The legendary comic Dick Martin, one of the two creators of “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In”, died of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica.

His spokesperson Barry Greenberg said that he had had some pretty severe respiratory problems for many years and he had pretty much stopped breathing a week ago. He was 86 years old.

Dick Martin met Dan Rowan in 1952, while he was pursuing a career as an actor. Inspired y another great comedy couple, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the two decided to create their own act.

The first time they played Las Vegas was early 1953 at the Golden Nugget; they played three times downtown at the El Cortez before moving "up" to the Strip. They received their first big break in Lake Tahoe at the Calvada Lodge, where they opened for a young singer named Nat King Cole.

But their real breakthrough come in January, 1968 when Dick Martin and Dan Rowan has started to make “Laugh-In” for NBC. Altough NBC didn’t considered “Laugh-In” has a real chance of being successful, by the eighth show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was the number one show in the country. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In taped 144 shows and went off the air in 1973.

Dick Martin began a second career as a television director in 1976, starting with The Bob Newhart Show. He was the chief director of the 1980s sitcom Newhart as well as the host of the short-lived Mindreaders game show in the late 1970s. By the time he retired from his second career, he had directed over 200 hours of television. Dan Rowan and Dick Martin received the 2,194th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. Dan Rowan died in France in 1987 from lymphatic cancer.

Dick Martin married Britain's first Playboy Playmate Dolly Read (Dolly Martin) in 1971, who had a role in “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. He had two sons, actor Richard Martin and Cary Martin. Barry Greenberg said that according to Martin's request there will be no funeral.