He is an enthusiastic motorcyclist who met his wife, Christine Baranski, when he offered her a ride home one night, on the back of his bike after a party.
He was nominated for a 1976 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for "Dirty Jokes," at the Academy Festival Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
Although he played a wide range of characters, Cowles will probably best be remembered as the highly entertaining "uber-pimp" Billy Clyde Tuggle on ABC's All My Children (1970).
He and his wife, Christine Baranski, raised their children without TV because they objected to violence and sexual content of programs.