ROBERT LOWERY
Information from IMDb
Date of Birth
17 October 1913,
Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Date of Death
26 December 1971,
Hollywood, California, USA (heart attack)
Birth Name
Robert Larkin Hanks
Height
6' 1" (1.85 m)
Spouse
Jean Parker (29 May 1951 - 10 September 1957) (divorced) 1 child
Rusty Farrell (14 March 1947 - 26 July 1948) (divorced)
Vivian Wilcox (14 February 1941 - 15 May 1944) (divorced)
Trivia
Singer and dancer.
Related on his father's side to Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln's natural mother.
Started out as a singer in Kansas City with Slats Randall's orchestra.
Was the second actor to play Batman (Batman and Robin (1949)).
Largely unknown to his family and friends, Bob had several major collections of a wide variety of items,
including tie pins, political campaign memorabilia, golf memorabilia,
and one of the widest and most varied assortment of suits imaginable.
Based on the 1930 Federal Census, his father was a Station Agent and his mother had no profession.
Robert was, at that time, an only child. At the time of the census, Robert had not yet turned 17.
Robert's father, Louis R Hanks was born in Illinois about 1885 (grandparents from Ky and Ind)
and his mother, Leah E, was born in Texas about 1892 (her parents were also native Texans);
they were married about 1910, and lived in a home that they owned.
Mini Biography
Robert Lowery was born Robert Larkin Hanks in Kansas City, Missouri, the only living child of Roscoe Hanks,
noted Kansas City attorney and oil investor; and Leah Thompson, concert pianist and organist.
He attended local Kansas City schools and graduated from Paseo High School in 1931
with a record as an accomplished athlete. He played with the old Kansas City Blues baseball team
and was a boxer and football player. After a field injury in which he broke his pelvis,
he built himself back to strength working at a paper factory in Kansas City.
With the premature death of his father at 43, he and his mother moved to Los Angeles
in hopes of his landing film and theater roles, given his good looks, athletic ability and outstanding physique.
He enrolled in Lila Bliss' acting school and soon came to the attention of Twentieth Century-Fox
after successfully appearing in a number of stage roles in the Los Angeles area.
He was signed to Fox in 1938, and was soon appearing in such first-class films as
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). Although not known for his stage work,
he appeared in several major theater productions, such as "The Caine Mutiny"
and "Born Yesterday" (as "Brock") with his wife and fellow actress Jean Parker.
He enjoyed a film and stage career that lasted well into the 1960s,
at which time he started a second career with Jackie Coogan in a celebrity travel cruise business.
One of his more notable film appearances was with Ray Danton in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960)
and he turned in a rare, but funny, performance as a political hack governor on the make for
John Wayne's ex-wife in Wayne's western comedy McLintock! (1963).
As he matured into middle age, he acquired a startling resemblance to Clark Gable.
He also appeared extensively in television, including as Big Tim Champion in the 1956-57 "Circus Boy" (1956),
also starring Noah Beery Jr. and Micky Dolenz (pre-Monkee days); "Playhouse 90" (1956);
episodes of "Hazel" (1961) and "Pistols 'n' Petticoats" (1966) starring Ann Sheridan,
with Lowery playing Buss Courtney in the 1966-67 season. He and wife Jean had one son,
Robert, who lives in Redondo Beach, California, with his wife Barbara and twin thirteen-year-old girls.
Lowery passed away from a heart attack Christmas night of 1971, and is buried at
Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California. His motto: "Whatever's fair."
He took a less-than-serious view of life and his career, and was well-loved by
his friends and family as a raconteur and humorist.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Robert Lowery Hanks
Robert Lowery was another member of the
John Ford Stock Company
and made 6 movies with the director
including Submarine Patrol, Young Mr. Lincoln,
Drums Along the Mohawk
He appeared in 1 movie starring Duke
turning in a rare, but funny, performance as a political hack governor
on the make for Duke's ex-wife in McLintock! (1963)
McLintock! (1963)...Gov. Cuthbert H. Humphrey
