Dan Rowan | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Rowan in 1975 | |
| Born | Daniel Hale David (1922-07-22)July 22, 1922 Beggs, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | September 22, 1987(1987-09-22) (aged 65) Englewood, Florida, U.S. |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Comedy career | |
| Years active | 1952–1982 |
| Medium | Television, film |
Daniel Hale Rowan (July 22, 1922 – September 22, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He was featured in the television showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In, in which he playedstraight man toDick Martin and won the 1969 Emmy for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series.
Rowan was born on July 22, 1922,[1] on acarnival train near the small town ofBeggs, Oklahoma, asDaniel Hale David. He toured with his parents,[2] Oscar and Nellie David, who performed a singing and dancing act with the carnival.
He was orphaned at the age of 11,[2] spent four years at the McClelland Home inPueblo, Colorado, where he was taken in by a foster family at the age of 16 and enrolled inCentral High School. After graduating from high school in 1940, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles and found a job in the mailroom atParamount Pictures, quickly ingratiating himself with studio headBuddy DeSylva. A year later he became Paramount's youngest staff writer.
DuringWorld War II, Rowan served as afighter pilot in the8th Fighter Squadron,49th Fighter Group[3]United States Army Air Forces.[2] He flew aCurtiss P-40N Warhawk, AAF Ser. No. 42-104949, currently recorded under civilian registration N537BR, from which he shot down two Japanese aircraft before being downed and seriously wounded in another P-40 overNew Guinea. His military decorations include theDistinguished Flying Cross withOak Leaf Cluster, theAir Medal, and thePurple Heart.[citation needed]
After his discharge, Rowan returned to California, where he teamed up withDick Martin and started a comedy nightclub act. Martin was originally the straight man and Rowan the comic, but it did not work—as Rowan recalled, Martin could never remember lines if they were not funny. They switched roles and found steady work in nightclubs. The established team ofTommy Noonan andPeter Marshall was friendly with Rowan and Martin, so much so that whenever Noonan and/or Marshall could not keep a nightclub engagement, they would send Rowan and Martin in their stead; Noonan and Marshall would often write material for Rowan and Martin to use.
In 1958, Rowan and Martin made their movie debut in the offbeat western comedyOnce Upon a Horse..., written and directed byHal Kanter. The team was regarded as promising, but no further offers for movies materialized. The comics returned to nightclubs and television. Later, Rowan was a serious contender to hostThe Hollywood Squares. However, former mentor Peter Marshall had since become estranged from Rowan and took the job solely to prevent Rowan from getting it, a grudge stemming from when Noonan fell ill and Marshall felt that Rowan had not shown support for Noonan's fight to live (Noonan would eventually die in 1968). Marshall later found out that Rowan never told Martin he was in the running to host.[4][5]
Rowan and Martin hosted a free-wheeling television comedy revue that aired during the summer of 1967.NBC accepted the Rowan and Martin show, now calledRowan and Martin's Laugh-In, as a midseason replacement series, and it quickly became a national phenomenon, running through 1973.
At the height of the show's popularity, Rowan and Martin starred in the 1969 filmThe Maltese Bippy, which was a notorious failure.[6] Rowan also appeared twice as an actor onThe Love Boat, first in a two-part 1977 episode playing the part of Alan Danver, husband of Barbara Danver, played byJuliet Mills. He appeared again as Matt Heller, a father estranged for 20 years from his ex-wife, Jenny Heller, played byMarion Ross, and his daughter, Beth Heller, played byEve Plumb in the October 30, 1982 episode "Command Performance".
In 1946, Rowan married the 1945Miss America first-runner-up Phyllis J. Mathis.[7] They had three children: Thomas Patrick, Mary Ann, and Christie Esther.[7] He and Mathis were later divorced.[8] In 1963, Rowan married Australian model Adriana Van Ballegooyen.[8] They divorced[9] eight years later. In 1974, he married model and TV spokeswoman Joanna Young, to whom he remained married until his death.[1]
Rowan retired in the early 1980s and spent the remainder of his years between his residence inEnglewood, Florida, and his barge in the canals of France, although he did reunite with Martin for some brief appearances on the NBC 60th Anniversary Show in 1986. In his forties, he was diagnosed withtype 1 diabetes, which led to his becoming insulin-dependent. He died oflymphoma on September 22nd, 1987 at his Englewood home.[1] His body was cremated.
In 1986, a book of letters written between himself and authorJohn D. MacDonald was published titledA Friendship: The Letters of Dan Rowan and John D. MacDonald, 1967-1974.[9]
Rowan was portrayed by Jonathan Whittaker in the 1995HBO movieSugartime.[10]
Dan's first marriage to Phyllis Mathis ended in divorce.
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