Richard Martin was born on January 30, 1922, in Battle Creek, Michigan. He took an early interest in comedy and in his twenties secured a job as a staff writer for the radio show Duffy's Tavern, working with the author and Broadway director Abe Burrows.
In 1951 he had a bit part in the Vincente Minnelli film Father's Little Dividend, alongside Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor, but it took him several more years to begin carving out a career for himself in television comedy. This began with an appearance on The Bob Hope Show, in an episode which also featured Diana Dors and Betty Grable. He then appeared in two episodes of The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, the first of which featured Shirley MacLaine and the second of which involved his first appearance with Dan Rowan, who was to become the other half of his famous double-act.
Martin subsequently secured a regular acting role in The Lucy Show, with Lucille Ball, but continued to work with Martin. The two were soon established as regulars on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, where they appeared with such luminaries as Maureen O'Hara, Sammy Davis Jr., The Searchers, and The Dave Clark Five. Appearances on The Andy Williams Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Merv Griffin Show made them so popular that in 1968 they got their own variety program, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, which ran for five years.
They also appeared together in comedy western Once Upon a Horse and in the 1969 horror spoof film The Maltese Bippy, with Julie Newmar.
Though he never neglected his television work, Martin became eagerly involved with Hollywood, appearing in comedies such as The Glass Bottom Boat; Zero to Sixty, with Darren McGavin and Joan Collins; and Carbon Copy, with George Segal and Denzel Washington. Martin also had acting roles in popular series including Coach, with Craig T Nelson and Jerry Van Dyke; 3rd Rock from the Sun, with John Lithgow and Kristen Johnston; Blossom, with Mayim Bialik and Joey Lawrence; Baywatch, with David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson; and Diagnosis Murder, with Dick Van Dyke and Scott Baio. When not acting or performing stand-up, Martin was a regular panellist on Match Game, hosted by Gene Rayburn.
Martin also worked as a director, most notably on The Bob Newhart Show in the 80s and its successor, Bob, in 1992. He became an executive producer during the latter years of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and later produced documentary film The Nightclub Years, whose stars included Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Cab Calloway, Noel Coward, Judy Garland, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Marlene Dietrich.
Martin has been married three times to two different women. His first wife was actress and Playboy model Dolly Read, star of Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. After they divorced, Martin married Peggy Connelly, nine years his junior. The couple had a son, Richard Martin, who went on to become a director, but the marriage didn't last. After they divorced, Martin remarried Read. He has now retired but still makes the occasional appearance for television specials.
YUDDY
