Douglas Fowley; Famous Character Actor of Film and TV

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Douglas Fowley, 1911-1998.

As Doc Holiday in The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp.

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Douglas Fowley (born Daniel Vincent Fowley, May 30, 1911 – May 21, 1998) was an American movie and television actor in more than 240 films and dozens of television programs. He is probably best remembered for his role as the frustrated movie director Roscoe Dexter in Singin' in the Rain (1952), and for his regular supporting role as Doc Fabrique and Doc Holiday in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. He was the father of rock and roll musician and record producer Kim Fowley.

Early years ~

Fowley was born in the Bronx in New York City. He attended Los Angeles City College.

Fowley began as a singing waiter and then worked as a copy boy for The New York Times, and a runner for a Wall Street broker,

Military service ~

Fowley enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II, where he served on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. An explosion aboard knocked out his upper front teeth. Later he ended up portraying one of the best-known dentists in American history, "Doc" Fabrique and Doc Holiday, in the 1950s television show The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. "I started playing old character roles by removing my false upper plate, adding a beard, voice and gait to match my interpretation," he explained to Western Clippings in 1994.

Film ~

After nightclub performing and stage work, Fowley appeared in 1933 in his first film, The Mad Game, alongside Spencer Tracy. Early in his acting career, he was usually cast as a movie heavy or gangster in B-movies, including Charlie Chan and Laurel and Hardy features.

Spencer Tracy, 1948.

Laurel and Hardy.

Fowley's films include Twenty Mule Team, Fall Guy, Mighty Joe Young, Angels in the Outfield, Battleground, Armored Car Robbery, Chick Carter, Detective, The Naked Jungle, The High and the Mighty, and Walking Tall.

Television

Regular cast ~

For several seasons, Fowley played the key supporting role of Doc Fabrique and Doc Holiday in the 1955-1961 western television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp after having appeared as Doc Fabrique in the show's premiere season. This role allowed Fowley to demonstrate his flair for comedy and other acting skills as a clever, sharp-witted, sardonic, cynical, alcoholic, poker-playing foil to the square-jawed, milk-drinking, church-going Wyatt Earp (Hugh O'Brian), nicknamed "Deacon" due to his rigid sense of morality. Not at all so encumbered Doc would occasionally take the law into his own hands behind Earp's back to protect his friend from legal action or even death when the marshal was legally or morally ham-strung. Fabrique, as played by Fowley, having no problem working around morals or the law, could be either hilarious or cold-blooded.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - "Magic Puddle" - Airdate: November 12, 1957. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) L-R: DOUGLAS FOWLEY;HUGH O'BRIAN.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - "Mr. Cousins and Mr. Brother" - Airdate: January 17, 1956. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) LR: DOUGLAS FOWLEY;HUGH O'BRIAN.

From 1966 to 1967, Fowley portrayed Andrew Hanks in Pistols 'n' Petticoats, a CBS sitcom. Hanks was the patriarch in a family of gun-toting women who seemed to have little need for male assistance.

Fowley portrayed retired businessman Robert Redford in Detective School (1979).

Guest appearances ~

In the 1950s, he appeared as himself on NBC's The Donald O'Connor Show. In 1954, he demonstrated his comic appeal when he appeared alongside Gracie Allen in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. He was cast in 1956 as Bob Egan in the "Two-Fisted Saint" episode of the religious anthology series Crossroads. He portrayed a con man in two episodes of the NBC sitcom It's a Great Life. He also guest-starred on Reed Hadley's CBS legal drama The Public Defender. He appeared, too, on the ABC situation comedy The Pride of the Family and on the NBC Western series The Californians and Jefferson Drum. He was cast on two Rod Cameron series, the syndicated City Detective and the Western-themed State Trooper, and in John Bromfield's series, U.S. Marshal. He guest-starred in the David Janssen crime drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective and guest-starred in season two, episode four of the Robert Culp Western Trackdown.

