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TV's ‘Laugh-in’ comic Dick Martin dies in Calif.
Although their early gigs in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley were often performed gratis, they donned tuxedos for them and put on an air of success.
“We were raw,” Martin recalled years later, “but we looked good together and we were funny.”
They gradually worked up to the top night spots in New York, Miami and Las Vegas and began to appear regularly on television.
In 1966, they provided the summer replacement for “The Dean Martin Show.” Within two years, they were headlining their own show.
The novelty of “Laugh-In” diminished with each season, however, and as major players such as Hawn and Tomlin moved on to bigger careers, interest in the series faded.
After the show folded in 1973, Rowan and Martin capitalized on their fame with a series of high-paid engagements around the country. They parted amicably in 1977.
“Dan has diabetes, and his doctor advised him to cool it,” Martin told The Associated Press at the time.
Rowan, a sailing enthusiast, spent his last years touring the canals of Europe on a houseboat. He died in 1987.
New role as TV director
Martin moved onto the game-show circuit, but quickly tired of it. After he complained about the lack of challenges in his career, fellow comic Bob Newhart’s agent suggested he take up directing.
He was reluctant at first, but after observing on “The Bob Newhart Show,” he decided to try. He would recall later that it was “like being thrown into the deep end of the swimming pool and being told to sink or swim.”
Soon he was one of the industry’s busiest TV directors, working on numerous episodes of “Newhart” as well as such shows as “In the Heat of the Night,” “Archie Bunker’s Place” and “Family Ties.”
Born into a middle-class family in Battle Creek, Mich., Martin had worked in a Ford auto assembly plant after high school.
After an early failed marriage, he was for years a confirmed bachelor. He finally settled down in middle age, marrying Dolly Read, a former bunny at the Playboy Club in London. Survivors include his wife and two sons, actor Richard Martin and Cary Martin.
At Martin’s request there will be no funeral, Greenberg said.
Martin lost the use of his right lung when he was 17, something that never bothered him until his final years, when he required oxygen 18 hours a day.
Arriving for a party celebrating his 80th birthday, he fainted and was treated by doctors and paramedics. The party continued, however, and he cracked, “Boy, did I make an entrance!”
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