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Gary Owens
Owens in San Diego, 1982
Born	Gary Bernard Altman (1934-05-10)May 10, 1934 Mitchell, South Dakota, U.S.
Died	February 12, 2015(2015-02-12) (aged 80) Encino, California, U.S.
Occupations	Disc jockey voice actor announcer radio personality
Years active	1952–2015
Spouse	Arleta Markell ​ (m. 1956)​
Children	2
Awards	Inkpot Award (1981)[1]

Gary Owens (bornGary Bernard Altman; May 10, 1934 – February 12, 2015) was an American disc jockey, voice actor, announcer and radio personality. His polishedbaritone speaking voice generally offered deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer onRowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Owens was equally proficient in straight or silly assignments and was frequently heard on television and radio as well as in commercials.

He was best known, aside from being the announcer onLaugh-In, for providing the voices of thetitular superhero onSpace Ghost and of Blue Falcon inDynomutt, Dog Wonder. He also played himself in a cameo appearance onSpace Ghost Coast to Coast in 1998. Owens' first cartoon-voice acting was performing the voice of Roger Ramjet on theRoger Ramjet cartoons.^[2] He later served as announcer ofAntenna TV.

Owens was born inMitchell, South Dakota, the son of Venetta Clark Altman, an educator and county auditor, and Bernard Joseph Altman, a county treasurer and sheriff.^{[citation needed]}

Owens started his radio career in 1952 as a news reporter atKORN in Mitchell, South Dakota, and two years later was promoted to news director. In 1956, he left KORN for a newscaster job atKMA,Shenandoah, Iowa, before moving on to adisc jockey job atKOIL,Omaha, Nebraska. He also worked inDallas,New Orleans,St. Louis, and atKIMN inDenver before relocating to California in 1959, working atKROY inSacramento andKEWB inOakland before finally settling inLos Angeles.

Owens moved to KEWB'ssister station 980KFWB in Los Angeles in 1961. From there, he joined the staff of 710KMPC in 1962, where he remained for the next two decades, replacing previous afternoon hostJohnny Grant, working the 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. shift Monday through Friday. A gifted punster, Owens became known for his surrealistic humor. Among his trademarks were daily appearances by "The Story Lady" (played byJoan Gerber); the Rumor of the Day; myriad varieties of "The Nurney Song"; and the introduction of thenonsense word "insegrevious", which was briefly included in theFunk & Wagnalls Dictionary.

His regular on-air radio terms included "krenellemuffin", as in "We'll be back in just a krenellemuffin." Gary always credited his radio engineer at the end of his broadcast: "I'd like to thank my engineer, Wayne Doo, for creebling at the turntables" (referring to KMPC engineer Wayne DuBois). He also created the previously non-existent colors "veister" and "krelb".

In the early 1960s, like punster-TV star comic colleaguesErnie Kovacs,Steve Allen, andJonathan Winters, Owens created a few comic characters of his own, such as the gruff old man Earl C. Festoon and his wife Phoebe Festoon, the stuffy old businessman Endocrine J. Sternwallow, and the goofy good ol' boy, Merle Clyde Gumpf. Another character was crotchety old cantankerous Mergenthaler Waisleywillow.

Owens also did amusing radio promotions, such as sending in for "Yours", which turned out to be a postcard from him at the radio station which simply said "Yours" on it; autographed pictures of theHarbor Freeway in Los Angeles; and his famous "Moo Cow Report", in which Gary and his character Earl C. Festoon would describe where cows were moving inbound on the crowded freeways of Los Angeles.

During this time Owens was also known as "Superbeard", because like his contemporary radio iconWolfman Jack, he sported a goatee-beard, Hawaiian shirts, baggy Bermuda shorts, and his "1941 wide necktie with a hula girl on it". Often during these comedy sketches on the air, he would have the assistance of other radio comics, most notablyBob Arbogast (known as "Arbo" to his fans), Stan Ross (of "Drowning in the Surf" fame in 1963), and Jim "Weather Eyes" Hawthorne.

Owens appeared on eight episodes of the 1966-67 television seriesThe Green Hornet.^{[citation needed]}

Owens also did his famous "Good Evening Kiss" on KMPC when he was on from 9 p.m. to midnight, by saying, "Now I'll just snuggle up to a nice warm microphone, andembracemoi", making a big wet kiss sound effect followed by the sound effect of a gong striking. In 1966, Owens collaborated with Bob Arbogast,June Foray,Daws Butler,Paul Frees, and others on a comedy spoof record album titledSunday Morning With the Funnies with the Jimmy Haskell Orchestra on Reprise Records.

