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Jerome Cowan(1897-1972)

  • Actor
  • Soundtrack
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Jerome Cowan
Trailer for Private Property
Play trailer1:43
Private Property (1960)
6 Videos
66 Photos
Jerome Cowan was one of Hollywood's most prolific and instantly recognisable character actors. His trademark pencil-thin moustache and slicked back hair, immaculate suits and sophisticated manner were his stock-in-trade for impersonating an assortment of rejected husbands, shifty politicians, lawyers and shady detectives. He also excelled at delivering snappy repartee and witty or barbed one-liners which were typical of the gritty Warner Brothers films of the 1930's and 40's.

Straight out of high school, Jerome began to work his way up through stock companies and burlesque, making his debut on Broadway in the 1923 comedy 'We've Got to Have Money'. On the strength of his most successful stage performance in 'Boy Meets Girl' (1935-37), he was contracted by producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear in Beloved Enemy (1936) as an Irish patriot. Several films later, he found his niche as the dapper sophisticate with attitude, in films like There's Always a Woman (1938), as Nick Shane, Torrid Zone (1940), Crime by Night (1944) - a rare leading role as private eye Sam Campbell; and Mr. Skeffington (1944), as Bette Davis's ex. He was the short-lived partner, Miles Archer, to Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941), a nervous informer in Riffraff (1947) and the district attorney who fails to indict Chris Cringle in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Add to that several well-acted gangsters (Frisco Lil (1942), Fog Island (1945), Deadline for Murder (1946), to mention a few) and some unexpected comedy, particularly as Dagwood's boss George Radcliffe in the Blondie (1957) series. In the 1950's and 1960's, Cowan adapted perfectly to the medium of television and became a regular on several shows, alternating drama with comedy, from Perry Mason (1957)to The Munsters (1964). He gave a short, but poignant performance opposite Ida Lupino in 'The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine', a 1959 episode of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (1959), as an unrecognisably aged former matinee idol.
BornOctober 6, 1897
DiedJanuary 24, 1972(74)
BornOctober 6, 1897
DiedJanuary 24, 1972(74)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos66

Corey Allen, Jerome Cowan, and Warren Oates in Private Property (1960)
Corey Allen, Jerome Cowan, and Warren Oates in Private Property (1960)
Jerome Cowan in Private Property (1960)
Jerome Cowan in The Unfaithful (1947)
Jerome Cowan in Who Done It? (1942)
Jerome Cowan, William Gargan, Joe Kirk, and Don Porter in Who Done It? (1942)
Jerome Cowan and Joe Kirk in Who Done It? (1942)
Mary Astor and Jerome Cowan in There's Always a Woman (1938)
Joan Blondell and Jerome Cowan in There's Always a Woman (1938)
Jerome Cowan and Frances Drake in There's Always a Woman (1938)
Humphrey Bogart and Jerome Cowan in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Jerome Cowan in The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Known for

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Miracle on 34th Street
7.9
  • Dist. Atty. Thomas Mara
  • 1947
Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino in High Sierra (1941)
High Sierra
7.5
  • Healy
  • 1941
Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Maltese Falcon
8.0
  • Miles Archer
  • 1941
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Shall We Dance (1937)
Shall We Dance
7.5
  • Arthur Miller
  • 1937

Credits

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Actor

  • Alias Smith and Jones (1971)
    Alias Smith and Jones
  • Diahann Carroll and Marc Copage in Julia (1968)
    Julia
  • Here's Lucy (1968)
    Here's Lucy
  • Eddie Albert, Eva Gabor, and Arnold the Piggy in Green Acres (1965)
    Green Acres
  • The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969)
    The Debbie Reynolds Show
  • The Doris Day Show (1968)
    The Doris Day Show
  • The Comic (1969)
    The Comic
  • The Mothers-In-Law (1967)
    The Mothers-In-Law
  • The Gnome-Mobile (1967)
    The Gnome-Mobile
  • Penelope (1966)
    Penelope
  • Fess Parker in Daniel Boone (1964)
    Daniel Boone
  • Vacation Playhouse (1963)
    Vacation Playhouse
  • The Munsters (1964)
    The Munsters
  • Elvis Presley and Donna Douglas in Frankie and Johnny (1966)
    Frankie and Johnny
    • (uncredited)
  • Jim Nabors and Frank Sutton in Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964)
    Gomer Pyle: USMC

Soundtrack

  • Edward G. Robinson, John Lund, and Gail Russell in Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
    Night Has a Thousand Eyes
    • (uncredited)
  • Jane Wyman in Crime by Night (1944)
    Crime by Night
    • (uncredited)
  • William Gargan and Margaret Lindsay in No Place for a Lady (1943)
    No Place for a Lady
  • Lon Chaney Jr., Helen Parrish, Eddie Quillan, and Rudy Vallee in Too Many Blondes (1941)
    Too Many Blondes
    • ("Whistle Your Blues To a Bluebird")
  • Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Shall We Dance (1937)
    Shall We Dance
    • (uncredited)

Videos6

Shall We Dance
Clip 2:59
Shall We Dance
Trailer
Trailer 2:31
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:34
Official Trailer
Private Property
Trailer 1:43
Private Property
Torrid Zone
Trailer 2:08
Torrid Zone
High Sierra
Trailer 2:39
High Sierra

Personal details

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    • October 6, 1897
    • Norwich Connecticut, USA
    • January 24, 1972
    • Encino, California, USA(natural causes)
    • Helen DodgeMarch 1, 1936 - January 24, 1972 (his death, 2 children)
  • Other works
    Appeared in the following Broadway productions:
  • Publicity listings
    • 4 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Three (3) children: William Robertson Cowan (1925-1977) from first marriage; Suzanne and Diane from second marriage.
    • Pencil-thin moustache and slicked back hair

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