Rowan was born on July 22, 1922,[1] on a carnival train near the small town of Beggs, Oklahoma, as Daniel Hale David.

He toured with his parents,[2] Oscar and Nellie David, who performed a singing and dancing act with the carnival.

After graduating from high school in 1940, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles and found a job in the mailroom at Paramount Pictures, quickly ingratiating himself with studio head Buddy DeSylva.

His military decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart.

[citation needed] After his discharge, Rowan returned to California, where he teamed up with Dick Martin and started a comedy nightclub act.

In 1958, Rowan and Martin made their movie debut in the offbeat western comedy Once Upon a Horse..., written and directed by Hal Kanter.

At the height of the show's popularity, Rowan and Martin starred in the 1969 film The Maltese Bippy, which was a notorious failure.

[1] Rowan retired in the early 1980s and spent the remainder of his years between his residence in Englewood, Florida, and his barge in the canals of France, although he did reunite with Martin for some brief appearances on the NBC 60th Anniversary Show in 1986.