Career
Before moving to Los Angeles, McGowan was a firefighter in his native Denver. An on-the-job accident during a fire rescue mission left him with a permanent limp. By 1920, McGowan was a director at the Roach studio, and in 1921 began work on the first entries in the Our Gang series.
McGowan was a natural with kids, and knew how to explain scenes and comic business to his young charges to elicit convincing performances out of them.
His favorite Our Gang kids were Allen "Farina" Hoskins, Mary Kornman, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, and George "Spanky" McFarland, whom McGowan declared a "natural". McGowan"s daughter Jerry was an actress and dancer herself.
She would often sit in on Our Gang story meetings and appears onscreen in Shivering Shakespeare. McGowan left Our Gang in 1933, after being no longer able to bear the strain of dealing with stage mothers and the other hassles of directing child stars.
He moved over to Paramount Pictures to helm features such as One Too Many (1934), Frontier Justice, and Too Many Parents.
McGowan returned for one last Our Gang short (Divot Diggers) in 1936, and later produced two Our Gang derived featurettes for Hal Roach, Curley and Who Killed Doc Robbin, in the 1940s after retiring from directing. McGowan died of cancer in Santa Monica, California on January 27, 1955 at the age of 72.