Gary Owens, Announcer of ‘Laugh-In’ Fame, Dies at 80

Variety ^ | February 13, 2015 | Staff

[EveningStar]

Radio, TV and voiceover performer Gary Owens died on Feb. 12 at his home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. Owens, who was 80, had been a diabetic since the age of 8.

Owens was probably best known as the announcer on NBC’s “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” (1968-73), with his trademark hand-over-the-ear announcing style. On the show, John Wayne once imitated Owens announcing. The phrase Gary created on his KMPC radio show, “Beautiful downtown Burbank,” later became a nightly catchphrase on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”

Owens also lent his voice to more than 3,000 cartoons, providing the voice of “Space Ghost” as well as Blue Falcon, Roger Ramjet, Powdered Toast Man and even Batman.

[FatherofFive]

RIP

A great talent

[Fungi]

KFWB had the same jingle but it was channel 98.

[EveningStar]

And down in So Cal it was “K F W B, Channel 98!”

[PapaNew]

Yup, Glory Days and American Graffiti Days (Santa Rosa not too far from where I was). Kinda miss those days in a way.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Ugh, I'm at that age now where all the young adults I knew while growing up are now dropping off like flies. I remember Laugh in like it was yesterday. Hard to believe it's almost 50 years ago, I think that show started in '68 so that's 3 more years for 50. Half a freakin' century. I always like to think this is what people my age went through in 1915. "I remember the Civil war like it was yesterday" even though it ended in 1865, but it's that same '60s decade. I was looking at some mind blowing photos last month from the early 19 -teens and someone colorized them, and damn man, those people are where we are now. In 2115 everybody we ever knew will be long gone.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“I was always surprised at how well Goldie Hahn aged.”

And they showed her great butt in every movie she ever did. Used to enjoy seeing it!

[ifinnegan]

“RIP, Gary. I remember KMPC always on my mom’s radio. And you were ahead of your time: downtown Burbank is pretty nice these days!”

Yeah. I always thought the time was 7:10.

Seven-Ten in LA.

You probably remember the Sav-On song as well.

[South40]

Stupid and corny as it was, I loved Laugh In.

[ifinnegan]

KFRC. The Big Six-Ten.

Dr. Donald Rose.

[sparklite2]

Those are really good jobs of colorizing.

[PapaNew]

Dr. Don Rose and Russ the Moose, right?

[Bon of Babble]

Wow! What is it with TV announcers dying this week?

Death in threes...Gary Owens, Bob Simon and Brian Williams.

[BunnySlippers]

Burbank is just plain SQUARE ... A reason to love it.

[sparklite2]

Heh. I never noticed that about the clock hand. Good eye.

[Squantos]

Great photos ....I love history. Thanks !!

[ifinnegan]

I don’t remember Russ the Moose.

Just Dr D.

[LegendHasIt]

Wow, whoever worked on those photos is highly skilled.

Thanks for posting.

[logitech]

bummer ping

[BBB333]

I thought - WRONGLY, I might add - That Don Pardo was the voice of Laugh-In.

Of course within 5 seconds of reading this post it was Gary Owens.

My VERY bad.

Loved Gary Owens in Laugh-In.

Pity we don’t have shows like that anymore.

(Not to mention Goldie Hwan’s buttocks, Artie Johnson, Lily Tomlin and the rest).

[PapaNew]

Russ the Moose Syracuse. His All-Night Flight. The guy was great - fun to listen to if you were up that late. He was also on KYA. I think some of his stuff is on the link. Some of it’s pretty funny. He would randomly and without warning put on audios - one I remember was the sound of crashing and a lady yelling repeatedly, “I HATE WASHING DISHES!”

http://bayarearadio.org/people/syracuse.shtml