evening’s end, Mr. Irwin was the only member of the team to take home the prize. Stealthy and secretly strong, George won out again.

Mr. Irwin, who may possess the most modest “aw, shucks” attitude of any actor in New York, doesn’t see it that way. “I have my idea how I would like to see it engraved: ‘To the ensemble of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,'” he said. (He admits his chances of achieving this aim are faint.) And he plans to share the honor with his fellow cast-members by placing the statuette in a cabinet situated in an upstage hallway of the “Woolf?” set.

Mr. Irwin’s victory was the most unexpected of the ceremony. (Brian O’Byrne of “Doubt” and James Earl Jones of “On Golden Pond” were thought to be the strongest contenders.) And for the man “widely known and acclaimed as one of the leading modern clowns of his generation” it was the surest of industry affirmations. For several years now, Mr. Irwin has struggled to assert himself as a dramatic actor, one who can play characters that actually speak and only fall down on rare occasions.

He executed brief stints in the Off-Broadway two-handers “The Guys” and “Trumbo.” But his first highly visible foray in this direction came in 2002, when he took over the lead role from Bill Pullman in the Broadway premiere of Mr. Albee’s “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” If theater observers were surprised by that casting choice, they were floored when the performer was selected to play opposite Ms. Turner in the first Broadway revival of “Woolf?” in nearly 30 years.

Mr. Irwin was not unaware of the pervading incredulity. “I got some wonderful well-wishing messages that sometimes echoed that ‘Gee, I didn’t know you could talk’ sentiment,” he said. “Every actor in every role has something to prove, but yes, I particularly did. It’s the nature of the craft and the nature of the business that you start from zero every time. Your supporters will say, ‘No, that’s not true.’ But we actors always know at a certain level you start over every time you take on a job.”

The 55-year-old California native, whose training can be traced back to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Clown College and the Pickle Family Circus of San Francisco, grabbed the attention of the theater in the mid-1980s as a leader of the so called New Vaudeville movement, which brought experimentation and wit to the centuries-old commedia dell’arte and pantomime traditions. In 1984, he won a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Acclaimed innovative shows such as “In Regard of Flight,” “Largely New York,” and “Fool Moon” followed, and Mr. Irwin’s outfit of floppy hat, large black glasses, oversize vest, and baggy pants became iconic.

A few years ago, however, he began to wonder if his body hadn’t secretly stamped an expiration date on some of his routines. “You see videotape of yourself and you say, ‘Oh, I’m not as fast. I fell down okay, but I’m slower getting up than I was when we wrote the piece in 1981,'” he said. “You get smarter as a physical actor, even as your reflexes and muscles change.” To such a performer, accustomed to physical exertion, “Who’s Afraid of Virgian Woolf?” – one of the most challenging texts an actor can face – might look like a stroll through the park. But how does a slapstick artist land such a plum assignment?

In Mr. Irwin’s case, the journey began some 13 years ago, when he received a called from Joseph Chaikin, the experimental theater director. He said, “I want you to come to my apartment and read ‘Texts for Nothing.'” The script turned out to be Chaikin’s adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s play, and the duo presented it at the Public Theater in 1992. Once finished, Mr. Irwin returned to Beckett’s original words and found he preferred them. In 2000, he performed the play again Off-Broadway at the Classical Stage Company.

Performing in a Beckett play is, as anyone in the theatre can tell you, a surefire way to attract Edward Albee’s attention (as is acting in one of Mr. Albee’s own plays). The playwright had admired the absurdist master for years. He caught Mr. Irwin at CSC, and remembered him when it came time to recast “The Goat.”

“That was an essential step,” Mr. Irwin affirmed. “I don’t think that either Edward would have put me on a list had I not done ‘The Goat’ with Sally Field a couple years ago, or the producer would have thought this was an idea they could pursue.”

Now that his Tony Award makes it nearly impossible for showbiz contrarians to pooh-pooh his ambitions as a dramatic actor, Mr. Irwin thinks it might be time to take this new chapter of his career full circle. That’s right: Beckett redux.

“I’ve done ‘Waiting for Godot’ a couple of times and would like to revisit it,” he told. “The role of Vladimir is the one that’s always spoken to me.” One of those past visits was in 1988, when he acted at Lincoln Center alongside the Gogo and Didi of Robin Williams and Steve Martin under the direction of Mike Nichols. He played, naturally (for the time), Happy, the morose and silent slave with the ironical name.

“Happy’s a character who doesn’t talk for pages, for acts, and then he spiels nonstop,” Mr. Irwin observed with a chuckle. “Perhaps it mirrors my career.”

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at the Longacre Theatre (220 W. 48th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, 212-239-6200).