In 1959, Fowley appeared with Frank Ferguson in the episode "A Race for Life" of the CBS Western series The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun.

Frank Ferguson.

On December 30, 1963, Fowley guest-starred in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, “Opie and his Merry Men”, as a hobo. Opie and his friends stole food from the “rich” and gave to the hobo, who quickly refused Andy’s help in finding a job.

In 1964, Fowley made a guest appearance on the CBS courtroom drama series Perry Mason playing agent Rubin Cason in "The Case of the Bountiful Beauty". In 1965, he was cast as Sorrowful in episode 83 of the series The Virginian.

In 1966, he appeared as "Rufus C. Hoops" in "The Search" season 2, episode 24, of the series "Daniel Boone". Original air date for this episode was March 3, 1966. In 1967, Fowley guest-starred on the short-lived CBS Western Dundee and the Culhane with John Mills.

In 1968, he appeared in episode 273 of My Three Sons as an old pal of Uncle Charley's. He had a role in the syndicated 1959-1960 Western Pony Express in the episode "Showdown at Thirty Mile Ridge". He was cast in 1963 in Miracle of the White Stallions.

In 1977, Fowley portrayed Dr. O. B. Mudd in the pilot episode of the NBC situation comedy Quark.

Fowley was usually typecast as a villain; when not playing an actual criminal, he often portrayed an argumentative troublemaker. Portraying a member of Tyrone Power's orchestra in Alexander's Ragtime Band, in the early scenes of the film, Fowley's character quarrels with his bandmates, but this is not developed in the film's later scenes.

Fowley continued to act into the 1970s and was frequently billed as "Douglas V. Fowley". One of his last roles was as Delaney Rafferty in Disney's The North Avenue Irregulars, in which he dressed in drag.

Personal life ~

Fowley's wife at the time of his death was named Jean. His children were Douglas Jr., Kim, Daniel, Gretchen and Kip.

Death ~

Fowley died on May 21, 1998, at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, aged 86.

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circa 1930: Douglas Fowley (left) and Tyrone Power (1914-1958) meet Barbara (centre left) and Gloria Brewster, twin stars of 'Ditto', for a game of badminton in the 20th Century Fox studios. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Kim Fowley, son, became a rock and roll musician, writer and producer. Here he was at a rock for sonic protest 2012.

Son Kim Fowley.

Daughter Gretchen Fowley.

1936: American leading lady Joan Bennett (1910 - 1990) performs a manicure on Douglas Fowley, while Fred 'Snowflake' Toomes offers him a milkshake, in the Paramount comedy 'Big Brown Eyes', directed by Raoul Walsh. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

Mexican actor Hector Morales, American actor Damon Douglas, and American actor Douglas V Fowley, all on horseback after a bank robbery, watched by American actor Charles Bronson, in a publicity still for 'From Noon till Three,' filmed at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios in Burbank, California, 1976. Directed by Frank D Gilroy, who adapted the script from his novel, the Western starred Morales as the Mexican, Douglas as the boy, Fowely as Buck Bowers, and Bronson as Graham Dorsey. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images).

Los Angeles, CA - 1979: (L-R) Tony Andrea, Melissa Steinberg, Michael Mancini, Douglas Fowley, Henry Goz, Randolph Mantooth, Darlene Parks, LaWanda Page, Pat Proft promotional photo for the ABC tv series 'Detective School', episode 'A Bier on the House'. (Photo by Denis Plehn /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images).

Los Angeles, CA - 1979: Douglas Fowley promotional photo for the ABC tv series 'Detective School', episode 'A Bier on the House'. (Photo by Denis Plehn /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images).

LOS ANGELES - MAY 23: Pistols 'n' Petticoats. A CBS television comedy western show. Pictured is Douglas Fowley (as Grandpa Andrew Hanks). May 23, 1966. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images).

