Background
Hovis was born in Wapato, Washington, and moved to Houston, Texas as a small child.
Hovis was born in Wapato, Washington, and moved to Houston, Texas as a small child.
Hovis attended the University of Houston.
As a youth, he was a singer, appearing on Arthur Godfrey"s Talent Scouts. During the mid-1950s, Hovis sang in nightclubs with groups including the Mascots, and the Bill Gannon Trio. He wrote songs and signed with Capitol Records, which released one album.
His biggest song was "We Could Have Lots of Fun".
Hovis began appearing in local theater productions. After some success, he moved to New York City in 1959 and appeared in Broadway revues such as From A to Z which showcased his singing and comedy talents.
The show was famous for recycling actors in different roles and in later episodes, William Christopher (best known as Father Mulcahy on Mid-Atlantic Animal Specialty Hospital) replaced Hovis. Hogan"s Heroes was cancelled in 1971, but Hovis had moved on to appear on several other television shows.
He also produced and appeared in the mid-1970s game show Liar"s Club.
Hovis made a few appearances on the game show Match Game alongside his Hogan"s Heroes cast mate Richard Dawson. In the early 1980s, Hovis toured in the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Melvin P. Thorpe. In 1982, Hovis was a writer/producer on the So You Think You Got Troubles, which was hosted by actor/ventriloquist Jay Johnson.
Later in the decade, Hovis teamed up with Gary Bernstein to form Bernstein-Hovis Productions, which produced the game shows Anything Foreign Money, the original version of Lingo and the short-lived Yahtzee, a television version of the classic dice game, for which Hovis also announced and served as a regular panelist.
Hovis was hired as a co-producer for the hidden-camera television show Totally Hidden Video, but was fired by Fox executives after Candid Camera creator Allen Funt filed a lawsuit alleging that Hovis had staged segments of the show"s 1989 debut episode using paid actors. Beginning in the 1990s, Hovis taught drama at Southwest Texas State University – now called Texas State University-San Marcos – in San Marcos, Texas.
Hovis died of esophageal cancer in Austin, Texas on September 9, 2003. He was 67.
