Dan Rowan

About Dan Rowan

Who is it?: Producer, Actor, Soundtrack
Birth Day: July 22, 1922
Birth Place:  Beggs, Oklahoma, United States
Birth name: Daniel Hale David
Medium: Television, film
Years active: 1952-1982
Spouse: Phyllis J. Mathis (m. 1946-19??; divorced) Adriana Van Ballegooyen (1963-1971; divorced) Joanna Young (1974-1987; his death)
Children: 3

Dan Rowan

Dan Rowan was born on July 22, 1922 in  Beggs, Oklahoma, United States, is Producer, Actor, Soundtrack. Dan Rowan was a comedian most famous as the straight man to Dick Martin, with whom he co-hosted the watershed TV program Laugh-In (1967) from 1968-1973. The comedian debuted into small-town life as Daniel Hale Rowan in Beggs, Oklahoma on July 22, 1922, the son of show people. As a child, Rowan toured the carnival circuit with his mother in father as part of a song and dance act. Orphaned in 1933, he eventually was adopted by a family in Denver, Colorado. He moved to Hollywood after high school, and obtained employment as a writer at Paramount Studios. Rowan joined the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II, where he distinguished himself as a P-40 fighter plane pilot in the Pacific Theater. Rowan was credited with downing two Japanese aircraft (it took five kills to be named an ace during World War II), but he was shot down and seriously wounded in New Guinea. During his military career, Rowan was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart.Demobilized, Dan Rowan returned to California and married Phyllis Mathis in 1946. He and Phyllis had three children, Thomas, Mary Ann (who was briefly married to actor and professional Presidential brother-in-law Peter Lawford, and Christie. (Rowan divorced his first wife and married again, to Adriana Van Ballegooyen in 1963). He eventually teamed up with Dick Martin in a comedy act that toured the night-club circuit and played Las Vegas. Rowan & Martin had made TV appearances before on such programs as "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "Merv Griffin" before being hired by NBC to host a comedy special in the summer of 1967. In an era of "Be-Ins" and "Love-Ins" (an outgrowth of the "Sit-Ins" of the Civil Rights Movement, itself a reflection of the autoworkers' sit-ins of the late 1930s staged to win labor union recognition), NBC wanted to host a "Laugh-In". The middle-aged Rowan & Martin were picked as the hosts. The success of the special lead to the scheduling of Laugh-In (1967) as part of NBC's regular line-up in 1968, programmed against the popular Lucille Ball on CBS.A hybrid comedy-variety program that proved a counterpoint to the more satirical and political The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967) on rival network CBS, "Laugh-In" was rooted in traditional vaudeville like most musical/variety series of the time, but had an improvisational, anarchic style. This style, which downplayed appearances of guest stars like Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, John Wayne, Zsa Zsa Gabor and even Richard Nixon in favor of the cast of regulars, reflected the late '60s zeitgeist. As hosts, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin did not dominate their variety show as did a contemporary like Dean Martin. Part of the fun and the freshness of the series was that the two co-hosts were continually being undermined by the appearances of the regulars, during which a comedic "all-hell" would break loose. The sight-gags and appearance of the eccentric performers created a sense of the unexpected that proved intoxicating to TV audiences. (The regular cast included announcer Gary Owens, Emmy-winner Ruth Buzzi, Henry Gibson, Emmy-winner Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley, and Judy Carne, while the regularly appearing guest stars included Tiny Tim, Peter Lawford and Henny Youngman).The dynamic of the two co-hosts also was anarchic, as Dan Rowan's straight-man continually was undermined by the silliness and outright other-world imbecility of Dick Martin's comic persona. In this, Martin was an ally of the cast, who appeared willy-nilly during the broadcast, without discernible rhyme or reason other than making merry. Rowan, as the "mature" member of the hosting ensemble, was less a conductor of the comedy show than a ring-master who seemed to have found himself put down inside the center of the lion's den, with a hopelessly inept lion-tamer (Martin) as his partner."Laugh-In" was considered revolutionary at the time in terms of production, as it broke away from the old proscenium stage production that had dominated variety shows on TV since the beginning of broadcast television after World War II. The program was produced with a quick-cutting, fragmentary editing style that not only reflected current avant-gard movie production techniques but fully realized the power of video. It was an audacious melding of form and content, and "Laugh-In" proved to be a huge hit and was one of the highest-rated series of the late 1960s. It would prove to be the single most influential TV show in terms of its influence on comedy until the debut of the more conventionally produced Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1975."Laugh-In" won three Emmys at the 1968 Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Musical or Variety Program (for the 1967 Special), for Best Musical or Variety Series, and for Best Writing (shared by ten writers, including series creator Digby Wolfe). Due to its topicality and because it so closely caught the spirit of the '60s and reflected that era's aesthetic, "Laugh-In" quickly dated and never packed the punch in syndication that other retired TV shows did. Nothing becomes old-fashioned more quickly than the fashionable. However, "Laugh-In" also proved ground-breaking in its introduction and use of female and minority performers, bringing to a mainstream audience such diverse entertainers as the great, "Chitlin Circuit" African-American comedian Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham and the young, Emmy-nominated Goldie Hawn, who would go on to a long movie-career as an Oscar-winning comedienne and top box-office star. Rowan & Martin attempted to launch a movie career, but their attempt to become the late '60's answer to Martin & Lewis with the ill-conceived The Maltese Bippy (1969) flopped. After "Laugh-In" was canceled in 1973, Rowan occasionally made some TV program and game show appearances, but eventually retired to Florida. A type II diabetic, he died of lymphatic cancer in Manasota Key, Florida on September 22, 1987. He was 65 years old.
Dan Rowan is a member of Producer

