Was a decorated fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.
Attended and graduated from Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado (1940).
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.
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).