Chad Lowe: Much more than Rob’s little brother

It took me a minute before it clicked in. We were watching “911:Lone Star” and Owen Strand, the character played by Rob Lowe, goes to visit his dying father. He meets this really nice guy in the waiting room, and they hit it off.

That guy looked familiar but I couldn’t place him.

As the show continued, we discover that nice guy is actually Owen’s younger half-brother Robert. Needless to say, Owen was estranged from his father.

At that moment it hit me.

I turned to my spouse and blurted out, “That’s Rob Lowe’s real-life little brother”.

Robert Strand was, in fact, played by Chad Lowe.

It reminded me of a time where I wanted to see him but could not, and another time where his performance touched my heart.

Spencer, but not for hire
Part of living in the country and having access to just three channels on peasant vision, meant we did not get all the shows that were airing on American primetime TV.

Making matters worse was that we got “TV Guide” every week and I read about all these shows that looked interesting, but some were just not on our channels.

One was a show called “Spencer”. It was about a high-school student named Spencer Winger. I recall reading it starred Rob Lowe’s younger brother Chad in the title role. I also read that Lowe left the series after six episodes, and it became a show called “Under One Roof”.

That’s all I know because I never saw it.

Still, I was curious. Rob Lowe was pretty popular from a variety of roles, and I wanted to see his brother.

The years beyond
Chad Lowe did have some other acting gigs in the 1980s on TV and in theatres, most notably in TV movies and after-school specials.

His breakout was a role in “Life Goes On”, where he earned an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series in 1993.

His career took off after that.

The role where I first really saw him was in “Take Me Home: The John Denver Story” in 2000, where he was just amazing. Interestingly, a guy I knew in Edmonton named Trevor Davell had a bit part in that movie too.

Lowe continues to act to this day in a wide variety of shows. Those have included “ER”; “Touched by an Angel”; “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”; “CSI: Miami”; “Medium”; “24”; “Bones”; “Ghost Whisperer”; “Pretty Little Liars”; “Rizzoli and Isles”; and “Supergirl”.

Getting Swank-y
The other more recent memory of him was as the husband of Hillary Swank. When she won an Oscar in 2005 for “Million Dollar Baby”, she was gushing over Lowe, all his support, and how much she loved him. I thought that was really cool, because he too looked so happy. I did not know that when Swank won an Oscar in 2000 for “Boys Don’t Cry” she forgot to thank Lowe in her acceptance speech.

In 2006, they announced their intention to divorce, and it became final in 2007.

Parting thoughts
Chad Lowe has also turned into a first-rate director, with turns on shows such as “Bones”; “Brothers and Sisters”; “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”; “Without a Trace”; “Pretty Little Liars” and more.

Add to that an Emmy, and some great roles such as the iconic John Denver, and Chad Lowe is much more than Rob Lowe’s little brother.

I still wish I had seen him on “Spencer”.

I’ll see you over at YouTube.