During this period, Owens became more widely known as the voice of the eponymous television cartoon characters inRoger Ramjet andSpace Ghost; the excitable narrator/announcer fromThe Perils of Penelope Pitstop; and perhaps most well-known, as the hand-on-the-ear announcer in the booth onRowan & Martin's Laugh-In, all the while continuing his show on KMPC. He also hosted its daily game show spin-off,Letters to Laugh-In, during its brief run in 1969.

Capitalizing on Owens'Laugh-In fame,Mel Blanc Audiomedia, an audio production company based inBeverly Hills, developed and marketedThe Gary Owens Special Report, a 260-episode package of syndicated radio comedy shows.

Owens appeared in theSesame Street pilots in a sketch called "The Man from Alphabet" as the title character, a bumbling spy in a trench coat who, with the help of a young paperboy called H.B., tried to catch the villainous Digby Dropout and his henchman Dunce using clues from H.B.'s "Alphabet Book". Initially, the Man was also to have had a chief, "Teacher". The segments were created bySesame Street executive producer David Connell and referenced such tongue-in-cheek spy series asGet Smart andThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Despite the advance publicity, and Connell's investment in the series, "The Man from Alphabet" proved to be a failure with test audiences. The Man from Alphabet's constant bungling and problem-solving attempts confused kids and the lessons never came across. H.B.'s role as the true problem-solver was not clearly understood, a fact exacerbated by the child actor's stilted delivery and poor diction. As assessed by Edward L. Palmer, "The amount of truly effective educational content, relative to our goals, is virtual nil." After reviewing the test results, producer Connell advised that the segments be shelved, referring to them as "Connell's Folly". The segments never aired onSesame Street.

Owens was a scriptwriter forJay Ward Productions, appeared in many series forWalt Disney, and did over 30,000 commercials. He was also a guest star onThe Munsters,I Dream of Jeannie, andMcHale's Navy.

During the late 1960s, when the films of 1930s comedians such as theMarx Brothers,W. C. Fields, andMae West were finding a new audience, Owens narrated phonograph records containing sound clips from the films.

Owens appeared as the racing correspondent in Disney'sThe Love Bug (1968).

In 1972, he released the comedy LPPut Your Head On My Finger for the MGM-Pride label.

In 1973, Owens wroteThe (What to Do While You're Holding the) Phone Book (ISBN 0-87477-015-7), a comedic look at the history of the telephone, and appeared in the first season ofBarnaby Jones, in the episode titled "Twenty Million Alibis", playing the role of Gary Michaels.

On the live albumUptown Rulers by the funk bandThe Meters, Owens can be heard on the first track introducing the band. The live recording took place on March 24, 1975, atPaul andLinda McCartney's release party for theVenus and Mars album held aboard theRMS Queen Mary.

Owens did the humorous news blurbs that are interspersed throughout the 1975 filmThe Prisoner of Second Avenue. In 1976–77, he hosted the first season of the nighttime version ofThe Gong Show; he was replaced by the show's creator,Chuck Barris.^{[citation needed]} In that same year, Owens became the voice of a new cartoon character, the Blue Falcon, a character who fought crime in fictional Big City with the "help" of his clumsy sidekick, Dynomutt, also known asDynomutt, Dog Wonder. The series was a parody ofBatman, specifically the live-action version starringAdam West. It was not uncommon to see the Blue Falcon use various "falcon gadgets", much like Batman used various "Bat-Equipment" items. The falcon belt was used in a similar fashion to Batman's utility belt with an endless supply of weapons and other devices. Owens would provide the voice of the Blue Falcon from 1976 through 1977 in 20 half-hour episodes. The 1977 episodes were broken into two parts that ran 11 minutes each — 16 episodes in 1976 and four in 1977. Also, he narratedYogi's Space Race in 1978 and announced for Disney's Wonderful World, starting in 1979.

Owens received aHollywood Walk of Fame Star in 1980, between those ofWalt Disney andBetty White. On August 30, 1983, Owens emceed the unveiling ceremony for the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star forThe Three Stooges. Owens, a long-time friend of the Stooges, had been a major driving force in helping the Stooges get the Star. The ceremony was featured onEntertainment Tonight.

