Lee Bowman (December 28, 1914 – December 25, 1979) was an American film and television actor. According to one obituary, "his roles ranged from romantic lead to worldly, wisecracking lout in his most famous years".
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Career
Born in Cincinnati, Bowman dropped out of the University of Cincinnati Law School to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was spotted by a Paramount Pictures agent and went to Hollywood in 1934, but was not used at first. Instead he worked as a radio singer and appeared in stock plays including The Old Lady Shows His Medals.
Bowman eventually made his film debut in I Met Him in Paris (1937) for Paramount. He worked at that studio for a while, then RKO, before moving to MGM where he appeared in Bataan (1943) a film that follows the fates of a group of men charged with destroying a bridge during the doomed defense of the Bataan Peninsula by American forces in the Philippines against the invading Japanese.
The lack of leading men in World War II was a boost to Bowman's career and he co-starred with Rita Hayworth in Cover Girl and Jean Arthur in The Impatient Years. According to a film writer at the time, "his Hollywood career has not been spectacular but has gained him a large following." He was signed by Columbia Pictures.
