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Robert Lowery
Age: 58 (passed away Dec. 26th, 1971)
Height: 6' 1"
Birth Place: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Born: Oct. 17th, 1913
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Robert Lowery's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: Robert Lowery was born Robert Larkin Hanks in Kansas City, Missouri, the only living child of Roscoe Hanks, noted Kansas City attorney and oil investor; and Leah Thompson, concert pianist and organist. He attended local Kansas City schools and graduated from Paseo High School in 1931 with a record as an accomplished athlete. He played with the old Kansas City Blues baseball team, was an accomplished boxer and football player, and after a field injury in which he broke his pelvis, he built himself back to strength working at a local paper factory in Kansas City. With the premature death of his father at 43, Bob and his mother moved to Los Angeles in hopes of his landing film and theater roles, given his good looks, athletic ability, and outstanding physique. He enrolled in Lila Bliss' acting school and soon came to the attention of Twentieth Century Fox after successfully appearing in a number of stage roles in the Los Angeles area. He was signed to Fox in 1938, and rapidly appeared in such first-class films as Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). Although not known for his stage work, he appeared in several major theater productions, such as Caine Mutiny and in Born Yesterday (as Brock) with his wife and fellow actress Jean Parker (I). Mr. Lowery enjoyed a long film and stage career until well into the 1960s, at which time he started a second career with Jackie Coogan in a celebrity travel cruise business. Notable was his appearance with Ray Danton in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960).
As he matured into middle age, he acquired a startling resemblance to Clark Gable. Mr. Lowery also appeared extensively in television, as Big Tim Champion in the 1956-57 "Circus Boy" (1956), also starring 'Noah Beery Jr' and Micky Dolenz (pre-Monkee days); Playhouse 90; episodes of Hazel, and Pistols and Petticoats, as Buss Courtney in the 1966-67 season, in which he co-starred with well-known actress Ann Sheridan. He had one son, Robert, with his wife Jean Parker, who passed away in November 2005. Robert lives in Redondo Beach, California with his wife Barbara and twin eight year-old girls. He passed away from a heart attack Christmas night of 1971, and is buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California. His motto: "Whatever's fair." He took a less than serious view of life and his career, and was well-loved by his friends and family as a raconteur and humorist.
TRIVIA:
- Related on his father's side to Nancy Hanks, 'Abraham Lincoln (I)' (qv)'s natural mother.
- Was the second actor to play Batman (_Batman and Robin (1949)_ (qv)).
- Singer and dancer.
- Largely unknown to his family and friends, Bob had several major collections of a wide variety of items, including tie pins, political campaign memorabilia, golf memorabilia, and one of the widest and most varied assortment of suits imaginable.
- Based on the 1930 Federal Census, his father was a Station Agent and his mother had no profession. Robert was, at that time, an only child. At the time of the census, Robert had not yet turned 17. Robert's father, Louis R Hanks was born in Illinois about 1885 (grandparents from Ky and Ind) and his mother, Leah E, was born in Texas about 1892 (her parents were also native Texans); they were married about 1910, and lived in a home that they owned.
- Started out as a singer in Kansas City with Slats Randall's orchestra.
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