Dick Martin | |
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 Martin onRowan & Martin's Laugh-In, 1968 | |
| Born | Thomas Richard Martin (1922-01-30)January 30, 1922 Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | May 24, 2008(2008-05-24) (aged 86) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Comedy career | |
| Years active | 1951–2002 |
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Thomas Richard Martin (January 30, 1922[1] – May 24, 2008) was an American comedian and director. He was known for his role as the co-host (and comic foil ofDan Rowan) of thesketch comedy programRowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.
Martin was born inBattle Creek, Michigan, to William, a salesman, and Ethel Martin, a homemaker. In the early 1930s, the family moved toDetroit, where his teenage years included a bout withtuberculosis, which kept him out of the military.[1]
Early in his career, Martin was a staff writer forDuffy's Tavern, a radio situation comedy. He andDan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin in 1952 and played innightclubs throughout the United States and overseas. Martin played a drunk heckling a Shakespearean performer, a mainstay of their act for years. They could frequently be seen as host-performers onNBC'sColgate Comedy Hour, alternating withDean Martin and Jerry Lewis and other more established names. In 1958, they starred inHal Kanter's comedy WesternOnce Upon a Horse..., which was a box office failure. In 1960, they asked NBC to cancel their contract four years early and the network agreed.[2]
In 1962, Martin worked solo, playing the next-door neighbor toLucille Ball during the first season of her comeback comedyThe Lucy Show. He and Rowan returned to the nightclub circuit until 1966, when they were asked to host the summer replacement series forThe Dean Martin Show. He co-starred in the 1966Doris Day movieThe Glass Bottom Boat.[3]
The exposure led to an opportunity for Rowan and Martin to team up with producersEd Friendly andGeorge Schlatter and createRowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1973) on NBC. The comedy show was an immediate hit, becoming the number one American television program within two months of its debut. It was the top-rated show in its second and third seasons.Laugh-In had a uniquely fast-paced stream-of-consciousness style ofblackout gags, double entendre, topical satire, and catchphrases, much of it delivered by a cast of then-unknowns such asGoldie Hawn,Lily Tomlin,Arte Johnson, andRuth Buzzi.[citation needed]
At the center of the maelstrom stood the veterans Rowan and Martin, who bemusedly made no effort to slow down the program. Martin later said, "We designed it so that we are two relatively normal guys wandering through a sea of madness," and described his comic persona as "a kind of inept lech" who could be laughed at as well as laughed with. At the height of the show's popularity, Rowan and Martin starred in the 1969 filmThe Maltese Bippy, which was a notorious failure.[4] After Rowan retired from show business, Martin was a frequent panelist on game shows such asMatch Game,Password Plus, andTattletales, and he also hosted a parody game show calledThe Cheap Show in 1978, and the game showMindreaders in 1979.
Martin married singerPeggy Connelly in 1957.[5] They divorced prior to 1968 and he marriedPlayboy Playmate andBeyond the Valley of the Dolls starDolly Read in 1971.[6] Martin and Read divorced in June 1974, but remarried in 1978 and remained married until his death.[7][8]
Richard Martin, his son from a non-marital relationship with Canadian dancer Doreen Laverick prior to his marriage to Connelly, grew up in Canada and works as a film and television director.[9]
Martin died on May 24, 2008, of breathing complications inSanta Monica, California. He had lost the use of a lung due to tuberculosis as a teenager and suffered respiratory problems late in life.[1]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Father's Little Dividend | Baby Stanley's Holder at Christening | Uncredited |
| 1958 | Once Upon a Horse... | Doc Logan | |
| 1962–1963 | The Lucy Show | Harry Conners | 10 episodes |
| 1966 | The Glass Bottom Boat | Zack Molloy | |
| 1968–1973 | Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In | Dick Martin | |
| 1969 | The Maltese Bippy | Ernest Grey | |
| 1975–1979 | Match Game | Dick Martin | 102 episodes |
| 1978 | Zero to Sixty | Arthur Dunking | |
| 1981 | Carbon Copy | Victor Bard | |
| 1982–1990 | Newhart | Director | 33 episodes |
| 1992 | North of Pittsburgh | Irving Kent III | |
| 1992-1993 | ‘’BOB ( American TV Series w Bob Newhart)’’ | Bob Loudermilk character and Directed episodes | |
| 1993 | Blossom | Frosty the Clown | S4 E9 "38 Special" |
| 1998 | The Nanny | S5 E16 "The Dinner Party" | |
| 1998 | Air Bud: Golden Receiver | Phil Phil | |
| 2001 | Bartleby | The Mayor | (final film role) |
Three years ago, when NBC put a television contract where its enthusiasm was and acquired the team's services on an exclusive seven-year basis, Rowan and Martin were said to be well on their way to matching the success of predecessors Martin and Lewis.[...] For the first time in three years, Rowan and Martin are able to perform on other channels and their first appearance since the break with NBC (a mutual agreement, incidentally), occurs Feb. 7 on CBS' 'Ed Sullivan Show.')
'The Glass Bottom Boat,' starring Doris Day, Rod Taylor and Arthur Godfrey, is now before the cameras on location in Northridge in San Francisco Valley. [...] The Melchor-Freeman production also has an all-star supporting cast including John McGiver, Paul Lynde, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, Dom DeLuise and comedian Dick Martin.
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