He was of primarily English ancestry, his family having been in what is now the northeastern United States since the early colonial period.

[4] His Broadway appearances included Kiss the Boys Goodbye, The Land Is Bright, Lady in the Dark, Laura, and Duet for Two Hands.

For a time, he worked regularly for 20th Century Fox, appearing in Twelve O'Clock High (1949), All About Eve (1950), Night and the City (1950), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Rawhide (1951), and Howard Hawks' Monkey Business (1952).

In the 1957 episode, "Jhonakehunkga Called Jim", set in 1883, Marlowe plays the Reverend Jacob Stucki, who is dispatched to the mission at the Winnebago reservation.

Marlowe bore a marked resemblance to actor Richard Carlson who co-starred with him in the 1943 short subject training film, For God and Country, and the two are often mistaken for each other.

[6] Marlowe died in 1982 from a heart attack at the age of 71[7] and was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York.