R.I.P.: Radio Personality, Laugh-In Announcer Gary Owens

Gary Owens

Gary Owens, a radio disc jockey from the Midwest who became nationally famous as the on-screen announcer of the hit TV series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” died Thursday at his home in Encino.

He was 80, according to the LA Times.

The cause was complications of diabetes, said his son, Chris.

Cupping his ear like an old-time radio announcer and saying in his deep tones he was speaking from “beautiful downtown Burbank,” Gary Owens was one of several performers who parlayed appearances on “Laugh-In” into a long career.

He was also the announcer for numerous other shows, including “The Wonderful World of Disney” and “The Gong Show,” and was in demand as a voice-over artist.



Among the emblematic phrases Owens coined on the show was the enduringly memorable — and by all accounts highly oxymoronic — “beautiful downtown Burbank.”

He also narrated various segments on “Sesame Street,” and several animated series, including “Space Ghost,” on which he voiced the title character. In addition, he had voice roles on thousands of cartoon broadcasts, including “Dynomutt Dog Wonder,” “Eek! the Cat” and “The Ren & Stimpy Show.”

According to the NYTimes, Owens was born Gary Altman in Mitchell, S.D., and got his first broadcasting job at 16, when he became the news director of radio station KORN there. (The surname Owens would be bestowed on him later, by the owner of an Omaha radio station for which he worked in the 1950s.)

After studying at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, he worked for radio stations throughout the Midwest, and in Dallas, New Orleans, St. Louis and San Francisco. In 1961, he became a disc jockey at KFWB 980 AM in Los Angeles, later moving to KMPC 710 AM, where he worked for two decades.

Owens fell into television as a writer for several of the animated series produced by Jay Ward, the creative force behind the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. Hearing his sonorous voice, the producers quickly conscripted him as a performer.