Gower Carlyle Champion (June 22, 1919 – August 25, 1980) was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.

In 1939, "Gower and Jeanne" danced to the music of Larry Clinton and his Orchestra in a Warner Brothers & Vitaphone film short-subject, "The Dipsy Doodler" (released in 1940).

After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, Champion met Marjorie Belcher, who became his new partner, and the two were married in 1947.

In 1948, Champion had begun to direct as well, and he won the first of eight Tony Awards for his staging of Lend an Ear, the show that introduced Carol Channing to New York City theater audiences.

During the 1950s, he worked on only two Broadway musicals — choreographing Make a Wish in 1951 and directing, staging, and starring in 3 for Tonight in 1955 — preferring to spend most of his time in Hollywood.

It featured a cast of two — veterans Mary Martin and Robert Preston — playing a couple seen throughout the years of their marriage.

[6][7] In the 1970s, Champion directed minor hits (Sugar in 1972 and the revival Irene in 1973), flops (Mack & Mabel in 1974) and complete disasters (Rockabye Hamlet — seven performances in 1976 — and A Broadway Musical, running only one night in 1978, not to mention Prettybelle, which closed out of town in 1971).

Champion was diagnosed in early 1979 with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, a rare form of blood cancer, by his doctors at the Scripps Institute.

Producer David Merrick asked Champion's family to withhold the news from everyone, including the show's cast, until after the opening performance.

During the enthusiastic curtain calls, Merrick came onstage and made the announcement to the stunned cast and audience amidst the wild applause.