Jerome Cowan
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Jerome Cowan |
Bucks County Playhouse productions
Aboard The Bandwagon - various roles - 1954
My Three Angels - 1954
The Cocktail Party - Alexander MacColgie Gibbs - 1954
Tea and Sympathy - Herbert Lee - 1956
The Lesser Comores - Charles Cavelier - 1956
Internet Broadway Database - Jerome Cowan
Internet Movie Database - Jerome Cowan
Jerome Cowan
(1897 - 1972)
There is a type of character actor that one might classify as an urbane sophisticated gent. They all pretty much look very similar; tall, slim, dashingly debonair, impeccably dressed and almost always with dark, slick backed hair and a pencil-thin, neatly groomed mustache. JEROME COWAN was the epitome of this type and one of the most familiar. He played businessmen, lawyers, aristocrats, politicians, detectives, and an occasional military type but always dapper and sophisticated. He was born Jerome Palmer Cowan on October 6, 1897 in New York City, New York. He grew up in NYC and attended public schools there. One would assume that being exposed to the New York theatre might have influenced his yen for performing. Almost immediately after high school he was off for the stage and vaudeville appearing in burlesque houses and then graduating to road show companies and eventually Broadway. His film debut came in "Beloved Enemy" (1936) as O'Rourke. Among his other numerous films were: "Shall We Dance?" (1937) as Arthur Miller; "New Faces of 1937" (1937) as Robert Hunt; "The Hurricane" (1937) as Captain Nagle; ""The Goldwyn Follies" (1938) as Lawrence the Director; "There's Always a Woman" (1938) as Nick Shane; "The Saint Strikes Back" (1939 as Cullis; "East Side of Heaven" (1939) as Claudius De Wolfe; "St. Louis Blues" (1939) as Ivan DeBrett; "The Great Victor Herbert" (1939) as Barney Harris; "The Gracie Allen Murder Case" (1939) as Daniel Mirche; "Wolf of New York" (1940) as Cosgrove; "Castle on the Hudson" (1940) as Ed Crowley; "Framed" (1940) as Monty de Granville; "City for Conquest" (1940) as Dutch; "Torrid Zone" (1940) as Bob Anderson; "High Sierra" (1941) with Humphrey Bogart, as Healy; "The Great Lie" (1941) as Jock Thompson; perhaps his most famous role in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) as Miles Archer; "Mr. And Mrs. North" (1941) as Ben Wilson; "Street of Chance" (1942) as Bill Diedrich; "Moontide" (1942) as Dr. Frank Brothers; "Song of Bernadette" (1943) as Emperor Louis Napoleon; "Crime Doctor's Strangest Case" (1943) as Mallory Cartwright; "Mr. Skeffington" (1944) as Edward Morrison; "Crime by Night" (1944) as Sam Campbell; "The Jungle Captive" (1945) as Insp. W.L. Harrigan; "Getting Gertie's Garter" (1945) as Billy; "The Kid from Brooklyn" (1946) as Fight Announcer; "Flight to Nowhere" (1946) as Gerald Porter; "Blondie Knows Best" (1946) as Charles Peabody; "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) as D.A. Thomas Mara; "Cry Wolf" (1947) as Sen. Caldwell; "Blondie's Holiday" (1947) as George M. Radcliffe, which he played in the Blondie series in eight films 1947-49; "June Bride" (1948) as Carleton Towne; "Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (1948) as Whitney Courtland; "The Fountainhead" (1949) as Alvah Scarret; "Always Leave Them Laughing" (1949) as Elliot Montgomery; "Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey" (1950) as Belden; "Young Man with a Horn" (1950) as Phil Morrison; "The West Point Story" (1950) as Mr. Jocelyn; "Peggy" (1950) as Mr. Collins; "Criminal Lawyer" (1951) as Walter Medford; "The System" (1953) as Brady; "Visit to a Small Planet" (1960) as George Abercrombie; "Pocketful of Miracles" (1961) with Bette Davis, as Mayor; "Critic's Choice" (1963) as Joe Rosenfield; "The Patsy" (1964) with Jerry Lewis, as Business Executive; "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home" (1965) as Brinkley, U.S. Ambassador to Fawzia; "The Gnome-Mobile" (1967) as Dr. Conrad Ramsey and "The Comic" (1969) with Dick Van Dyke, as Lawrence, his final film. He appeared as a regular in the TV series: "Not For Publication" (1951-52) as Collins; "Valiant Lady" (1953-57) as Frank Emerson; "The Tab Hunter Show" (1960-61) as John Larsen; "Many Happy Returns" (1964-65) as J.L. Fox and "The Tycoon" (1964-65) as Herbert Wilson. He was one of the first film stars to appear in the new medium of television and he appeared on many series including: "Philco Television Playhouse"; "The Alcoa Hour"; "Perry Mason"; "Bat Masterson"; "Naked City"; "Rawhide"; "Twilight Zone"; "The Real McCoys"; "My Favorite Martian" and "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." He was married to actress Helen Dodge and had two daughters, Suzanne and Diane. He died on January 24, 1972 in Encino, California of natural causes at age 74.