Does Dan Rowan Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, Dan Rowan has been died on September 22, 1987(1987-09-22) (aged 65)\nEnglewood, Florida, U.S..

🎂 Dan Rowan - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When Dan Rowan die, Dan Rowan was 65 years old.

Popular As Dan Rowan
Occupation Producer
Age 65 years old
Zodiac Sign Leo
Born July 22, 1922 ( Beggs, Oklahoma, United States)
Birthday July 22
Town/City  Beggs, Oklahoma, United States
Nationality United States

🌙 Zodiac

Dan Rowan’s zodiac sign is Leo. According to astrologers, people born under the sign of Leo are natural born leaders. They are dramatic, creative, self-confident, dominant and extremely difficult to resist, able to achieve anything they want to in any area of life they commit to. There is a specific strength to a Leo and their "king of the jungle" status. Leo often has many friends for they are generous and loyal. Self-confident and attractive, this is a Sun sign capable of uniting different groups of people and leading them as one towards a shared cause, and their healthy sense of humor makes collaboration with other people even easier.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Dan Rowan was born in the Year of the Dog. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Dog are loyal, faithful, honest, distrustful, often guilty of telling white lies, temperamental, prone to mood swings, dogmatic, and sensitive. Dogs excel in business but have trouble finding mates. Compatible with Tiger or Horse.

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Biography/Timeline

1922

Rowan was born on July 2, 1922, on a carnival train near the small town of Beggs, Oklahoma, as Daniel Hale David. He toured with his parents, Oscar and Nellie David, who performed a singing and dancing act with the carnival.

1940

He was orphaned at the age of 11, spent four years at the McClelland Home in Pueblo, Colorado, and then was taken in by a foster family at the age of 16 and enrolled in Central High School. After graduating from high school in 1940, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles, California, 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.

1946

In 1946, Rowan married the 1945 Miss America first-runner-up Phyllis J. Mathis. They had three children: Thomas Patrick, Mary Ann, and Christie Esther. He and Mathis were later divorced. In 1963, Rowan married Australian model Adriana Van Ballegooyen. They divorced eight years later. In 1974, he married model and TV spokeswoman Joanna Young, to whom he remained married until his death.

1967

After his discharge, Rowan returned to California, where he teamed up with Dick Martin and started a comedy nightclub act. The team had appeared on television before, but it was not until the critical success of a summer special in 1967 that they found fame on Laugh-In.

1980

Rowan retired in the early 1980s and spent the remainder of his years between his residence in Florida and his barge in the canals of France. In his forties, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which led to his becoming insulin dependent. He died of lymphoma in 1987 in Englewood, Florida.

1986

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.

1995

Rowan was portrayed by Jonathan Whittaker in the 1995 HBO movie Sugartime.

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