Dick Martin

Dick Martin
Dan Rowan (left) and Dick Martin on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, 1968
Birth name	Thomas Richard Martin
Born	(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.
Medium	Television, film, radio
Years active	1951–2002
Spouse	Peggy Connelly (m. 1957–1963; divorced); 2 sons Dolly Read (m. 1971–75, 1978–2008, his death)
Children	2, including Richard Martin

Thomas Richard Martin (January 30, 1922 – May 24, 2008), known professionally as Dick Martin, was an American comedian and director. He was known for his role as the co-host of the sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.

Early life and career

Martin as Harry, Lucy's airline pilot neighbor, on The Lucy Show, 1962

Martin was born in Battle Creek, Michigan to William, a salesman and Ethel Martin, a homemaker. In the early 1930s, the family moved to Detroit, where his teenage years included a bout with tuberculosis, which kept him out of the military. He graduated from Michigan State University.

Early in his career, Martin was a staff writer for Duffy's Tavern, a radio situation comedy. He and Dan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin in 1952 and played in nightclubs 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 on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour, alternating with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and other more established names. In 1958, they starred in Hal Kanter's comedy Western Once Upon a Horse which failed to catch on with moviegoers. In 1960, their contract with NBC was cancelled four years early by mutual consent.

In 1962, Martin worked solo, playing next-door neighbor to Lucille Ball during the first season of her comeback comedy The Lucy Show. He and Rowan returned to the nightclub circuit until 1966, when they were asked to host the summer replacement series for The Dean Martin Show. He co-starred in the 1966 Doris Day movie The Glass Bottom Boat.

Laugh-In

The exposure led to an opportunity for Rowan and Martin to team up with producers Ed Friendly and George Schlatter and create Rowan & 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 of blackout gags, double entendre, topical satire, and catchphrases, much of it delivered by a cast of unknowns such as Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Arte Johnson, and Ruth Buzzi.

At the center of the maelstrom stood the veterans Rowan and Martin, who amusedly 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. In real life, Martin spent the 1960s enjoying his high-flying lifestyle of women and parties. At the height of the show's popularity, Rowan and Martin starred in the 1969 film The Maltese Bippy, which was a notorious failure. After Rowan retired from show business, Martin was a frequent panelist on game shows such as Match Game, Password Plus, and Tattletales, and he also hosted a parody game show called The Cheap Show in 1978, and the game show Mindreaders in 1979.

Later career

Martin also established himself as a comedy director. Starting on The Bob Newhart Show, he directed for over a dozen series. Martin later became the chief director of the 1980s sitcom Newhart. In 1991, Martin guest starred in a two episode role on Coach as Peter Plunkett, a childhood friend of Luther VanDam. In a 1998 episode of The Nanny, Martin guest-starred as a homeless man Fran Fine meets in a park who turns out to be Preston Collier, one of the wealthiest men in New York City.

In 1992, he played a small role in the Canadian film North of Pittsburgh, which was directed by his son Richard. In 1996, Martin guest starred as sociology professor Dr. Ben Littmeyer on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Personal life

Martin's son Richard was born in 1956.

Martin married singer Peggy Connelly in 1957, and after divorcing her he married Playboy Playmate and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls star Dolly Read in 1971. Martin and Read divorced in June 1974, but remarried in 1978 and remained married until his death.

Death

Martin died on May 24, 2008, of breathing complications in Santa Monica, California. He had lost the use of a lung due to tuberculosis as a teenager and suffered respiratory problems late in life.

Dan Rowan and Dick Martin as caricatured for NBC by Sam Berman

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	Father's Little Dividend	Baby Stanley's Holder at Christening	Uncredited
1958	Once Upon a Horse...	Doc Logan
1966	The Glass Bottom Boat	Zack Molloy
1969	The Maltese Bippy	Ernest Grey
1978	Zero to Sixty	Arthur Dunking
1981	Carbon Copy	Victor Bard
1992	North of Pittsburgh	Irving Kent III
1998	Air Bud: Golden Receiver	Phil Phil
2001	Bartleby	The Mayor	(final film role)

External links

• Dick Martin at IMDb
• Dick Martin at Find a Grave
• Dick Martin at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television