In the 1980s, he announced on jazz radio stationKKJZ (then KKGO-FM) inLong Beach, California.

On the weekend of September 12–13, 1981, Owens substituted for his old KEWB station partnerCasey Kasem onAmerican Top 40. This was his only appearance on radio's firstnationally syndicated countdown show. In that same year,Watermark Inc. chose Owens to replaceMurray "The K" Kaufman as permanent host ofSoundtrack Of The Sixties, an oldies retrospective show that ran in syndication through 1984. Immediately afterward, he hosted Creative Radio'sGary Owens' Supertracks, which was an oldies retrospective show similar toSoundtrack Of The Sixties, except it presented the fifties, sixties, and seventies.

He was the narrator ofWalt Disney World'sEPCOT Center pavilion,World of Motion, which operated between 1982 and 1996. His television special was "The Roots of Goofy", which aired from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.

Owens moved from KMPC to another Los Angeles station, 1150KPRZ, in 1982, hosting mornings at the "Music of Your Life"adult standards station. Owens in the morning and Dick Whittinghill in afternoon drive was an inversion of Owens' KMPC years.

WhenRoger Barkley surprisingly walked out of the long-runningLohman and Barkley Show onKFI in Los Angeles, Owens briefly teamed withAl Lohman for the successful morning commute show. Jeff Gehringer was brought on as producer. The program ended after the station changed its format to all-talk.

Owens had a bit part as an emcee for "Pimp of the Year", a dream scene in the 1988 comedyI'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Owens also co-starred in a number of documentaries about dinosaurs in the 1980s alongside Chicago's Eric Boardman. These documentaries were distributed by the Midwich Entertainment group for theDisney Channel before it went from being a premium pay channel on cable to a standard channel.

Owens guest starred on one episode ofThe Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

From 1987 to 1992, Owens was the voice of Lt. Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade, the protagonist of an animated series which was part of PBS'sSquare One TV.

Owens was the voice narrator on the ABC Saturday morning animated seriesMighty Orbots in 1984.

In 1989 Owens appeared inNight Court, season 7 episode 7, entitled "Auntie Maim". Owens played DJ Bobby Bumgartner.

In the late 1990s, Owens hosted the morning show on theMusic of Your Life radio network, where he later had the evening shift and hosted a weekend afternoon show until 2006. He also announced pre-recordedstation IDs forParksville, British Columbia radio stationCHPQ-FM (The Lounge), and for humoristGary Burbank's long-running afternoon show onWLW inCincinnati, Ohio (Burbank took his stage name from Owens). Owens was also the announcer forAmerica's Funniest Home Videos from 1995 to 1997, the last three years ofBob Saget's hosting tenure, replacingErnie Anderson.

The cartoonSWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron featured Owens as the voice of Commander Ulysses Feral, a police chief constantly butting heads with the two main protagonists.

Owens guest starred onThe Ren & Stimpy Show as the voice of Powdered Toast Man.

He lent his voice as the narrator for the 1992 voiced CD-ROM version ofSierra On-Line'sSpace Quest IV. He again assumed the role in the series' final installment, 1995'sSpace Quest 6.

From 1994 to 1995, Owens narrated the opening and interstitial bumpers ofSuperhuman Samurai Syber-Squad.

In 1998, he appeared onSabrina the Teenage Witch (episode: "Good Will Haunting"; Season 3, Episode 6) as "Guy Who Thinks He's Gary Owens", as well as reprising his role as Blue Falcon on an episode of Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory: "Dyno-Might".

In 2004, Owens co-wrote a book titledHow to Make a Million Dollars With Your Voice (Or Lose Your Tonsils Trying). In his latter years, Owens was the promotional announcing voice forAntenna TV, an over-the-air digital network dedicated to classic shows of the past, likeThree's Company,The Monkees,Adam-12 andGidget.