Wallace Beery showing rocks to Douglas Fowley over beers in a scene from the film '20 Mule Team', 1940. (Photo by Metro-Goldwy-Mayer/Getty Images).

Douglas Fowley looking down on Dale Evans in a scene from the film 'The Trespasser', 1947. (Photo by Republic Pictures/Getty Images).

"Quark" Pilot -- Aired 5/7/77 -- Pictured: (l-r) Patricia/Cyb Barnstable as Betty, Douglas Fowley as O.B. Mudd, Richard Benjamin as Adam Quark -- Photo by: Dave Friedman/NBCU Photo Bank.

Actor Douglas Fowley (1911-1998) as 'Walter Beeter' and Actor Bobby Watson (1888-1965) as 'Adolf Hitler' in a publicity shot from the short propaganda movie 'The Devil with Hitler', 1942, United States. (Photo by United Artists/De Carvalho Collection/Getty Images).

Clifford Penn looking with unidentified man as Douglas Fowley walks into the room with a gun in a scene from the film 'Fall Guy', 1947. (Photo by Monogram/Getty Images).

Karilyn Lovell cries out when Douglas Fowley is shot to death in a scene from the film 'The Good Guys And The Bad Guys', 1969. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images).

Robert Mitchum is told by Douglas Fowley about the nearby appearance of an outlaw gang in a scene from the film 'The Good Guys And The Bad Guys', 1969. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images).

Douglas Fowley has his arm grabbed by Virginia Weidler in a scene from the film 'Henry Goes Arizona', 1939. (Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images).

Guns Of Diabolo, Kurt Russell, Susan Oliver, Charles Bronson, Douglas Fowley, 1964. (Photo by FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images).

The Red Skelton Hour. (The Red Skelton Show). A CBS television musical and comedy variety show. Pictured from left is Douglas Fowley (as Muggsy), Red Skelton (as Freddie the Freeloader) and Audrey Meadows (as Dolores Dictator). Originally broadcast November 2, 1965. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images).

THE LUCY SHOW, episode, 'Lucy the Rain Goddess' featuring from left, Douglas Fowley as Indian Chief, Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael and Larry J. Blake as Medicine Man. Image dated November 18, 1965. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images).

OTHER MISC. DOUGLAS FOWLEY FILM AND TV ROLES ~

Fowley is wounded.

Charlie Chan.

Douglas Fowley carrying full pack in a scene from the film 'Battleground', 1949. (Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-Getty Images).

Douglas Fowley in 20 Mule Team, by Richard Thorpe (1940).

Douglas Fowley in Raiders of Old California (1957).

Wounded again on an episode of Cheyanne with Clint Walker.

Jim Backus, Jose Ferrer and Douglas Fowley.

Jungle Flight. Douglas Fowley, Ann Savage and Robert Lowery, 1947.

Man From Del Rio, 1956.

Charlie Chan.

Pistols 'n' Petticoats, 1966-1967 seasons.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - Season Six - 9/27/60, Pictured, from right: Douglas Fowley (gray jacket, Doc Holliday), Dirk London (Morgan), Hugh O'Brian (Marshal Wyatt Earp), John Anderson (Virgil), (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images).

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - Douglas Fowley Gallery - Shoot Date: April 23, 1957. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) DOUGLAS FOWLEY.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - "Fortitude" - Airdate: November 26, 1957. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) DOUGLAS FOWLEY;CAROL STONE.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - "Fortitude" - Airdate: November 26, 1957. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) DOUGLAS FOWLEY;CAROL STONE.

L-R: MASON ALAN DINEHART;DOUGLAS FOWLEY;HUGH O'BRIAN;DENVER PYLE;RICHARD DEVON;EXTRAS.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - "Hunt the Man Down" - Airdate: April 3, 1956. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) DOUGLAS FOWLEY.

THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP - "One Murder, Two Suspects" - Airdate: March 17, 1959. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) DOUGLAS FOWLEY.