Early life and career
Rowan was born on July 22, 1922, on aWorld War II
DuringComedy team
After his discharge, Rowan returned to California, where he teamed up with Dick 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 of Tommy Noonan and Peter 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 comedy '' Once Upon a Horse...'', written and directed by Hal 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 host '' The 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. 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 called ''Rowan 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 film '' The Maltese Bippy'', which was a notorious failure. Rowan also appeared twice as an actor on '' The Love Boat'', first in a two-part 1977 episode playing the part of Alan Danver, husband of Barbara Danver, played by Juliet Mills. He appeared again as Matt Heller, a father estranged for 20 years from his ex-wife, Jenny Heller, played by Marion Ross, and his daughter, Beth Heller, played by Eve Plumb in the October 30, 1982 episode "Command Performance".Personal life
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.Later years and death
Rowan retired in the early 1980s and spent the remainder of his years between his residence in Englewood, 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 with type 1 diabetes, which led to his becoming insulin-dependent. He died of lymphoma in 1987 at his Englewood home. His body was cremated. In 1986, a book of letters written between himself and author John D. MacDonald was published titled ''A Friendship: The Letters of Dan Rowan and John D. MacDonald, 1967-1974''. Rowan was portrayed by Jonathan Whittaker in the 1995References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowan, Daniel Hale 1922 births 1987 deaths People from Beggs, Oklahoma Military personnel from Oklahoma Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) American male comedians American male television actors American sketch comedians Deaths from lymphoma in Florida People with type 1 diabetes United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers Recipients of the Air Medal Male actors from Oklahoma People from Pueblo, Colorado Male actors from Colorado Shot-down aviators Military personnel from Colorado Comedians from Oklahoma Comedians from Colorado American television show creators