Gary Owens
Gary Owens (born Gary Bernard Altman; May 10, 1934 – February 12, 2015) was an American disc jockey, voice actor, announcer and radio personality. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offered deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Owens was equally proficient in straight or silly assignments and was frequently heard on television and radio as well as in commercials.
For other people called Gary Owen or Gary Owens, see Gary Owen.Early life[edit]
Owens was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, the son of Venetta Clark Altman, an educator and county auditor, and Bernard Joseph Altman, a county treasurer and sheriff.
Trademarks[edit]
When appearing "in character" on camera as "Gary Owens, the announcer", Owens held his right hand up to his right ear while speaking into a gimbaled boom microphone. This was done in imitation of the announcers in the early days of radio, who had to rely upon the acoustic feedback of their cupped hand to hear how they sounded to the audience. Owens used this as a running gag and gave various outlandish reasons for this pose: On his KMPC radio show in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he claimed that this was because a piece of shrapnel took off his ear during the war; sometimes it would come loose and he had to hold it on; at other times he said that he was given a wooden ear, and was keeping the termites warm. This gag was later parodied by Les Lye on the Canadian children's sketch-comedy show You Can't Do That on Television.
Owens coined the phrase "Beautiful downtown Burbank", which was later used on Laugh-In and The Tonight Show.[6]
His trademark self-introduction was "This is Gary Owens, friend of those who want no friends, going places and losing things", or occasionally, "Hello, and also hi; but not necessarily in that order", as a shorter version.