| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Roger Bowen in 1971 | ||||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Gender: | Male | |||
| Born: | May 25, 1932 | |||
| Birthplace: | Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. | |||
| Died | February 15, 1996 (aged 63) | |||
| Occupation/ Career: |
Actor, Director, Producer, TV personality, Novelist | |||
| Years active: | 1963-1993 | |||
| Spouse(s): | Ann (?-1996, his death) | |||
| Related to: | 3 children: Michael and Daniel (sons) Katie Koch (daughter) | |||
| Character information | ||||
| Appeared on: | The Jeffersons ' | |||
| Episodes appeared in: | "The First Store" (Season 6) | |||
| Character played: | Mr. William Drew | |||
Roger Bowen (born May 25, 1932 – died February 16, 1996) was an American comedic actor and novelist, known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake in the 1970 film MASH. He often portrayed roles as a stuffy defender of the upper class and had regular roles on a number of television series. His successful acting career aside, Bowen always considered himself a writer who only moonlighted as an actor. He wrote eleven novels (including Just Like a Movie) as well as sketches for Broadway and television. He was also one of the co-founders of Chicago's famed comedy and acting troupe The Second City. Roger made an appearance as Mr. William Drew, a loan officer for Mercantile National Bank of Manhattan who talks to George Jefferson about giving him a loan to open his first cleaning store before he reveals bigoted motives in the Season 6 episode of The Jeffersons titled "The First Store".
Life and career[]
Born in Providence, RI, Roger said he was writing theater reviews for the University of Chicago student newspaper when he was asked to pen material for an improvisational troupe that included Alan Arkin and Mike Nichols. The troupe, Compass Players, evolved into The Second City. Bowen spent most of the 1960s playing "preppie" types on a number of TV & radio commercials. His first film role was 1968's Petulia, but his big movie break came in 1970, when he created the role of lackadaisical Blake in the 1970 Robert Altman directe-cult film classic MASH.
While it was another veteran of TV commercials, McLean Stevenson, who would play Colonel Blake’s role on the long-running M*A*S*H television series, Roger Bowen already had solid exposure in the early 1970s. After MASH, Bowen gained a fan following as "Hamilton Majors Jr.", the pleasantly snooty and supportive Ivy League boss of Herschel Bernardi on the TV sitcom Arnie (1970–72).
After Arnie, Bowen joined the cast of The Brian Keith Show, then returned to commercials and movie cameo roles, showing up briefly in such films as Heaven Can Wait (1979), The Main Event (1979) and Zapped!(1982). In the early 1980s, Bowen enjoyed another round of weekly TV work with recurring roles on House Calls {A costar was Former MASH comedy series Wayne Rogers, At Ease(1983) , and Suzanne Pleshette is Maggie Briggs. He made his final film appearance in the 1996 Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss film What About Bob?. He was a tournament chess player who participated in events in the Los Angeles area in the 1970s.
Coincidental death with McLean Stevenson's[]
In a strange coincidence, Bowen's death of a myocardial infarction came one day after the death of Stevenson.[1] Because of this, Bowen's family did not report his death to the media until a week afterward, so that it would not be dismissed as a garbled version of Stevenson's obituary.