Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor.

His other Broadway credits include Frankie and Johnnie (1930), Just to Remind You (1931), Rendezvous (1932), The Little Black Book (1932), Marathon (1933), Both Your Houses (1933), As Thousands Cheer (1933), Ladies' Money (1934), Paths of Glory (1935), Boy Meets Girl (1935), My Three Angels (1953), Lunatics and Lovers (1954), Rumple (1957), and Say, Darling (1958).

[citation needed] He appeared in more than one hundred films, but is probably best remembered for two roles in classic films: Miles Archer, the doomed private eye partner of Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and Thomas Mara, the hapless district attorney who has to prosecute Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street.

Cowan also played Dagwood Bumstead's boss Mr. Radcliffe in several installments of Columbia Pictures' Blondie series.

He also appeared in The Twilight Zone episode "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" and guest-starred on Richard Diamond, Private Detective.