Dan Rowan
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Daniel Hale “Dan” Rowan (22 July 1922 – 22 September 1987) was an American comedian. He was featured in the television show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, where he played straight man to Dick Martin.
Born on a carnival train near the small town of Beggs, Oklahoma, under the name of “Daniel Hale David”, Rowan toured with his parents, Oscar and Nellie David, in a carnival in a singing and dancing act. He was orphaned at age 11, spent four traumatic years at the McClelland Home in Pueblo, Colorado, then was taken in by a foster family at age 16 and enrolled in Pueblo's Central High School.
After graduating from high school, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles, California, in 1940 and found a job in the mailroom at Paramount Pictures; quickly ingratiating himself with studio head Buddy DeSylva, a year later he became Paramount's youngest staff writer.
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[edit] WWII
During World War II, Rowan served as a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Forces. He flew P-40s and scored two kills against Japanese aircraft before he was shot down and seriously wounded over New Guinea. His military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart.
[edit] Comedy team
After his discharge, he returned to California where he teamed with Dick Martin and started a comedy night-club act. The team had appeared on television before, but it was not until the success of a summer special in 1967 that they found fame on Laugh-In.
In 1946 he married the 1945 Miss America first-runner-up Phyllis J. Mathis and had three children: Thomas Patrick (born 2 October 1947), Mary Ann (born 1 November 1949), and Christie Esther (born 13 September 1951). He and Mathis were later divorced. In 1963 Rowan married again. His second wife was Australian model Adriana Van Ballegooyen (born 5 May 1942). His daughter Mary was briefly married to Peter Lawford.
Rowan retired to Florida. He was a type II diabetic and heavy smoker, who died of lymphatic cancer at the age of 65 in Manasota Key, Florida.
In 1986, a book of letters written between himself and author John D. MacDonald was published entitled A Friendship: The Letters of Dan Rowan and John D. MacDonald, 1967-1974.
[edit] References
Obituary, Los Angeles Times 23 September 1987.
Who's Who in America 1970-71. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who
Obituary - New York Times, 23 September 1987
[edit] External links
- Dan Rowan at the Internet Movie Database
