- Was a decorated fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.
- He and Dick Martin were awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- In his forties, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, which led him to become insulin dependent.
- Attended and graduated from Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado (1940).
- Auditioned for the original version of The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965) but lost out to Peter Marshall, who took the job just to keep Rowan from getting it, as he was angry at Rowan for not visiting the terminally ill Tommy Noonan, who in Marshall's opinion had contributed greatly to Rowan and Martin's success.
- He and Dick Martin became famous as the comedy team of Rowan and Martin.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 744-746. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1999).
- Ex-father-in-law of Peter Lawford.
- His first wife Phyllis Jane Mathis was Miss California 1945, and placed first runner-up to Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945.
- Father of Thomas Patrick Rowan, Mary Ann Rowan and Christie Esther Rowan.
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