Owens married Arleta Markell on June 26, 1956; they remained married for nearly sixty years until his death in February 2015.^[3] Together they had two sons, Scott and Chris.^[3]

Owens died on February 12, 2015, at age 80, from complications due toType 1 diabetes, a condition with which he was first diagnosed at the age of eight.^[4][3]

Owens provided the voices for:

• The title character ofRoger Ramjet.
• The narrator for the cartoon seriesThe Perils of Penelope Pitstop.
• TheSpace Ghost for the originalSpace Ghost (1966–1968) cartoon series (credited as Gary Owen) and onSpace Stars (1981–1982). He later reprised his role in a 2011 episode ofBatman: The Brave and the Bold titled "Bold Beginnings!".
• The announcer forGarfield and Friends.
• The narrator ofDr. Phibes Rises Again.
• The narrator in two episodes ofDinosaurs
• Powdered Toast Man ofThe Ren & Stimpy Show.
• Captain Squash onBobby's World.
• The title character ofInspector Gadget in one of several versions of the pilot episode.
• Cartoon characters in various letter-of-the-alphabet cartoons onSesame Street.
• The narrator for the "Secret Drawing" cartoon series onSesame Street.
• Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade on PBS'sSquare One Television.
• A substitute announcer forBill Nye the Science Guy.
• The announcer and Principal in two episodes of2 Stupid Dogs
• The Blue Falcon inDynomutt, Dog Wonder. (He later reprised the role in both an episode ofDexter's Laboratory and an episode ofJohnny Bravo.)
• Badly Animated Man^{[broken anchor]} inRaw Toonage.
• Commander Ulysses Feral inSWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron.
• The narrator for the pilot episode ofAdventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
• The narrator for the U.S. commercial ofSuper Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.
• Opening narration forBuzz Lightyear of Star Command.
• The voice of Nick / The Dark Talon from the episode ofTeamo Supremo.
• The voice of Cy from theGalactica 1980 episodeThe Return of Starbuck.
• The announcer and himself for an episode ofSpace Ghost Coast to Coast.
• The 1950s-styledBatman inThe New Batman Adventures episodeLegends of the Dark Knight.
• The announcer forSuperhuman Samurai Syber-Squad.
• The voice of theAntenna TV promotions (2011–2015), intoningVintage...without the funny smell.
• Namor in the "7 Little Superheroes" episode ofSpider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

He also narrated or announced dozens of other cartoons, as well as thefourth andsixth installments of theSpace QuestPC game series.

When appearing "in character" on camera as "Gary Owens, the announcer", Owens held his right hand up to his right ear while speaking into agimbaled boommicrophone. This was done in imitation of the announcers in the early days of radio, who had to rely upon the acoustic feedback of their cupped hand to hear how they sounded to the audience. Owens used this as arunning gag and gave various outlandish reasons for this pose: On his KMPC radio show in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he claimed that this was because a piece of shrapnel took off his ear during the war; sometimes it would come loose and he had to hold it on; at other times he said that he was given a wooden ear, and was keeping the termites warm. This gag was later parodied byLes Lye on the Canadian children's sketch-comedy showYou Can't Do That on Television.

Owens coined the phrase "Beautiful downtownBurbank", which was later used onLaugh-In andThe Tonight Show.^[5]

His trademark self-introduction was "This is Gary Owens, friend of those who want no friends, going places and losing things", or occasionally, "Hello, and also hi; but not necessarily in that order", as a shorter version.

In 2001,TV Land released two computer games titledBlast from the Past, hosted by Owens and featuring other TV celebrities includingFlorence Henderson,Ed Asner,Davy Jones,Bob Denver,Don Adams,Barbara Eden,Todd Bridges,Alan Young, andMarion Ross, among others. The games spoofed a game show and the prize for winners was an interview with the chosen celebrity the contestant selected at the start of the game. (Players can choose Owens as a celebrity if they wish).

• Owens, Gary (1973).The (what to do while you're holding the) Phone Book.Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc.ISBN 978-0874770155.
• Owens, Gary; Lenburg, Jeff (2004).How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice (Or Lose Your Tonsils Trying).McGraw-Hill Education.ISBN 978-0071424103.

• Gary Owens atIMDb
• Gary Owens at the Comedy Hall of Fame
• Gary Owens at Trax & Grooves (Middle Column, lengthy bio)

• 1934 births
• 2015 deaths
• American male television actors
• American male voice actors
• American radio DJs
• Deaths from diabetes in California
• Male actors from South Dakota
• People from Mitchell, South Dakota
• Radio and television announcers
• Radio personalities from Los Angeles
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• Hanna-Barbera people
• Inkpot Award winners

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