John Towey was born in Rochester, Minnesota, where he attended Catholic grade school and high school, and two years at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. During summer productions at a barn outside his hometown, which he and his friends had converted into a theatre, he was spotted by Jim Cavanaugh, director of the Rochester Civic Theatre, who recognized his passion for the craft and cast him in several plays.

 

In 1961, Towey went to Chicago to study at the prestigious Goodman School of Drama until he was drafted into the Army. At a military base outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, John spent two years teaching rudimentary English to young recruits who were headed to the United States for Basic Training. After his service, he returned to The Goodman School where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors in 1967.

 

Towey and his wife, Delores Techau, moved to New York City in 1968 and three months later he landed a contract as a recurring character on an NBC soap opera Hidden Faces. It aired in January 1969, but unfortunately, was scheduled opposite the vastly popular As The World Turns. It was cancelled after six months and Towey quickly returned to the stage where his work included an understudy job on Broadway and several Off-Broadway plays.

 

Towey’s first marriage ended after ten years, and in 1973 he met singer and actress Henrietta Valor while they were performing in The Decline and Fall of the Entire World as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter, a musical review in Seattle. They married nine years later, and on March 31, 1986, adopted a 24-hour-old baby whom they named John McKnight Towey.

 

The three made their home in Manhattan until 1990 when, after John landed a supporting role in the five night ABC mini series Amerika, they relocated to Los Angeles. Until her memory began to fail in 1996 John and Henrietta frequently entertained residents of retirement homes around Los Angeles with a nightclub act they had created and performed in NYC. She passed away in 2007 of complications from Alzheimer’s.

 

In 2010, Towey met Tylie Jones at the First Christian Church of North Hollywood, and after a four-year friendship and courtship they married. Tylie is a businesswoman with a postproduction television commercial business called, simply, “Tylie”.  John and Tylie were married on July 26, 2014.